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FOLLOWERS OF MONEY TAKE A DRUBBING ON LAST DAY

By Epsom Ace | 26 Mar 2016 | KOLKATA


Mr. Debasish Naskar & Mr. Subhasish Naskar receiving The Fame Star Cup from Mrs. Sharon Singh

The ultimate afternoon of the Calcutta Cold Weather season provided punters with the ultimate thrashing of the 30-day meet. Not a single favourite obliged in a card of nine races. Those who had the temerity to stay right through the marathon afternoon of racing would have had to wait till the last race for the day’s only second-favourite to come good. Despite followers of money getting drubbed on the final day, racing was actually pretty much form-oriented in most of the events. Along with the seasoned Vikash Jaiswal, lesser known trainers Raunak Bannerji and Sarfaraz Khan notched up a brace each, while apprentice Hindu Singh too secured a lucrative double.

Raunak’s first winner was in the very first race. His 7/1 shot Corsica (Dancing Forever – Illaunslea) accelerated beautifully near the furlong marker to bag the upper division of The Goldfinder Handicap with considerable ease from the 3/1 favourite Divine Dimension. The winner was piloted by the highly successful Ashhad Asbar who might have struck pay dirt by deciding to ride at this centre rather than the southern circuit. Raunak then completed hid double with the friendless Raw Silk (New Famous-Silken Magic/ Yeravada Stud) who won the Another Time Handicap over seven furlongs with  Hindu Singh in the saddle. The totalisator win dividend was a whopping Rs 454.

As if that was not enough for the hapless punters, schooler Daniel David chipped in with another thunderous tote dividend of Rs 474 when his Sylvana  (Tejano-Crown Secret/ Kunigal Stud) brought home the bacon in the race for the Regal Star Handicap. However, it would be fair to say that the sprinter was neglected basically as his rider Mudassar Nazar is expected to win once in a leap-year. But then, punters may have forgotten that this was indeed a leap year. 

There was however a hard-luck story in the race as the favourite Snow White received a bump in the straight from the eventual winner and lost momentum. Moreover, C.Alford atop the public choice had lost his stirrup irons at the start and yet did rather well to keep the filly going in the straight and pose a threat of sorts. She eventually finished a close fourth  and that may have been the reason that the red cone was not hoisted. The grey has been plagued by ill luck for some time now, having lost a shoe in her previous start.

Vikash Jaiswal’s Bengal Tiger (Multidimensional-Blue Gardenia/ Usha Stud) lifted The Fame Star Cup after a hard fought battle with Beyond Expectation and Sunset Sail. Brother Vinay Jaiswal piloted the winner with a certain degree of understanding – gradually improving his position from an outside draw before making his final run.

Robert Gowli’s Artegal (Chevalier-Arnatta/ Ruia Stud) won a thriller when she edged out the favourite Native Speaker at the wire in the hands of apprentice Munna Alam who was the season’s most successful apprentice.

Oriental Rocky closed as the piping hot on-money favourite in The Treasure Land Handicap but failed to find his galloping shoes till it was too late. As he his wont to do, Christopher Alford chose the rails in the seven-furlong event and pulled of a good win for trainer Vikash Jaiswal with the enigmatic El Cid (Noverre-Darsiyma/ Sohna Stud).

Sarfaraz Khan notched up the first of his two victories with recent winner Words (Ikhtyar-Wild Glory/ Nanoli Stud) as the apprentice rider Ranidan Singh utilised the inside draw to great effect and made every post a winning one. The best of the rest was The Talisman who was done in by the 13th draw, pun intended. Sarfaraz’s second winner Cocoanut (Sussex-Cocoa Beach/ Pratap Stud) brought some relief for punters as he was the only second favourite to oblige – that too in the very last race of the day. Afzal Khan rode the colt along the rails with a degree of confidence and collared front-running Bacaardi without much ado.

James Mckeown’s on-money public choice Running Hand was handled appallingly by Arshad Alam. Whether the colt would have got the better of the winner Midnight Star (Gaswar – Minnie Mouse/ Lingwood Stud) is another matter altogether. Nevertheless, he did just about everything an on-money favourite is not expected to do. The colt was never positioned, taken miles wide at the top of the straight before facing some interference and coming on in only the final 100 metres to finish a fair fourth. That does not take away anything from Manvendra Singh’s runaway winner who completed a double for Hindu Singh.

The season ended with Vijay Singh as the champion trainer, Christopher Alford as champion jockey, Munna Alam as best apprentice, Desert God as champion horse and Winning Fortune as ‘horse of the season’.