The Calcutta Monsoon Racing season spread over 17 racedays came to a close on Friday with more than its share of thrills. The feature event of the day, The Monsoon Cup, was an absolute edge-of-the-seat-thriller with the 11/10 favourite Shivalik Showers (Dancing Forever-Sun Shower) and jockey Christopher Alford pulling it off by the proverbial whisker from vastly improved Illidan. Triumphus made a bold bid for honours in the final furlong but failed in his quest.

C. Alford took the top-weight Shivalik Showers from James McKeown’s yard, to the front of the six-horse field, as the gates opened and stayed there all the way despite the strong challenge issued by Illidan from the distance post. The duo went neck to neck till the final stride which saw the public choice edge out the surprise package. Triumphus ended up a fairly good third.

Apprentice Hindu Singh was fortunate to notch up a treble as apprentice Akash Rajput was declared unfit to ride and the former got a chance ride atop Running Hand. He opened his account with the 10/1 shot Serendipity (Opportunist-Suta/ New Approach Stud) in the day’s opening event, the upper division of The Sreepriya Handicap. The piping hot favourite saw a change of change of jockey as the 2-kg allowance ‘champion’ apprentice Akash Rajput was substituted by a full jockey Md Azharuddin. The latter has had a dismal season and he added to his negative score thanks to RCTC not sticking to the normal practice that an apprentice can only be substituted by another apprentice. Apprentice Ranidan Singh did not have a ride in the race and had he been declared to ride the three-year-old filly, she would not have lost. As it was, the verdict was close and the allowance could well have reversed it.  “Replacing a highly successful apprentice with an unsuccessful rider atop a piping hot favourite is not being fair to the paying punters and ‘form workers’.”

Hindu Singh’s second winner was his chance ride on top-weight Running Hand  (Whatsthescript-Better Off Red) in the Silver Fox Plate. The colt from James McKeown’s yard was in a handy fourth slot while the favourite Arabian Sky called the shots. Once into the straight, the colt was clearly moving the better of the two. Storm Front with Dashrath Singh in the saddle issued a strong challenge but to no avail.

Apprentice  Hindu completed his well-deserved treble when he brought Shafiq Khan-schooled Bang Bang (Stardan-Ballad Of Glory/) with a stunning run in the final race of the day – the lower division of the Super Sunrise Handicap. The favourite Yokumku had stolen a march over his rivals in the straight and looked to be heading for a comfortable triumph till Bang Bang turned on the heat and ‘shot him down.’

Apprentice Munna Alam, doing duty for Akash Rajput, astride Vikash Jaiswal-trained Romancer (Crrown Jewels-Soul Music) made mincemeat of his rivals with a fluent run that ended any hopes of Pouru Chisti making every post a winning one.  Trainer Jaiswal is known to create opportunities for lesser known names in the saddle and he provided one such opportunity to apprentice Nikhil Naidu  who grabbed it with both hands astride No Politics Please to notch up the maiden win of his career. The seven-year-old is blessed with plenty of initial speed and he used it to good effect – aided by the 4kg allowance claimed by the apprentice.

After repeated failures over all sorts of distances, Daniel David-trained Clairvoyance (Noverre-Safinaz/ Sohna Stud) finally came good over 1100 metres in the Arcade Handicap. Jockey Ashaad Asbar was in mid division till well into the straight and switched to the rails in the final furlong. Hard ridden, Clairvoyance pegged back Bacaardi and  War Games in a close contest.

Champion trainer Vijay Singh’s recent western India import Majestic was considered  to be a certainty by many, in the Roll N Twist Cup. However, the filly failed to make the frame and may be worth following this winter. Sarfaraz Khan-trained Cocoanut (Sussex-Coco Beach/ Pratap Stud) notched up his third win of the Moonsoon season despite shouldering top-weight over a trip of seven furlongs. Kudos to apprentice Ranidan for not releasing the pressure on his mount while being challenged by Murlough Bay and Rustler.

Jasbir Singh’s Rewalding (Rebuttal-Mullagh/Hazara Stud) displayed a touch of class while sailing past the field in the race for The Super Sunrise Handicap. Jockey Mohit Singh kept his mount off the pace till into the straight and brought the colt with a dazzling run on the wide outside to land the spoils.