Friday afternoon at RCTC witnessed a string of upsets but Vijay Singh-trained Multitude (A Sandesh up) did not let his backers down as he pocketed the Calcutta Champions Sprint Trophy with a degree of comfort. In the process, the consistent performer by Multidimensional out of Haedi booked his ticket to the Invitation weekend Sprinters Cup at Hyderabad in early March. The race however was a bit of an anti-climax as the favourite’s nearest challenger – Castlebridge – had to be withdrawn due to his appalling gate manners. It’s quite possible that the once formidable sprint-miler is not quite himself  after being gelded last month. His withdrawal made it easy for Multitude whose unlikely challenger turned out to be the fast improving Nobu. Trainer Vijay Singh and jockey Sandesh combined to notch up a treble – their other two winners being Jacobin and After Shock.

The supporting event, The Horendro Kristo Dutt Memorial Cup, saw the day’s biggest upset as Richard Alford-trained eight-year-old gelding Rule Downunder (Aussie Rules – Fatat Alarab) made every post made every post of the mile race a winning one. After coming down the scale considerably, he picked up his first race after migrating to this centre nearly a year and a half ago.  Apprentice P Tejeshwar kept his cool atop the winner when challenged by the hot favourite Cold Frontier and much fancied Pothus. This was the second aged horse within a week to surprise over a mile, the other being the Talisman. Such results don’t speak well of the younger runners in the field. The biggest disappointment was Shohin who finished a bad last despite being under Dashrath’s stick from the top of the straight.

Named after an iconic and popular figure in the Calcutta bookmakers ring during the latter half of the last century - The Albert Piperno Memorial Cup, saw recent winner Jacobin (Pentire Celebre-Artempo) defy his 6kg penalty and win again – but only after pegging back a persistent Coup De Grace and a threatening Novikov. Sandesh steered his mount through the traffic to land the spoils expertly.

The afternoon commenced with the two divisions of the Bold Chieftan Handicap witnessing favourites tumble. In the opener, public choice City Heights was simply outpaced by Shafiq Khan-trained Mustang who made every post a winning one in apprentice Rupal Singh’s hands. The six-year-old gelding by Diffident out of Marquisa had been knocking at the door for some time now and was quietly backed. The runner-up Ghost Creek also ran a good race. Farley Rodrigues-trained Major Colours was well placed on the scale to score and he did not let form-workers down in the lower division. By declaring  3kg allowance apprentice Vikram in a NO Whips race, Rodrigues made the right move and it paid rich dividends.  Consistent Indus Prince was a worthy runner-up.

Like Jacobin, Shyam Habbu-trained Singapore Sling (Excellent Art-Avec Plaisir) defied his 4kg penalty to claim the  Star Magic Handicap run over a mile. Suraj Narredu rode a well-judged race as he sat tight in third slot while Princess Rumela called the shots till into the straight.  When asked for an effort, the handsome dark bay four-year-old accelerated without a second thought and landed the spoils in style.

The sprint for the Bookmakers’ Association Cup saw After Shock (Arazan-Guy Grand’s Gal) win quite comfortably from end to end. The favourite Atom was a good second and one for the notebook. There was not much of note in the race otherwise. The green-and-gold colours of Mr. Subir Dasgupta  completed a treble when Shyam Habbu’s Apalachee (Serious Spender-Aprillia) won the Daring Don Handicap by a whisker from the favourite Dangal, thanks to a smart piece of horsemanship by apprentice Bhati. The most encouraging feature of the day’s racing was the good show put up by the apprentice jockeys. It bodes well for the future here if these lads stick to the honest path rather than ‘quick money’.