It was indeed a gala Derby at the Calcutta racecourse as promised by Eveready Managing Director and Vice-Chairman Mr. Deepak Khaitan. A large and colourful gathering of all hues and ages saw the wonder filly Xisca (China Visit-Altimara) lift the Eveready Calcutta Derby Stakes in a smart time of 2 min 30.089 sec. The utter disdain that she displayed towards her seven rivals was reflected in the margin of triumph which was over eight lengths. The daughter of Altimara thus proved beyond any doubt to the doubting Thomases (such as this correspondent) that she is a blue-blooded stayer with quick-fire acceleration in the classical mould and may yet be the best of her sex in the country as prophesied by jockey B Prakash after the 2000 Guineas which she won effortlessly. What else does she have to do achieve the coveted tag? Well, for one, she has to get the better of Moonlight Romance and Siachen in the Indian Derby – ‘which is an option open to us’, opined trainer Pesi Shroff.

The race for the Calcutta Derby was partly on expected lines as Tintoretto set a scorching pace till the home turn. Racing in the rear of the eight-horse field were the three fancied runners (Xisca, Alice Springs and Hall Of Glory) in that order. While Xisca stayed with the pace and improved her position before heads turned for home, Alice Springs and Hall Of Glory waited for her to make the move, in the hope that the biting pace might eat into her stamina. Far from it! It actually gave her more impetus to run. Thereafter, she left the field standing. Hall Of Glory edged out Alice Springs for the runner-up berth.

It was a great victory for the property of Deboo and Dhunjibhoy. The Derby win completed a well-deserved double for Pasquier who had earlier guided Delphi (Emerald Cat-Bongusto) to a narrow victory over Agent Archie in The Brave Dancer Cup. The Pesi Shroff-trained filly has shown great improvement at this centre to complete a hat-trick. Agent Archie was one of four Christopher Alford mounts which closed as the favourite. The others being Melody Belle, Blue Grass and Secrecy. In the curtain-raiser, Melody Belle was beaten comprehensively by Knight Of The Realm (Royal Kingdom-Our Way). Though Melody Belle did face slight traffic problems at the top of the straight, she was a beaten horse at the distance post as Kishore Kadam drove the gelding from Shyam Habbu’s yard with a purpose. Blue Grass (China Visit-Blue Ridge), a full brother to the brilliant sprinter Kiara, had to be pretty forcefully ridden by Alford to get the better of Torrential and Cuba Libre in the upper division of The Arabian Rose Cup.

Torrential ran an eye-catching second in apprentice Mohit Singh’s hands. Secrecy (China Visit- Glorious Colours) too was not an easy ride for Alford but the chestnut filly from Vijay Singh’s yard, went on to win The Alokananda Stakes from stablemate Whistling Strait quite impressively. The filly has the bloodline to suggest that she will relish more distance, so watch out for her in the classics next season. Alford’s other winner of the afternoon was Access Point (Inhabitant-Premium Point) in the lower division of The Arabian Rose Cup.

Though penalized 8 kg for his last win, The Vijay Singh-ward showed no discomfort whatsoever as he went on to collar Blazing Beauty in the straight. The favourite Strauss ran on to finish second. Another horse which overcame a similar stiff penalty was Brief Encounter (Ikhtyar-Kia Ora) in The Aspirant Cup. The Daniel David runner was ridden cleverly by A Imran Khan who stuck to the rails before squeezing a passage past Missoni. Queen Vic ran on to occupy the runner-up berth four lengths behind. Fast timings were the order of the day and the winner’s time of 1 min 26.52 sec was pretty sweet. Clerk of the course Amit Chaturvedi has been maintaining the track well and it was running true for form horses.

Most favourites got beat to superior thoroughbreds who have run into form. However, one favourite whose debacle left a sour taste was that of Born To Fly in The Madras Race Club Cup. Why Suraj Narredu was declared on the Darius Byramji ward is beyond comprehension. Suraj was declared 3 kg overweight which is against the rules of racing. Had Neeraj Rawal been astride the vastly improved four-year-old, it may have been a different story. Three kg over a mile trip makes a lot of difference. Either the trainer was over-confident or he was misinformed. Whether the handicapper will take this into consideration for his new mark is left to be seen.

The race was won by Raghuvansh (Royal Kingdom-Samatara) who was very much in the reckoning and ridden to perfection by McCullagh. Recardo was a late-finishing second. Arti Doctor, who trains the winner, completed a well-deserved double with Zillionaire (Senure-Zillion Figlia) in the afternoon’s final event. Jockey Kamlesh enjoyed an armchair ride.