Trainer Neil Darashah’s amazing acumen to speculate and take a calculated risk, stood him in good stead once again, as his ward Tenno Sho (Phoenix Tower-Namibia) pocketed the prestigious Calcutta 2000 Guineas after a keen tussle with Jaivant in the straight. Neil had pulled it off with a final entry in the Monsoon Colts Trial Stakes and repeated that feat in winter. Kudos to him!

The ante-post course favourite Trafalgar let down his connections as his unruly gate manners compelled the starter to have him withdrawn from the small field of five. In fact, Trafalgar had given some indication of what was to come as it had taken a good quarter-of-an hour to stall him for the mock race earlier in the season, nevertheless his supporters were keeping their fingers crossed. But alas, to no avail! 

Abhya Gama set a scorching pace till the top of the straight where stablemate Jaivant took over but was soon challenged by Tenno Sho with Trevor Patel in the saddle. A short-head separated the pair at the wire. Darashah  commented later that he was happy with his ward’s performance and would target The Calcutta Derby on January 12 next. Trevor, for his part, said that it was good to be back and bag two classics in such a short space of time. It seems trainer James Mckeown of Trafalgar has quite a lot of work on his hands before D-day. 

The other talking point of the afternoon was the stunning manner in which Vijay Singh-trained two-year-old Black Pearl (Planetaire-Alvarita) bagged the Hong Kong Jockey Club Cup. Held back in fifth slot till into the straight, this half-brother to Adjudicate left the field standing once Suraj Narredu showed him daylight and alerted him to the task at hand with a single tap. Needless to say, that he has more races in store for him.

Unstoppable Trevor Patel was his usual confident self this afternoon as he notched up two consecutive short-head verdicts in his favour. The first of these was the triumph atop Bezan Chenoy-trained St Andrews (Phoenix Tower-Macnihanish) in the race for the Indian Gold Vase. After Amorous White had shot his bolt near the distance post, both Castlebridge and St Andrews went hammer and tongs till the wire with the latter coming up trumps. Hypothetical statements don’t carry much weightage in racing, nevertheless had an able apprentice such as Rupal Singh or Sujit Paswan (who was astride Amorous White) been atop Castlebridge, there might have been a different story to tell. But that’s neither here nor there. His mentor and connections know best. Once again, a western India migrant gets the better of the local lot.

There were quite a few close finishes during the day. The opening event, The Cavalry Cup, saw rank outsider MidnightMagic (Gaswar-Minnie Mouse) get the better of another unfancied runner Itsamoocow by a similar verdict. Jockey Hindu Singh astride the Manvendra Singh-trained winner completed a double when he guided home Vijay Singh-trained Hukumat (Win Legend-Epic) to a start-to-finish victory in the Treasure Land Cup which was the day’s final event.

Jockey Imran Chisty combined with trainer Javed Khan to bring home a brace. Using his handicap advantage to good effect, Chisty piloted seven-year-old Dancing Lord (Phoenix Tower-Ovation) to a fairly easy victory over Sabre Dance in the Army Service Corps Cup. The duo completed their double with on-money public choice Arrowfield (Phoenix Tower-Dramatikos) in the very next race – The Eastern Command Cup.In the Lt General Jameel Mahmood Memorial Cup, a surprise gamble on Cocoanut came unstuck when another bold gamble paid rich dividends – Jasbir Singh’s Beat The Bank (Samidd-Lambency) pulled it off with Anil Baandal in the saddle.