Dallas Todywalla trained Golden Guest (Excellent Art – Queens Guest, Poonawalla Stud) booting home the weight advantage to carve out a thrilling victory to claim the Royal Calcutta Turf Club Cup, the feature race of the day. Jockey Sandesh had him out quickly from the gates and then settled behind Hidden Gold until into the turn.

Golden Guest dashed ahead to grab the lead soon on entering the homestretch. Hidden Gold weakened and fell back, while Mystic Bay too could not quicken. Gazino accelerated well in the final furlong and covered a lot of ground only to miss it by a neck. Golden Guest was ridden all out and just about managed to reach the safety of the winning post in time. Augustus Caesar was the quickest in the final 100m but he had a lot of ground to cover, he did well nonetheless to beat the rest and finish on the tail of Gazino.

Narendra Lagad trained Coeur De Lion (Roderic O’connor – Sweeping Star, Poonawalla Stud) made a smashing debut as he blew away the field notching up his first win by a whopping eight-lengths plus margin. He led the field jointly with Arbitrage until the turn and once into the straight Dashrath Singh got Coeur De Lion to accelerate fluently and within strides he was stretching away from the rest. He piled up a huge lead in the first half of the straight and then galloped away on cruise mode to score an impressive victory. Hooves of Thunder was the best of the beaten lot and improved well to finish a faraway second, well ahead of stablemate Jerusalem.

Pride’s Angel (Multidimensional – Tammy O, Usha Stud) romped home to his third successive victory, while warding off Northern Lights. Pride’s Angel followed Majestic Warrior into the straight and soon got passed to snatch the lead. Once ahead, jockey Sandesh took off and built a handy lead coming into the final furlong. The Awakening moved up from the last position to make headway between horses, while Northern Lights started to warm up approaching the distance post, from the wider outside. Northern Lights picked up speed a tad too late, as by the time he got into the act, Pride’s Angel was secure enough to kick on and score with half a length to spare from Northern Lights, The Awakening pegged Majestic Warrior back for the third place.

San Salvatore (Win Legend – Aksinya, Dashmesh Stud) was another won to score a delightful debut victory. The Altamash Ahmed trainee didn’t have it easy though as he had a wall of horses ahead as they straightened up for home. Cherished led them in but was soon passed by Fitado; Galloping Glory was falling back while Multiencrypted was trying to catch up. Caprifla was right with them but could not rally well enough. San Salvatore worked his way ahead between horses and once he got a clear run, he quickened extremely well to catch Fitado meters from the winning post. He picked up speed and then dashed past Fitado to earn his first winning bracket with a measure of comfort. Fitado did everything right until the winner came by. Cherished too did well to pick up the third spot.

HJ Antia trained Dilbar (Ivory Touch – Circus Ring, Ruia Stud) pulled off a clinical start-to-finish win in the hands of jockey SA Amit. Dilbar jumped out smartly and dashed into the lead, galloping at a brisk rate right through. He had a handy lead coming into the straight and he never slackened his grip on the lead. The rest were in a futile chase and even favorite Kinara was found wanting as she made progress in the final furlong, only to take the second spot close to three lengths behind Dilbar. Slam Dunk showed some signs of returning to form as he improved positions to finish in the money.

Flaming Fire (Kitten’s Joy – High Jinks, Manjri Stud) had to work his way to victory and Yash Narredu had to ride the colt hard all the way. Midas Touch led early in the homestretch and was galloping on spiritedly when Flaming Fire started to get closer. The others close with him were struggling to stay in contention and it was clear that Midas touch and Flaming Fire were the ones to fight out until the finish. Flaming Fire got alongside Midas Touch inside the final furlong but was not able to shake her off easily. The duo fought neck to neck, but it was Flaming Fire who sustained well and eventually surged ahead to win convincingly. Midas Touch was a gallant second. Raffaello improved considerably and was finishing fast, but had left too much to do in the homestretch. He ended on the haunches of the runner up to finish a good third.

Bloomsbury (Strong Suit – Bratz, Manjri Stud) saddled by Altaf Hussain picked up her maiden win on her second start, in the concluding race of the day. Up among the front runners, Bloomsbury had a slender lead coming into the homestretch. Apprentice jockey Aniket Karande pushed the filly vigorously, but always had a pack of rivals snapping at her tail. Waverunner and Rhythm of Nature were too close for comfort until midway down the straight and then Demetrius and Noble Lord arrived with a fast gallop to add pep to the finish. Bloomsbury held on narrowly to by a neck from Demetrius, who was the fastest of them all in the final few strides. Nobel Lord too caught the eye, finishing on with a spirited run to take the third spot.

Jockey Sandesh was the lone pro to score a double.