The Calcutta Monsoon Season came to an exciting end on Wednesday with jockey Anthony Raj registering a lucrative double with Redoubtable (5/2) and Santana (7/2). A chance ride on Rutherford Alford-trained Redoubtable (Letir Mor – Miss Mystique), after A Imran Khan was declared unfit to ride, saw Anthony Raj at his best. Taking the big-boned bay horse to the helm of affairs early in the mile-and-quarter race, Anthony guided him home with an expert piece of pace judgement. He upped the pace from the half-way mark and the free galloping stayer was a good six lengths ahead of Psychic Force at the 600m marker. Anthony controlled his mount well at the final turning for home and the horse sailed home smoothly well clear of the struggling pair of Victorious Sermon and Psychic Force.He completed his brace when he brought the season to a close with a thundering ride on Bharath Singh-trained Santana (Declaration of War – Gaslight) who appeared to be beaten at the top of the straight. The favourite Bahuleyan was given a poor ride. He was squeezed out at the start and took the bend eight wide to ultimately fall shy by half-a-length.

The afternoon commenced with Harvinder Singh Bath-trained Nova (Letir Mor – Sorrento Steel) making every post a winning one in the seven-furlong race for the True Colours Handicap. The favourite Oasis chased her all the way. Vijay Singh-trained three-year-old filly Stormwatch (Kingda Ka – Regency) was installed as the shortest priced favourite of the day in The Annihilator Plate and she justified that trust to some extent. Three back-handers from Hindu Singh’s stick near the distance post were enough to send her streaking clear of Island Lass who tried runaway tactics on this occasion. It may be noted that Island Lass usually runs a better race when allowed to run freely in front.

Javed Khan-trained Magneto (Kingda Ka-Solar Midnight) was well ridden by Saqlain to land the spoils in the seven-furlong race for the Sir Aali Handicap. The three-year-old was gradually improved from mid-bunch to collar front-running Daddy’s  Dream near the distance post. The most competitive race of the afternoon was the Amazing Handicap run over 1800m.  Essos set a god pace with Revolution in tow and Rimel and Randolph not too far behind. Revolution shot ahead after the turning for home but was soon  collared by B Mahesh – trained Rimel (Ampere-Unquenchable) who won well in the hands of BR Kumar. The duo occupying the minor placings are both for the notebook.

The truncated nine-day monsoon meeting saw Neil Darashah reign as the champion trainer – edging out Patrick Quinn and Aashay Doctor, while Saqlain Siddiqui was declared champion jockey. The champion apprentice was P Tejeshwar. The ‘horse of the season’ was Divya Shakthi and ‘Champion Horse’ - Imperial Power. The 30-day winter meet is slated to kick-off with a bang on the winter track on Guy Fawkes day – Saturday, November 5. The general manager racing, Amit Chaturvedi,  is optimistic about outstation trainers making a beeline for this centre, with a float load each, in the months to follow. That would indeed make thoroughbred racing at this centre both competitive and exciting!