The Royal Calcutta Turf Club has been handed a new lifeline by Wolf 777 – the sponsors who ran through the seven-event card on Saturday – the main event being the Wolf 777 Calcutta Gold Cup. They will also be sponsoring the Oaks, The Derby and The Leger later this season. RCTC could not have asked for a better alliance as Wolf 777 are no newcomers to the field of corporate sponsorship. They were associated with the Filmfare awards in Mumbai and Sunburn film festival in Goa.

Saturday’s feature event – The Wolf 777 Calcutta Gold Cup – was an absolute ‘edge-of-the-seat’ thriller with a three-horse blanket finish involving the much neglected Jake and the pair of fancied runners – A Star Is Born and Imperial Power. The last named had got the measure of the outstation challenger and appeared to have the winning post in his sights when Jake (Win legend -Aerona) from the Vijay Singh stable moved with  giant strides to edge out the three-year-old by the proverbial whisker at the wire. Jockey Hindu Singh atop the winner switched out the robust bay colt to the outside of the six-horse field near the 300m marker and that worked wonders for him. As for Imperial Power, he lives to fight another day. An objection by third-placed A Star Is Born against the three-year-old was rightly overruled.

Trainer Vijay Singh’s Oasis (David Livingston-Paula’s Girl) turned the tables on his nearest rival Stockbridge in the mile-and-quarter race for the Wolf 777 Register Play and Enjoy Cup. Jockey Akshay Kumar rode a regulation race as he improved his mount from the rear of the four-horse field to be in touch with pace-maker Cliffhanger and Stockbridge at the turning for home. Thereafter, he drew away from them to win comfortably.

Trainer Vijay Singh led in two more winners on the day. They were the two-year-old colt  Gael (Dali-Elusive Legend) in the curtain-raiser and Regency Smile (Kingda Ka – Regency)in The Wolf 777 Mid-December Handicap Division II. While Gael with Hindu Singh astride was a facile winner at every post of the 1100m race for the Wolf 777 Maiden Plate, Regency Smile (Imran Chisty up) did not have to raise a sweat to get the better of So So Special by four lengths.

Trainer Suraj Shaw was also in his element as he led in a double. His recent western India import Weronika ( Roderic O’connor-Heiress) was a winner at every post of the Wolf 777 Mid December Handicap Division I. The speedster was ridden by P Surya and has more races in store for her. Shaw’s other winner was Cold Pursuit (Excellent Art – Grey Allure) in the mile race for the Wolf 777 Exch Handicap. The four-year-old grey gelding was flawlessly handled by young apprentice Hasib Alam. After the jump-out, he placed his mount in a handy fourth position and allowed Thar and Divya Shakthi to call the early shots. Cold Pursuit smoothly took over the running in the straight and it was all over bar the shouting.

Trainer Aashay Doctor’s ward Cape Tanaros (Western Aristocrat-Laurita) notched up the first hat-trick of the season when he bagged the Wolf 777 Sprint Handicap in the hands of Neeraj Rawal. The top-weight gradually wore down front-running By The Bay who was a creditable runner-up.