The curtain came down on the Calcutta Cold Weather Season with a bumper card of nine races on Wednesday. Jockeys Bhati, Akshay Kumar and Imran Chisty scored a brace each. The last named was also crowned the champion jockey of the season. Vijay Singh was the champion trainer. AC Muthiah, the owner of Success (champion horse) was the leading owner while ‘horse of the season’ was Cape Tanaros. The most successful apprentice was Hasib Alam.

The main event, The Level Up 11 Cup, saw Akshay Kumar guide the Aashay Doctor ward Delphini (Bated Breath-Performer) to a narrow victory over Full Volume. Second favourite Anastasia ran a poor race, not to mention that her handling by the young apprentice left much to be desired. Akshay completed his brace with a easy victory on The Mentalist (Phoenix Tower-Serenity Star) in the Amalita Handicap – the last race of the season.

Trainer Javed Khan opened the day’s proceedings with a great double as he led in Asterix (Win Legend-No Complaining) and Tres Bien.The former, with RS Bhati astride outclassed the lowest category of runners. Tres Bien (Roderic O’Connor-Yesteryear)  was well ridden by able apprentice Tej Eshwar to land the spoils in a close finish from Lion Queen and Ahren.

The Nikita Handicap – a ‘no whips’ race, saw Nikhil Naidu at his best.  He guide home the Sabeel Sheriff-trained Romero (Tenth Star-Radical Attraction) to a narrow victory over Mark One. None of the fancied runners like Weronika, Bundle Of Charm and Yazh impressed and all ended up in the ruck.  Fancied by most, Mahesh-trained Rimel (Ampere-Unquenchable) came good in the Treasure Land Handicap with Imran Chisty in the saddle.

In the next race, The Colonial Handicap, Time was withdrawn on veterinary grounds. The race was pocketed by Ravinder Singh-trained Dream Station (Kingda Ka- Oyster Reef)who made every post a winning one in the hands of apprentice Rupal Singh.

Shyam Habbu’s three-year-old colt Torino (Phoenix Tower-Quesada) bagged the Amberdue Plate in style from Acantha. Bhati had him racing third till the bend and took over the running on the outside to win well. Trainer Patrick Quinn’s Savvy Chic (Roderic O’Connor-Coccinella) was equally impressive in the Interstellar Handicap as she overhauled the runaway New Look to complete Chisty’s brace.