‘Time And Tide waits for no one’ said proud owner Vikram Bachhawat after his dark bay four-year-old colt won the Calcutta Champions Sprint Trophy at RCTC on Saturday. The forward sprinter by Dali out of Starlet made every post a winning one in the hands of Neeraj Rawal with Cool Rider in hot pursuit. When asked whether the local sprint king will have another outing before the Sprinters’ Cup in early March, Vikram politely declined to comment and said ‘I leave all such decisions to my trainer Adhiraj Singh Jodha’.

The supporting event -The Indian Air Force Cup – was bagged by Aashay Doctor-trained Harvestime (Western Aristocrat-Jack In The Cat) after a keen tussle with front-running Galaticus all the way down the straight. The latter closed as the favourite and Suraj Narredu took her to the front immediately after the start but the seven-furlong trip seemed a shade out of her ambit as Harvestime got the better of her in the final furlong. The second favourite Swift ran below expectationalthough she was well placed on handicap as compared to the winner.

The afternoon commenced well for trainer Jasbir Singh and jockey Mohit Singh as their seven-to-one shot Life Is Good (Saamidd-Illaunslea) pocketed the Master Properties Cup. There were only four starters but the betting was restricted to Dragon’s Gold and Pyrgos. While the former ran a good forward race and went down eventually close home, Pyrgos was never in the hunt and disappointed.

The next race – The Eastern Command Cup – saw Rajesh Narredu-trained geldingWonderful (Excellent Art – Silver Beauty) come up trumps after a duel with Trident Star all the way down the home stretch. The small made horse has a big heart and he proved it when he pegged back Trident Star. The one for the note-book is Sixty Seven who may be more comfortable over a mile.

The Burning Fire Cup for three-year-old maiden youngsters was easily bagged by the piping hot favourite Global Influence(Roderic O’Connor – She) who made every post a winning one in the hands of Suraj Narredu. The Rajesh Narredu-trained colt finished over three lengths ahead of Champagnesupernova who may come out of the maiden ranks soon.

The curtain came down with Vikash-Jaiswal-trained Sporting Trainer (Chinese Whisper-Mount Rushmore) getting the better of Lucretius in the straight after the latter was shaping like a winner near the distance post. Sporting Trainer was piloted by jockey Tejeshwar for his season’s first winner.