Following the script laid down by the aficionados of the game, the amazing eight-year-old grey mare Juliette won the Indian Turf Invitation Cup for the third year in succession – a feat unlikely to be matched in the near future by any horse. Trainer Kartik Ganapathy had always maintained that visitors to the Calcutta racecourse on Sunday would witness’ something special’ and there is no doubt that his words rung true. The daughter of Musketier out of Gimmesumsugar strolled to victory in the HPSL Indian Turf Invitation Cup by eight long lengths from a hard-ridden Jamari in a record time of 2min 26.783sec. Jockey CS Jodha had his mount racing last of seven till the 800m marker while Kalamitsi and Champion’s Way shared the lead about 15 lengths ahead of her. The grey showed a wonderful turn of foot to be within striking distance at the top of the straight and drew away from the field effortlessly thereafter. Owner Zavary Poonawalla said after the race that his mare can now be called ‘Empress Of India’ – indeed so! No horse deserves that title more than her. Kudos to Kartik for maintaining his aged ward in the pink of condition.

Onne race earlier – another runner owned by the famous Poonawalla family – A Star Is Born – won the Major P.K Mehra Super Mile after a keen tussle with Knotty Charmer in the straight. The Rajesh Narredu-trained six-year-old by Roderic O’Connor out of Angel Dust was put into top gear by Suraj Narredu after heads turned for home and he responded wholeheartedly to land the spoils.

Before these two Grade I races were conducted, a Grade II event – The Suresh Mahindra Multimillion Trophy – saw a dozen runners face the starter. Prasanna Kumar – trained Siege Courageous (Top Class – Golden Queen) who had finished third in the Sprinters’ Cup on Saturday, won this race quite easily in the hands of Vivek G by four lengths from the course favourite Shamrock.He stopped the clock at 1min 22.521sec which is a new track record.

Trainer Bharath Singh pulled off a massive victory in the Dashmesh Stud Calcutta Millionwhen his grey filly Lady Sunshine by Sir Cecil out of Sunshine Girl reversed the verdict of the Indian Champagne Stakes to get the better of Global Influence who was a half-money favourite in this race. Trevor Patel atop the winner was always within a length of the front-running favourite and collared him after a brief head-to-head contest inside the distance post. Both Mother’s Grace and Nomitsi fought for the minor placings and need to be watched in the future.

The afternoon of festive racing commenced with MK Jadhav-trained Miss American Pie (Gleneagles – Reine Australe) winning the Bangalore Turf Club Million effortlessly by eight lengths from Fortune Teller. Jockey NS Parmar did the honours. An hour later, B Mahesh-trained La Dominate (Dali – Lucy In The Sky) won the OCI Cables & Boracecard.com Million with Antony Raj in the saddle. The Mahesh-trained colt had the earlier benefit of a forward race-runin a seven-furlong event and Antony made sure he got the best out of his mount in the straight to get the better of front-running Divine Thoughts close home.

The Royal Western India Turf Club Million saw a close encounter between Golden Kingdom and Magneto with the latter prevailing by half-a-length. Saqlain astride the Faisal A Abbas – trained five-year-old gelding by Kingda Ka out of Solar Midnight had to really scrub his mount to deliver the goods. It was an opportunistic piece of horsemanship as ahead of him Golden Kingdon was drifting out badly in the straight. The disappointment in the race was the top-weight favourite Long Lease. The curtain came down to the week-end of festive racing with M Rajendra Singh-trained Blackstone (Planetaire-Polydences) winning The Madras Club Million in the hands of Bhawani Singh without much ado.