It was thrills galore at RCTC on Thursday as close verdicts were the order of the day with most favourites falling by the wayside. Wonder filly Meropi (Western Aristocrat – Panamera) from Aashay Doctor’s yard notched up her fifth win on the trot and in the process pocketed the prestigious Calcutta Gold Cup – sponsored this year by Shyam Ferro. Riding to a plan as he mentioned in his post-race comments , jockey Yash Narredu shot the big-boned filly into an eight-length lead as the gates opened before giving her a breather near the half-way point in the mile event. Thereafter, she kicked clear once again before holding on to her advantage by a length from unfancied Third Avenue and public choice A Star Is Born. It would be fair to mention here that Suraj Narredu on the latter rode an extremely over-confident race – making his move from the rear of the five-horse field very late and taking the home turn six-horses wide. In contrast, Tejeshwar atop Third Avenue rode anextremely judicious race.

Five professionals completed a brace each – three trainers and two jockeys. The trainers who scored a double each were Aashay Doctor, Neil Darashah and Adhiraj Singh Jodha. The riders in the forefront were Yash Narredu and R Vaibhav – the man who can do no wrong this season. Earlier Aashay Doctor and Yash Narredu had combined fruitfully to fetch home the honours in the Galashiels Cup with rank outsider Great Guns (Phoenix Tower – Allied Cause). The recent import from Hyderabad picked up a late gallop in the straight to get the better of the front-running pair of Blinky Bill and favourite Winter Agenda.

Trainer Neil Darashah pocketed the only other Cup event of the afternoon – The Desert Warrior Cup – with his six-year-old bay gelding Cool Rider ( Phoenix Tower – Dance To The Tune). Apprentice Abhishek Mhatre, claiming an allowance of 4kg,  took the speedster to the helm of affairs as the gates opened and stayed there all the way, holding on to his advantage from Black Eagle. Stablemate of the winner – Clifford – was a disappointment but needs to be followed. Earlier in the afternoon, Darashah had opened his account with Honey Cake (Perfect Stride – Performer) in the curtain-raiser. The filly made every post a winning one in the hands of Arul, quite easily keeping at bay the top-weighted favourite Sporting Trainer who prefers a slightly longer trip.

Trainer Adhiraj Singh Jodha pocketed the last two races of the afternoon – the two divisions of the Ardiles Handicap – with his front  running speedsters – Pure for Sure and Fiery Red. Jockey PS Kaviraj utilised the inside draw to take Pure For Sure (Phoenix Tower – Sweet P) to the front of the field as the gates opened and held on well to his advantage from unfancied Liban. In a similar vein Sandesh atop Fiery Red (Western Aristocrat – Cruising) set the pace in the last race of the day and held on to win from Light The Day and Over The Line.

Jockey R Vaibhav rode a power-packed finish atop Javed Khan-trained six-year-old Tres Bien (Roderic O’Connor-Yesteryear) to edge out the front-running on-moneyfavourite Chillilady at the wire by the narrowest of margins and bag the upper division of The Wheels Handicap. Vaibhav completed his double with Bharath Singh-trained Eagles Flight (Tenth Star – Tsesebe) who pocketed the lower division of the same race - keeping at bay the favourite Into The Storm quite easily despite drifting out in the straight.