It was an eventful afternoon of racing at RCTC on Thursday with the Stipes and judges on their toes. Aashay Doctor-trained colt Pantazi (Western Aristocrat – Waveband) was hard-ridden to victory by Yash Narredu to lift the Calcutta Million by the shortest of short-heads from Kyoto. The on-money public choice took over the running at the 800m marker and the rider did rather well to hold on to his lead by a slender margin in this mile event. Trainer Aashay commented after the race that his unbeaten colt may be more suited to the shorter trip but it was still a little too early to say.

One race earlier Yash Narredu was in the spotlight for the wrong reason as the Stipes slapped him with a fine of Rs 50,000 for riding an ill-judged race on the on-money public choice Main Street. Rutherford Alford-trained seven-year-old Karanveer was allowed to open up a long lead in the mile-and-quarter race for The Brave Dancer Cup, while the favourite bided her time in the dead last position nearly 15 lengths behind the front-runner. By the time Yash woke the filly up to her task ahead, it was too late as Kirtish Bhagat had turned the final 1000 metres into a sprint with Karanveer going great guns. The first 1000 metres was covered in 1min 9sec (fraction) while the final 1000 metres was done in 1min 1sec (fraction).  It was a clever strategy deployed by the Rutherford stable which caught the rest of the field off-guard.

Rutherford completed a double with Aldila (Roderic O’Connor-Common Wealth) as the five-year-old bay gelding made every post a winning one in the seven-furlong race for The Magyar Handicap, in the safe hands of Imran Chisty. The trio of fancied runners Into the Storm, Aeropoli and Casha ended up in that order two lengths behind the winner. Rutherford has improved the gelding’s gate-manners considerably as he has jumped out level in his last two starts.

The two divisions of the Soultline Handicap saw competitive racing at its best. The upper division was bagged by top-weight Fresh Hope (Top Class-Vijay Sakhi) from the yard of  B Rajender Reddy despite an outside draw of 11 in a five-and-half furlong sprint. Jockey Shezad Khan did rather well to let his mount settle in the sixth slot while much-fancied Lucretius set a hot pace. Once into the straight, Shezad asked the top-weight to raise a gallop - and did he! The normally front-running horse pulled it off with a judicious change of strategy by the stable. In the lower division of the same event, Rajesh Narredu-trained top-weight Star Concept (Win Legend - Conceptual) was ridden to a well-judged victory by Suraj Narredu - collaring the runaway leader Indian Tiger close home. The last named is an eight-year-old who is running short of stamina but nevertheless is full of zest.

Trainer B Mahesh and jockey Vivek combined fruitfully to bring home the bacon with Happy Morning (Arazan-Queen Of hearts)  in the sprint for the Astounding Handicap. The one for the notebook is Dubai King who may prefer a longer trip. The Shafiq Khan ward seems ready to strike. The curtain came down with big punters rejoicing as Patrick Quinn’s hot favourite filly Three Little Words (Whatsthescript-Oscar Silk) carried the public purse to a thumping victory in The Arisen Handicap with ace jockey Trevor enjoying a joy ride.