Adhiraj Singh Jodha’s six-year-old Golden Kingdom (KIngda Ka – Albeed) who had won the two-mile long marathon named the Suresh Mahindra Trophy in Pune two months ago, shocked all and sundry with a stunning start-to-finish victory at RCTC in the  BM Khaitan Memorial Calcutta Gold Cup run over a mile  - a distance considered by most cognoscenti to be too sharp for him. Runner-up Dubai Princess too ran a great race. Jockey MS Deora atop Golden Kingdom refused to surrender his lead and his determination paved the way for this well-deserved triumph. Public choice Trakila ran below par while the other fancied runner Duke of Tuscany may have been happier with a longer trip.

Jockey A Prakash and trainer Aashay Doctor both recorded trebles during the afternoon. Aashay and Prakash combined fruitfully with Great Guns to fetch home the honours in the day’s opener – The Madras Race Club Cup – run over 2000m. Tracking the favourite Sativur till the 600m marker, Great Guns (Phoenix Tower-Allied Cause) streaked ahead to win as he liked. Seven-year-old Third Avenue was a creditable runner-up. 

Prakash next guided home Pesi Shroff-trained Cosmology (Ardad-Moon Song) to a facile victory in the Hong Kong Jockey Club Cup for two-year-olds. The favourite Argento chased the winner all the way. He completed his hat-trick astride Aashay Doctor-trained Zalia (Well Done Fox – Anahi) who won the sprint for The Police Martyrs Cup at nourishing odds of 10/1. Aashay completed his treble with Light The World (Dreamfield – Let There Be Light) ridden purposefully by Hasib Alam in The Mounted Police Cup. He took a flier and settled back behind Into the Storm before making his move in the straight.
The supporting event of the day – The Police Commissioner’s Cup – saw B Rajender Reddy-trained Golden Glow (Excellent Art – Iceglow) win with Gaurav Singh astride. This recent import from western India ran a forward race and pegged back Bharat and favourite Aeropoli.

The last two races of the afternoon went according to the script. Neil Darashah – trained Victoria Cross (Multitude – Victoria Falls) won the Ivanoe Cup from the fast finishing Abhicandra. The last named was also entered in the Police Commissioner’s Cup but preferred to run here. After watching this race, it would be fair to say that he may well prefer the extra furlong. The curtain came down with Suraj Narredu guiding home Rajesh Narredu-trained Resplendence (Letir Mor – Missing You) to a smashing victory in the Avalanche Star Cup.  The speedy filly made it a one-horse race from the word go.