It was an eventful afternoon of mid-week racing at Calcutta with intermittent showers making things rather difficult for professionals. Nevertheless two veteran trainers – Bharath Singh and Patrick Quinn – opened their accounts at the fag end of the brief season. While Bharath did it in style with a well-backed doublefor the JDG syndicate, Patrick did it by the skin of his teeth  in the very last race of the gloomy afternoon. Racing is a funny game where lady luck can sometimes be cruel and at times extremely merciful – it all evens out in the end. Patrick’s Saseka had lost rather unfortunately and narrowly a fortnight ago, but fortune smiled on him on this day. The only difference is that while  Saseka was plastered in the ring, Dubai Ruler was totally neglected – lady luck is obviously oblivious to the money pouring in on a horse.

Getting back to the day’s main event – The Desert Shot Cup –top-weight Black Eagle was once again the public choice and though he put up a good show, the 9kg that he was conceding to Rutherford Alford-trained Charismatic (Excellent Art – First and Only One)was more than he could handle. Perhaps a 5kg apprentice atop Black Eagle may have seen him get to the winning post ahead of his adversary but that is purely hypothetical. Rutherford’s other runner – Blackstone – was an unimpressive third. In his post-race comments, the trainer praised the rider Aashad Asbar who rode precisely to his instructions. Asbar said later that the two mock races with winner earlier in the season had given him a good feeling and had led him to suggest that he may well win on this day – and he was proved right.

Trainer Bharath Singh and jockey Antony Raj combined well to fetch home a double with Sanaya and Dardanus. Though there was some betting on Wonderful in the 2000 metres race for The Roll And Twist Handicap, the aged horse failed to make an impression. Sanaya (Deauville-Sana) followed the ‘crawling’ pacemaker Soul Aquarian till the turning for home and bid adieu to the field thereafter. As for Dardanus (Deauville-Smoking Bell), Antony took no chances and made the mile race for The Idaho Handicap a start to finish affair. Part-owner Joydeep Datta Gupta commented later that “it will be a shame if we don’t run him in The Derby after this performance but will have to take a call later as the colt was injured earlier on the journey from south India”.

Top-weight Mindful (Deauville-Armaity) from the Deepesh Narredu yard had no difficulty whatsoever in beating back a not-so-determined challenge from Multiverse in the 1800 metres race for the No Regrets Handicap. Yash Narredu atop the favourite followed pacemaker Aabushan till the straight and kicked ahead merrily.

The Maidens’ race for three-year-olds – The Arktouros Plate – saw  the Aashay Doctor stable land a massive gamble with Voula (Western Aristocrat-Halaqa) with Tejeshwar in the saddle. It was the filly’s debut run and she obviously will see many more winning posts. Her nearest challenger Dreamflight ended up a poor second.

Despite the heavy rain, the connections of Cashmere Silk (Chinese Whisper-Ultrasonic) were confident enough to back her to the hilt and she did not disappoint. Azharuddin once again rode a measured race on the Sabeel Shariff ward. The mare will carry a 5kg mandatory penalty when she runs again on Saturday. The lower division of the Steinlen Handicap saw Patrick Quinn’s Dubai Ruller(Gusto-Michaela) edge out Jaisalmer at the wire with Sah Farid Ansari in the saddle doing all the hard work.