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Trainer Vijay Singh`s money making machine named Multitude (Suraj Narredu) has repeatedly proved the point that he had no peers in the highest RCTC`s class, and Saturday`s 1,200m Calcutta Champions` Sprint Trophy was no exception. Suraj rode a copy-book race on the 9/10 hot favourite, by Multidimensional out of Haedi, who took an easy measure of his stable-mate, Lesrel (Dashrath Singh) inside the final 150m of the race. The Vijay-Suraj combinations finished the day with a popular treble.
The running of the race also proved a point that Lesrel was precisely unlucky, in his last outing, to have lost the prize, -- to Perpetual Winning – in the stewards` room, due to some infringement in the final stages of the race.
Half-an-hour earlier, Vijay`s another favourite, Court Jester, also ridden by Suraj, had bounced back to form to bag another baby-race, the 1,200m B.K. Poddar Cup, with equal ease. The pair had opened their day`s account in the curtain raiser when Suraj had had another arm-chair ride on an even-money favourite, Vallerysthal, to lift the Aeronative Handicap.
Age does not seem to be catching up with Multitude. The eight-year-old had been displaying the same youthful alacrity and performance, regularly, year after year and months after months, not to talk about his own up keeping.
Court Jester, too, was ridden off the pace, as Suraj allowed Bharath Singh`s Spring Valley (Dashrath) to call the shot till about a furlong from home before bringing the Net Wizard-Matila colt with a pouncing run and drawing away from the field in a majestic manner.
The story was no different in the day`s opener as Vallerysthal, too, was hard to beat for the opposition in the Areonative Handicap. Ridden, once again, well off the pace in early half, before Suraj completed the formality of winning to give Vijay his first of the three wins in the afternoon`s seven-event card.
It was, perhaps, a day of bounce backs. Another of a promising filly in her youth, Exception (Nikhil Naidu), from James McKeown`s stable, chose to put her best foot forward, after about a 10 months of lay off, to score easily in the 1,600m Horendro Kristo Dutt Memorial Cup. The Classic filly`s career graph had been chequered since winning the Fillies` Trial Stakes during the 1998 monsoon season. Exception, however, boasts of placing in most of the major RCTC Classics, including the last winter`s St Leger. The Western Aristocrat-Edessya daughter, too, galloped off the pace and was brought with a late run to score as the Hyderabad challenger, Wave Raider (B. Mahesh), and Harvinder Bath`s Gold Bond (app Rupal Singh) had engaged themselves in a duel from the start but had spent all their energy.
Wins were hard to come in rest of the card, rather in lower classes—excepting for trainer Arti Doctor`s Communique (Imran Chisty) who, had to wait for long in the company of tail-enders. However, the horse made rapid progress in the home straight to have a narrow measure of the long time leaders -- Appalachee (app. Aditya Jaiswal) and Fancourt (Dashrath) -- in the dying stages of the 1,400m Dancing Colours Handicap.
Trainer Vikash Jaiswal`s moody long-priced galloper, Knight Of Thunder (app. Hasid Alam) chose to take a circuitous route to victory in the Starry Flag Handicap when Vijay`s Advait (Suraj) and Arti`s San Remo (R.S. Bhati) were disputing the issue. However, luck changed for better in Bhati`s favour when Richard Alford`s Houtzen just about managed to beat McKeown`s Ajeeta (app P, Vikram) at the post to win the 2,400m Icelandic Handicap.
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Vallerysthal (Suraj Narredu up) winner of the AREONATIVE HANDICAP
Knight Of Thunder (Hasib Alam up) winner of the STARRY FLAG HANDICAP
Communique (Imran Chisty up) winner of the DANCING COLOURS HANDICAP
Exception (Nikhil Naidu up) winner of the HORENDRO KRISTO DUTT MEMORIAL CUP
Court Jester (Suraj Narredu up) winner of the B K PODDAR CUP
Multitude (Suraj Narredu up) winner of the CALCUTTA CHAMPIONS` SPRINT TROPHY (GR.3)
Houtzen (R S Bhati up) winner of the ICELANDIC HANDICAP
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