Trainer Vijay Singh's grey colt, Snowscape, scored an upset victory in the biggest race of his career, the 2,400m Eveready Calcutta Derby Stakes, Sunday's main attraction in the nine-event card. Ridden by the champion jockey Christopher Alford, the China Visit-Snow Tiger son ran far above expectation to thrash the seven-horse Derby field. The horse's monsoon season's form was poor and he was beaten by all and sundries in the Classics but the top-rated horse of the last season kept his date with the Derby. The trainer paid rich compliment to the horse, whom he always considered to be a good thoroughbred who had to produce his best, sooner or later. That the horse decided to put his best foot forward in the Derby was a pleasing surprise.

Snowscape was held back in sixth berth while the 6-4 favourite Borsalino tried to win the Rs 1 crore-plus purse in his customary style – start-to-finish. The Mumbai challenger, Hamlet, followed the leader at a safe distance, while Franenstein was in tow with the Oaks winning filly, Silverina. The Hyderabad challenger, Tintinnabulation, and Snowscape followed the frontrunners in the order named. Borsalino gave the distress signal in to the final journey and it was the time Snowscape changed gear and went breezing past the leader who was easily overtaken by Tintinnabulation close to the winning post. The Derby also witnessed one of the runner, Franenstein, dying after crossing the winning post because of the cardiac arrest.

Snowscape's upset victory on a cloudy day was no exception; the afternoon was totally ruled by less fancied winners. The biggest blow was delivered by trainer Javed Khan's Stand Apart, who was ridden well off the pace and came with a good turn of foot to overhaul her rivals in the 1,200m The Telegraph Cup. Jockey Mohammed Islam partnered the winner. In the same race, trainer Imtiaz Sait’s last outing bloodless winner, Silver Silver, attracted most of the betting at 16-10 but the top-weighted runner was no match for the second placed horse Flying Star, leave alone the winner. Trainer Manvendra Singh’s Cee Four was a good third and warrants following.

Vijay’s Adabella justified her odds to the fullest in the 1,200m Alokananda Stakes which the Multidimensional-Serrafina filly won from Bharath Singh’s Scooby Do. The winner was also held well off the pace but she took time to gather momentum in the home straight. Once in the motion, she left the early leaders – Money Maker and – Scooby Do – far behind.

Vijay’s another bright youngster, Adelino, failed, once again. Starting as a 4-10 hot favouite, the Steinbeck, ridden by Christopher, was traveling a handy fifth till the turn and was brought the shortest way home to come abreast of the longtime leader, Double Do. However, jockey Vinay Jaiswal got something extra out of the debut making Double Do in the final 50m of the race to post a shocking victory.

The visiting Irish jockey Joseph O’Brien aroused quite an interest in the local quarters but failed leave a lasting impression. His Derby ride Hamlet proved as an ordinary galloper, later in the afternoon but the jockey had also failed the test on Coppelia, the Pesi Shroff-trained filly who went to the start as a 9-10 favourite in the Angel Agritech Cup. Joseph settled the top-weighted filly third behind Sreedhan and Ardent N Graceful till nearing the last furlong. He also sent the Noverre daughter into the lead for brief while. Howcver, he failed to retain the advantage when trainer Bharath Singh’s pair of Credit Squeeze (A. Sandesh-up) and Glynneath (Vinay Jaiswal) jumped onto the fray after spending some time in the mid-division. Credit Squeeze won the race,

More close finishes were in stores in the day. In the 1,100m Hyderabad Race Club Cup, it was trainer Harvinder Bath’s Ares who posted a surprise win over a fancied pair of Viva La Diva and Arrow In Auto Mode. However, Ares managed to down the longtime leader Viva La Diva in the final 50m of the race with Arrow In Auto Mode also close behind. The winning luck had deserted Bath’s Haynestown (C. Alford-up), in the curtainraiser, the N. Karanjawalla Cup. The 3-1 favourite was held back alongside of Ijlal in the fifth berth and they also raised the gallop simultaneously but Ijlal, with Chisty in the saddle, proved hard to catch for the favourite.

In fact, Chisty was in full flow and the jockey helped trainer Patrick Quinn score a popular double through Snow Mountain and Snow Princess, the winners the 1,100m Red F.M. Cup and the 1,200m Robin Hood Cup, respectively.