Calcutta: Jockey C. Alford is out to boost his winning tally on Thursday, the penultimate fixture in the truncated winter season. With just two meetings to go, Alford is already sitting pretty at the championship table with an unassailable 30-point lead over Neeraj Rawal.

The trainers’ championship, too, is in the safe-keeping of Vijay Singh who, with a score of 42, leads over Daniel David by 21 points. In fact, the contest in this department is going to be for the second slot between Daniel and Harvinder Singh Bath who are separated by barely two points.

The afternoon’s eight-event card, however, appears to be a tricky one but Vijay’s ward Askarel, in the 1,400m Executive Force Cup, may carry his top weight to another victory. The horse is already a winner of two easy races this season and Alford may be trusted to steer the Local Talent son to another victory.

1. Imperial Pearl Cup 1,100m Rt 00-30 1.15pm

1       - - 00       Top Gear [Stephens] Aharwal       62.0       2

2       2004       One Man Army [Vikash] Chisty       61.0       1

3       0244       Betelgeuse [Vikash] Rajinder       60.5       6

4       - 042       Amber Cat [Bath] Mahesh       60.0       4

5       0000       Time Warner [Anupam] Nelson M.       59.5       8

6       - 000       Lip Gloss [Bharath] Ashish       59.0       9

7       0230       Smiles [R.Alford] Srinivas Rao       58.5       5

8       0000       Italian Beauty [Stephens] I.Khan       58.0       7

9       0200       Memorable Verse [Daniel] Aman       57.5       3

10       - - - 0       Corsica [Jaiswal] Haroon       54.5       12

11       4100       Corvino [Jaiswal] Gajender       52.5       10

12       0000       Arrayal [R.Alford] Brij       51.5       11

13        0400       Penny [R.Alford] Malcolm M.       47.0       13

1. AMBER CAT (4) 2. ITALIAN BEAUTY (8) 3. one man army (2)

Amber Cat: Went down to Mirror Image who scored again. May do better over the shorter course. Italian Beauty: Well in at the weights. May upset.

7. Executive Force Cup 1,400m Rt 40-90 4.45pm

1       2211       Askarel [Vijay] C.Alford       60.0       6

2       0433       Entrepreneur [Stephens] Malcolm M.       59.5       1

3       0200       Orlando Blood [Daniel] Gurang       58.5       11

4       0232       Solid Success [Rutherford] Ashish       57.5       13

5       0434       Fabulous Emperor [Daniel] Aman       55.5       4

6       3440       Local Warrior [Javed] Domingo       55.0       12

7       2004       Mangalya Prarambh [D.Byramji] Mahesh       55.0       7

8       4400       Portpatrick [Bharath] Israil       53.5       10

9       0000       King’s Desire [Jasbir] Pawan       53.0       9

10       3444       Acrostic [Bath] Afzal       51.5       5

11       4244       Adalira [Javed] Chisty       51.5       3

12       - 102       Saddlers Star [Sait] Vinay       49.0       8

13        1011       Crown Princess [Shroff] Kadam       48.0       2

1. Askarel (1) 2. mangalya prarambh (7) 3. entrepreneur (2)

Askarel: A better class horse who is heading for his third straight win. Mangalya Prarambh: Improving with each run. Well in at the weights too. Entrepreneur: May upset.

SELECTIONS

1.15pm: Amber Cat 1. Italian Beauty 2. One Man Army 3.

1.50pm: Axminster 1. Casabella 2. Excel 3.

2.25pm: Mystic Force 1. St Moritz 2. Mysterio 3.

3pm: India Jones 1. Roxy 2. Brave Move 3.

3.35pm: Alamgir 1. Simply Perfect 2. Swiss King 3.

4.10pm: Glorious Knight 1. Great Heart 2. Man About Town 3.

4.45pm: Askarel 1. Mangalya Prarambh 2. Entrepreneur 3.

5.20pm: Regal Appeal 1. Black Dahlia 2. Royal Ballerina 3.

Day’s Best: Askarel Double: Amber Cat & Alamgir