Calcutta: Trainer Pesi Shroff’s Duke Of Tuscany (Suraj Narredu-up) produced a performance of rare authority while scoring an effortless victory in the 2,400m Queen Elizabeth II Memorial Cup, at the RCTC race ground on Saturday. Suraj give his charge, a tactical and immaculate ride settling in a handy third position as Golden Kingdom and High Command cut the early pace. Suraj waited patiently before angling to the rails on turning for home. Once alerted, the ‘Duke’ quickened impressively, and powered away in the straight to score as he pleased leaving Golden Kingdom and the rest in a wild goose chase.
Suraj enjoyed another memorable afternoon, on his way to completing a stylish treble.
He began his day with Deepesh Narredu-trained Mindful's victory in the 1,600m Philippines Cup. Mindful narrowly foiled Trevor Patel’s daring front-running bid, aboard Aeropoli, right on the wire.
Suraj's treble was sealed with another effortless victory atop Deepesh Narredu's ward, Enchanting who went on to pocket the upper division of the 1,400m Mamma’s Mink Handicap by over four lengths from Adeya. Make a note of the fourth placed Sporting Trainer who may strike in a less exalted company.
The afternoon began with trainer Rutherford Alford’s quartet occupying the first four places in the Contralto Handicap, with 15/1 outsider Godsend Divine (Shah Farid Ansari) scoring a decisive victory.
In the ‘no-whips’ race, the Ich Dien Handicap, trainer S. Waheed nursed Merlet (Imran Chisty) was back to winning ways after a lengthy lay-off. In the same race Lavish Girl placed an impressive second, while Resplendence, the course-favourite, called it a day, soon after entering the home straight.
Trevor was at his brilliant best, atop Xante in the Green Sari Handicap. The Suleiman Attaollahi’s Xanthe who earned a hard-fought, and the last-stride win over Cash N Run, to nail him down to the runner-up berth on the post.
The curtains came down to an exciting afternoon's racing when Rutherford Alford’s Banduk Wali (Vishal Bunde), inspire (Trevor Patel) and Rosalia (M.S. Deora) huddled to a thrilling finish in the lower division of the 1,400m Mamma’s Mink Handicap.