Calcutta: Rutherford Alford signed off the season in devastating style, hammering home a sensational quadruple on a dramatic Good Friday at the RCTC race grounds.
Rutherford struck early with a sizzling hat-trick before icing the cake with the 6/1 shot Gimmler—and, truth be told, it could easily have been six.
He went desperately close in the feature, the 1,200m Punter’s Delight Handicap, where Conjurer (Neeraj Rawal) ran her heart out but had to settle for second behind the ever-consistent Merlet, trained by S. Waheed and brilliantly ridden by R. Vaibhav.
The afternoon began with No Worry, a last-start favourite who recouped losses. Hugging the rails under Hindu Singh, he stormed through to win the 1,200m Beat The Distance Handicap, beating stablemate Diamond Gold.
In the very next race, Indian Jack (Trevor Patel) stormed home in the 1,400m Robin Hood Cup, with Trevor delivering a copybook ride.
The juggernaut rolled on when Rudra (Md. Azharuddin), a 10/1 shocker, made every post a winning one to land the upper division of the 1,200m Adelita Handicap, narrowly holding off favourite Cache (Suraj Narredu) and giving Rutherford three on the trot.
Suraj Narredu was not far behind in the spotlight. He opened his account aboard Vijay Singh-trained Sir Winston, the top-weight who proved too strong in the lower division of the Adelita Handicap. He followed up with a gritty win aboard Sabeel Shariff-trained Cash N Run in the upper division of the Cupid Handicap, edging out Rutherford’s Three Little Words (Neeraj Rawal) in a nail-biting finish.
Hindu Singh too rode a double. In the 1,600m Sunray Handicap, he guided Javed Khan-trained Royal Member to back-to-back wins. Hindu Singh produced a tactically brilliant ride to overpower Verrazzano (Suraj Narredu) in the closing stages.
Neeraj Rawal, however, had the final say.In the concluding event here timed his challenge to perfection, he produced Gimmler late to land the lower division of the 1,200m Cupid Handicap, denying the ever-consistent Jimmy Bee.
SEASON TOPPERS:
Aashay Doctor (Champion Trainer – 30 wins)
Suraj Narredu (Champion Jockey – 52 wins)
Arrived (Horse of the Season)
Jimmy Bee (Horse of the Year)
Koushik Dutta (Leading Owner)
Pravesh Gupta – The Telegraph (Leading Tipster).