Calcutta: The Royal Calcutta Turf Club hosted an afternoon that truly justified the price of admission. It was rich in achievement, led by newly licensed trainer Ritesh, who opened his career account with a sparkling quadruple. After nearly three quiet months, his runners — Verrazzano, Cashable, Immortal Beauty and Booster Shot — delivered in style, making it a day he will cherish for the rest of his life. The yard received a surge of confidence that no pep talk could have provided.
Trevor Patel matched the feat in the saddle with yet another quadruple. Trainer Aashay Doctor also kept his scoreboard ticking, pocketing both feature events of the afternoon, with Trevor playing chief architect in their success.
The afternoon’s feature, the 1,600m Calcutta Million, saw Admiringly dominate from start to finish under Trevor’s assured handling. Saiko chased gamely but never truly threatened. In the Metropolitan sprint, Pantazi, ridden by Trevor, repeated the front-running script to score comfortably despite a declared overweight of 3.5kg. Top-weight Black Eagle reportedly suffered a saddle slip.
Ritesh’s run began in the opener, with hot favourite Verrazzano (A. Vikrant) scoring an easy win in the 1,600m Pentire Handicap, holding off Royal Member (R.S. Bhati), who finished strongly. He then swept both divisions of the 1,100m Aashna Handicap. In the upper division, Cashable, under Trevor’s strong finish, got the better of Marcolini (Imran Chisty) in the closing stages. Sir Winston’s bold but fading comeback effort must also be noted.
Immortal Beauty overhauled runaway Honey Cake (R.S. Bhati) to win the lower division comprehensively. Long shot Booster Shot (Nikhil Naidu) sealed the quartet in the 1,600m Carring Minds Cup, grinding out a stirring victory under 61.5kg against younger rivals. Multi Success (Vishal Bunde), who finished a fast-closing second, is one for the notebook.
The afternoon concluded with Rajesh Narredu’s Star Studded (Vishal Bunde) edging out Oaks winner Heart (Trevor Patel) in the 2,400m Sentouki Handicap. With a 7kg pull from their Derby meeting, logic prevailed — though not without a fight.