Calcutta: Aashay Doctor trained-Meropi (P. Tejeshwar-up) claimed the prestigious 1,400m Indian Champagne Stakes, for three-year-olds, here, on Saturday. Entrusted to the stable apprentice P. Tejeshwar, after the declared rider Y. S. Srinath got injured earlier in the afternoon, the young lad rode a copy book race astride the Western Aristocrat filly to easily get the better of Vijay Singh-trained-Dedicate (Suraj Narredu) after a brief duel in the final furlong. Grace (Imran Chisty) finished a faraway third in the race while another of Vijay's much hyped debutant, Littorio, played up on way to the start and also ran green to finish in the ruck.
The day’s honours were shared between trainers Javed Khan and Vijay Singh along with jockey A. Sandesh. Each of the three scored a double apiece.
The afternoon also witnessed three Trophy events, patronized and blessed by the Kolkata Police, -adding colours to the day’s proceedings. The Police Commissioner’s Cup and The Kolkata Mounted Police Cup were claimed by Vijay Singh's pair of Arabian Queen (Suraj Narredu) and Monteverdi (A.Sandesh).
Arabian Queen had to be pressed hard to get past the runaway Silverita (Sujit Paswan) in the final 100m while a consistent Devushka finished third.
Monteverdi, too, had to be ridden out to stave off the challenge of C. Alford-trained Mandolin (Tejeshwar) while trainer Imtiaz Sait’s Pisa (Imran Chisty) placed third.
The Police Martyrs Cup saw Aashay Doctor-trained, Pepper (Y.S. Srinath) being withdrawn at the gates. The withdrawal of the even-money favourite, made the task of Javed khan’s last start winner Dr Doom easy. The Doom got the better of the top-weighted runner, Blue Origin (Tejeshwar). Chisty, as always, excelled in the saddle when he took the right gaps, entering the final stretch while Tejeshwar decided take a circuitous route to pass the front runners and to make his move. The Flying Eagle showed some zest to finish third in the same race.
Javed’s odds on favourite Magneto ( A. Sandesh) completed the mere formality of winning day’s opener, the 2,400m Accalia Handicap .The horse won by over four lengths from the lowly-weighted Prosperous Prince (Hindu Singh).
Vikash Jaiswal’s long shot, Script (Sujit Paswan) scored an easy start-to-finish victory over his fancied stable-mate Indian Star (Vinay Jaiswal) and Sea Dragon while favourite El Patron never raised hopes at any stage of the race.
The concluding event saw Daniel David trained Castillo (Nikhil Naidu) getting the better of trainer Suraj Shaw’s western India import, Ahren (P.Surya) winning the race after a ding-dong battle all down the straight, Mount Reno placed third behind the fighting pair as Vijay's favourite Tuscany (Sandesh) failed to make any impact during the race.