EASTERN STAR PIPS HOT FAVOURITE TO WIN THE CALCUTTA COLTS TRIAL STAKES

Eastern Star & Mongolian King locked in battle as they crossed the line

The winner of the Calcutta Juvenile Sprint over 1100 m, Eastern Star (Knight’s Tour-Lyocel) was the best of the four runners that trainer Bharat Singh had in the Calcutta Colts Trial Stakes. Yet his task was a difficult one as he had to take on the Bangalore challenger Mongolian King who had won his lead up to the Trial Stakes in Kolkata after an unsuccessful trip to Ooty. His reputation was such that he went out the piping hot favourite in the race.

The first furlong of the race saw a bit of jostling take place caused by Sniper before he finally settled down to lead the pack with stalemate Lumos, Eastern Court was nicely settled in third on the rails with Coup De Grace and Mongolian King on his outside. The back markers were Lumenac and Lancaster. The favourite Mongolian King and Coup De Grace were scrubbed before heads turned for home while Eastern Star was seen moving into striking position. The front running pair led the field into the straight with Lumos taking over the running. Trevor astride the favourite got his mount going and took to the lead looking set to make the dash to the post a winning one. Mongolian King was looking powerful as he made headway, while Srinath astride Eastern Star had to maneuver his mount to the outside of Mongolian King before he could make his challenge. Straightening his mount, Srinath dug deep gaining ground with every stride. Two powerful and experienced riders put in their all pushing their wards to the fullest with Srinath astride Eastern Star succeeding in taming the King by a head at the line. Winning time was 1:27.48 secs. Sniper followed them home 2¾ lengths away in third, half a length ahead of Lumos in fourth.

The Presentation

Kolkata has seen outstation challengers run away with the plum races of the season year after year so this must have come as a relief as both the Trial Stakes for the Fillies and the Colts have been won by local horses. This was a special achievement for trainer Bharat Singh who has won this race for the third successive year. He won it in 2017 with Rufus (Lord Admiral-You’re So Beautiful) with Dashrath Singh in the saddle and in 2016 with Tweedle Dee (Juniper-Linette) ridden by C Alford. This was a hat trick for his owner Mr S Pathy and his stud farm, Sans Craintes Stud Farm Pvt Ltd.