Trainer Vijay Singh`s prized colt, Black Pearl, cruised home to a facile victory in the Calcutta 2000 Guineas on Friday. The flawless win of the Planetaire-Alvarita colt, following speculations like inadequate preparations for a Classic may have surprised purists but jockey Suraj Narredu felt fully satisfied with the performance of the Derby Hopeful, in the post race interview.

Held back almost in the rear, behind the long time leader, Mountain Lion (Trevor Patel), Supreme Legacy (Akhshay Kumar) – the stable-mate and others – Black Pearl always seemed to be travelling a double-handful until 300m from home.

The half-money favourite was shaken up to bisect Mountain Lion and the improving Supreme Legacy, only a furlong from home to score his fifth straight win, maintaining his unbeaten record.

The focus in the 1,400m Maharajadhiraja Uday Chand Mahtab of Burdwan Memorial Cup, was on the western India migrant, Awesome One (Trevor), trained by Aashay Doctor. The 14/10 favourite`s superior class was expected to take care of his long absence from the track and a good jockey on his back was the added bonus.

Awesome One performed in the expected manner – held back, well off the pace along rails, Awesome One came the shortest way home to pounce on the tiring leaders – Amorous White (app Rupal Singh), Riquewihr (app P. Tajeshwar), New Moon (Nikhil Naidu) and others as Vijay`s Prince Satsuma (Akshay Kumar), too, tried to make a desperate bid to catch-up with the winner.

Focus was also on Vijay`s two firm favourites – Waytogo (Trevor) and Dornish (Hindu Singh) – in their respective events, but things went wrong from the very start in the case of first named horse.

Waytogo was very fractious while being loaded, more importantly, even after being boxed. As a result of this the top-weighted colt lost about a couple of lengths after the gates opened.

Waytogo`s antics at the start may have helped Javed Khan`s Devine Chakra (A. Sandesh) win the race -- by a shade over a length -- but very marginally. The Leit Motif filly dominated the proceedings from the very start and triumphed deservingly.

Vijay`s Dornish, too, was out-paced and out done with by the early dominance of an ideally handicapped Raunak Banerji`s long-priced runner, Big Star (Arshad Alam).

Fortune, however, smiled on the champion trainer in concluding event, the Grand Madame Handicap when Vijay`s last outing shocking winner, Hukumat (Hindu) decided to cash in on his present fitness again, and at long odds. Hukumat was nowhere in sight until the last furlong as Raunak`s long time leader, was in control with Vijay`s recent winner Abhya Gama (Suraj) trying to catch-up. But another late dash altered the scenario with the Hukumat`s scoring comfortably.

Aashay had opened his account early in the afternoon when his young filly, Intellection (Dhanu Deora) won the 2,000m Twilight Lady Handicap comfortably. The Western Aristocrat daughter was, however, seen shifting out in the home straight but the young trainer is expected to take corrective measures and cash in on her form.

Amazing Dream, a hot-favourite two-year-old fully justified his short odds in four-horse-strong 1,100m Nikita Plate. Leading from the front the Strong Suit colt had to be reminded of his task by Y.S. Srinath 250m from home but that was just a matter of routine exercise.

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Amazing Dream (Y S Srinath up) winner of the Nikita Plate

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Intellection (Dhanu Singh Deora up) winner of the Twilight Lady Handicap

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Devine Chakra (A Sandesh up) winner of the Sreepriya Handicap

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Big Star (Arshad Alam up) winner of the Alvarada Handicap

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Black Pearl (Suraj Narredu up) winner of the Calcutta 2000 Guineas (2020) (Gr.2)

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Awesome One (Trevor Patel up) winner of the Maharajadhiraja Uday Chand Mahtab Of Burdwan Memorial Cup

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Hukumat (Hindu Singh up) winner of the Grand Madame Handicap

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