Jockey A. Sandesh ridden Sea Lion, the most in-experienced runner in the nine-horse field, recorded a thumping victory over a playful at the gates, Eastwood (Neeraj Rawal), to land the 1,600m Bookmakers` Association Calcutta 2,000 Guineas at the RCTC race ground on Sunday. Trained by Neil Darashah, the Phoenix Tower-Tropical Blue son had recorded his maiden win only about five weeks ago and was rated 42, the lowest in the elite company. Hopes were high from trainer Vijay Singh`s half-money favourite Jake (Suraj Narredu) but the winner of five races, from six starts -- including a near 10-length bloodless victory, exactly a month ago – produced another doleful performance to suggest that his habit of letting down on big occasions was a major factor one has to contend with.

The only indication coming from Sea Lion`s maiden victory -- in the hands of jockey Arshad Alam – was that the jockey had done everything possibly wrong and yet scored comfortably. However, Sandesh was in full command right from the start of the race – sniffing the tail of the leader, Galen, right from the start and taking over the running from the 600m marker, the ‘Manjari` bred horse inched his way up with every stride to finally win by six and half-a-length. The two runners – Eastwood and The Protector (S. Zervan) who graced the wrong-end of the field were seen coming with electrifying runs to occupy the minor berths. However, again, Eastwood was lucky to have a clear galloping room along rails in the home run while The Protestor had to take a circuitous route to place a neck behind Eastwood, another ‘Manjari` bred horse. Apparently, The Protector gives the impression that the Derby trip of 2,400m is more to his liking and the Excellent Art son-Mauna Kia son needs to be on the watch list.

Darashah had readied his stock for the big day. In the day`s opener, the 1,600m Cavalary Cup, Darashah`s Vanguard (Chethan Gowda) made a very eye-catching debut. Trailing the field, until the home turn, the horse was seen making a steady progress and finally, 200m from home he took an easy measure of Arrow (Arshad Alam) and drew over to win by more than three lengths.

Another horse who also made a positive impact was Javed Khan`s Who Dares Wins (Akshay Kumar) in the 1,200m Lt Gen. Jameel Mahmood Memorial Cup. The Win Legend`s stoutly made filly was backed down to 9/10 but lost some ground at the start. Akshay, however, nursed her in the mid-division and the filly responded well to the jockey`s power-packed urging for about a length`s victory over Santana (P.S. Chauhan) who was always with the front runners.

Midway through the card Akshay had ridden a well-judged race on Vijay`s Dandi Satyagraha for another easy victory to land the 1,200m Army Services Corps (ASC) Cup. Galloping in the mid-division; until the home turn, Chevalier colt got the right assistance in the saddle to make his victory look easy, after a brief engagement with the long time leader, Louboutin.

Vikash Jaiswal`s Fenicia Mist (Neeraj Rawal), too, had an easy measure of trainer Faizal Abbas`s speedy filly Exotic Queen (Zervan) after a brief struggle inside the final furlong to land the 1,100m Eastern Command Cup.

Trainer Sorab Sunderji`s three-year-old Nishk (C.S. Jodha), once again, failed to deliver the goods as a favourite. In the 1,400m Bengal Su-Area Cup, the Top Class son led till into the straight and shortened his strides, leaving Harvinder Bath`s Adornica (Nikhil Naidu) come with a late run, to pounce on the other front runners – Creation of Gods (Zervan) and Script (R.S. Bhati) -- close home.