Trainer Vijay Singh`s heavily fancied filly Success (Suraj Narredu-up) kept her date with the 1,600m Calcutta 1000 Guineas, a Grade III race, sponsored by Wolf777, which was the main attraction in Friday`s race card. The well-bred filly, by Havana Gold out of Columella, went to the start as a 7/10 hot favourite. Although Success` margin of victory was a bare length and-a-quarter over the visiting Bangalore entry, Shabelle (Trevor Patel), but the favourite was spotted as a winner past the distance-post.

In fifth till the home turn, in a fast run Guineas -- with the likes of Rasina Star (C.S.Jodha), Queenstown (Neeraj Rawal) and Shabelle at the helm – Success was brought in the home straight seven horses wide.

Shabella, in the meanwhile had assumed the charge of the running and heading towards the winning post but Success, on the wide out, produced an brilliant gallop to not only catch-up with the leader but also win comfortably. Vijay`s another improving filly Arabian Queen (P.S. Chouhan) was a creditable third, pushing Queenstown out of the remunerative berth,

Early in the afternoon, Vijay-Suraj combinations had opened their account with the victory of Secret Pearl to land the 1,400m Agostini Handicap. The winner, a 9/4 joint-favourite with a better handicapped, Santana (Anthony Raj) - from Bharath Singh`s stable – treated the later with little respect. Santana was allowed to control the race upfront but the five-year-old had no answer to the challenge of a year younger, Secret Pearl, inside the last furlong. The fact that the final verdict between the two was close to two lengths while the rest of the field was out-classed, Santana may display his mettle in a lesser company.

Trainer Aashay Doctor`s 9/10 favourite, Stockbridge (Neeraj), was expected to be home and dry in the 1,600m Madras Race Club Cup. However, his stable-mate, Malwa (Sujit Paswan) and Vijay`s Monsoon Derby winner Oasis (Hindu Singh) made it a close affair. In fact, Oasis could have finished much more closer to the winner than taking the beating of about a length, had the 4/1 shot not been forced to switch lanes in the final 150m of the race. The David Livingston`s son was, hard-pressed to beat Malwa, by a neck, leave alone the favourite.

Trainer Patrick Quinn, too, had a profitable afternoon – a brace of wins through Dream Chaser (Anthony Raj) and Properly Posh (Afzal Khan), in the their respective events. While most in the opposition contributed to hail Dream Chaser`s triumph in the 1,400m Noble View Handicap, jockey Afzal Khan set a play fair example on his way to registering an easy victory on Properly Posh in the 1,200m Star Team Handicap. However, there is no point to getting into a deep discussion that may add to one`s confusion. Yes, one thing is for granted that Properly Posh is capable of winning again.

The day`s opener, the 2,000m Pentire Handicap was for trainer Javed Khan`s asking, after Vijay`s Tycoonist (app Hasib Khan) ran short of gas that terminated his pillar-to-post efforts below the distance post. The situation became tailor-made for Javed`s 9/4 favourite, Arrow Point (YS Srinath) to make a rapid effort after chasing Tycoonist and Thar (Sujit Paswan) until; the final 200m, and to win untroubled. The horse may strike again if kindly treated by the handicapper for the three-year-old filly`s back-to-back easy wins.