Amor Amor is out of the gate like a shot. Sired by long-distance champion Razeen, 2,000 metres is no problem for liquor and airline baron Vijay Mallya’s filly, but she just isn’t trained enough. Industrialist Deepak Khaitan’s Aerator soon takes over, maintaining a lead till the final 600 m. Meanwhile, Dandified, another Khaitan bay colt trained by Vijay Singh, moves from the last berth to a healthy second spot. The home stretch of the Kolkata turf is short, and Dandified, with Christopher Alford atop, takes the lead right before the bend. Dandified has won the Calcutta Monsoon Derby 2011.
“This is the view,” exhales an elated Anit Casyab, the young assistant manager-cum-commentator of Royal Calcutta Turf Club (RCTC). It is Christopher Alford’s coveted 1,000th win. His family has been involved in horse racing since the 17th century, tracing its roots back to Scotland. Alford’s great uncle, Tom, was an accomplished trainer in the 50s. His uncle, Richard, 71, is one of the greatest jockeys Kolkata has produced. In 1962, he achieved the rare feat of winning six races in a day on different horses, when he was 19. “From one sprint during the morning workout, I’d know whether the horse was a Maruti or Mercedes, and pace them accordingly,” he says nonchalantly. Richard’s son Rutherford sits on a wheelchair, after three horses trampled him during a race in Bangalore. “I’m an ‘A’ licence trainer now,” he says, eyes lighting up.
The RCTC is home to many a myth and legend; it breeds raconteurs. Sonu Gandhi, 79, publisher of the Calcutta Race Book (known as the yellow book), remembers the race where Mica Empress, a mare owned by Maharaja Venkateswar Rao, broke her leg. She had won six races on the trot, including the esteemed South India Oaks and the Indian Champion’s Cup in 1970, before a jolt from behind brought her down. Mica had to be euthanised, but her fall was immortalised by a photograph taken by Mr Banerjee, a colleague of Gandhi. Later, a tournament — the Mica Empress Cup of Hyderabad — was named after her. “The crowd was in tears that day,” Richard Alford remembers.
The race course itself was headed for a similar fate. In 2007, the RCTC was on the verge of bankruptcy. The number of horses was down to 300, more than two-thirds owned by MAM Ramaswami and Deepak Khaitan. The then state sports minister, Subhash Chakraborti, had proposed a sports complex on the grounds.
That’s where the great RCTC turnaround began. Under the leadership of Cyrus Madan and current RCTC chairman Deepak Khaitan, money was pumped back into Calcutta races. The RCTC survived, and it is prospering now. “We’re building a state-of-the-art member’s lounge, complete with billiards and card rooms, a full-facility gym, spa and sauna,” says Casyab. “As the stakes have risen, owners from all over India are sending horses. The RCTC can hold its own against any club in India now,” Richard Alford insists.
K B Madan, uncle of Cyrus Madan, has been a regular at the Calcutta races since 1944. “Gambling was not the first interest during those days. We didn’t know the phrase ‘fashion parade’, but if anything came close, that would be the member’s stand on winter Saturdays.” Madan’s serene description becomes clearer in this context, complemented by Gandhi’s ebullient recollection. “Oh, those frocks, those hats, those colourful shoes… only Parsee ladies could carry that style.”
What the commentator’s box means to Casyab today was a now-defunct dining room for Madan, right above the finishing spot. “You could watch horses thrash past the line while having a beautiful lunch.”
The appellation ‘Royal’ was granted to the Calcutta Turf Club in 1912, following the visit of King George V. The last Grand National steeplechase at the venue was won by a horse called Killbuck in 1929, owned by the father of Hollywood actress Vivien Leigh. According to Gandhi, legendary jockey Lester Piggott — winner of 29 English classics — cut his tour short and returned to England, since he didn’t win a single race during that 1969-70 season in Calcutta. He remembers owner Ivor Chouls, the pride of Kolkata’s Jewish community.
The stewardship of RCTC passed to the Maharajas after Independence. “They wanted pictures of themselves holding reins of the winning horse, not money,” Gandhi notes. They saw the Rajas dispossessed by industrialists, the Parsees and Jews move to greener pastures, and racing morph into a local sport, after prohibitive import duties stopped inflow of thoroughbred horses. Decades later, they saw everything else going global around them, once again. Yet, they remain loyal to Kolkata. Madan believes, “The reason we have so many close finishes here is good handicapping.” The first Indian trainer to work in Dubai, Richard Alford believes Kolkata’s is one of the most picturesque turfs in Asia.
Madan and Alford still drive their cars to the races. Gandhi, having problems with his right foot, had to stay home this Durga Puja. “This is the first time I have been in one place for five straight days,” he says.
They all talk about the thrill of winning, but there is more to the journey. “I often get horses rejected by others. I know some of them are not as good as others. But the point is to keep them running. If they lose, their handicap will be lighter. Maybe they will be demoted a class. That will increase their chances,” says Arti Doctor, the first woman trainer in western India who moved to Kolkata three years ago.
Among the countless horses Alford rode, Midnight Cowboy is special. Alford received the colt when it was two, and rode it almost exclusively for three years, winning classics like the Mysore Derby and Calcutta St Lager in 1975. “We had an inexplicable synchronisation. My head would be close to his ears, and I spoke to him more than using the whip.”
The Alfords say they will never leave. Perhaps, that is why one of man’s oldest passions will stay alive in Kolkata.