Aristotle runs into form
By Aalibaba (indiathoroughbreds@hotmail.com)

Kolkata
Dec 02, 2006

Aristotle’s bounced back to form in resplendent style to win the 1600 m Bangalore Turf Club Cup, saturday's feature event.  Jockey C.Alford took the Razeen-Excentrique gelding to the front right after the start and there was no looking back for the last year’s Calcutta Derby winner. Now that Aristotle has run into form, he is bound to start as a favourite in the Calcutta Gold Cup later this month. 

In contrast, the victory of Right Again, in the 2,000m Galstaun Cup, was far from impressive. The earlier win of the three-year-old had raised hope of his Classic potential but, on this day, Vijay’s Andrology, made the Steinbeck-Artwork son, with Colm O'Donoghue in the saddle, sweat for a length victory. 

Daniel and O’Donoghue also combined to land the Revelation Plate with Red Sails.  The Always A Rainbow-Ring Dancer juvenile had to wait till the last 125m to overtake the leader, Elemental Wish, a Robin Corner-trained filly, before kicking away for a length-plus victory.

The saga of favourites did not stretch beyond the first three events in day’s seven-event card. Salinger, in the Topspin Handicap dealt a severe blow The Tarak Nath Jaiswal’s trainee had trailed the field in a scurry after his convincing win over an identical trip earlier in the season. The mile trip of the Topspin Handicap got the best out of the Storm Trooper son when ridden by the visiting western India apprentice, L. Prashant.

Salinger was up with the leaders, Ganga Bose and No Politics Please, till about 300m from home before kicking away from the field. He traversed on the wide out to have an easy measure of Daniel’s favourite, Powers Court, who was partnered by O’Donoghue.

Prashant’s glory was, however, short-lived. In the concluding event, the 1200m San Francisco Handicap, the apprentice had misfortune of being unseated from a wayward Awesum Attitude. He had a nasty fall passing the winning post and fractured his thighbone. The race was claimed by a quietly wagered Romantic Escape, thanks to the burst blood vessels of Nose Nothing who tried to win from the start but knuckled under after challenged in the last 100m by the winner, a Javed Khan-trainee.