It is often said among the racing fraternity that “form is only temporary while ‘class’ is permanent”. The adage came true at RCTC on Thursday as Vijay Singh-trained Setaflame and Bharath Singh-schooled Captain Cook renewed their rivalry in the season’s longest classic – The Calcutta St Leger. The duo had finished one-two in The Calcutta Million and Monsoon Derby and occupied the same berths here but in reversed order. Nevertheless, it was a great return to form for the runner-up Captain Cook who finished nowhere in the winter Derby. Credit must be given to the connections for paying a hefty final entry fee for their ward and taking a calculated risk.

The mile-and-three quarter classic saw Adzukis set a fairly decent pace (though it was not as fiery as in the Queen’s Cup) with Scarborough Fair and Setaflame in tow. The favourite Waveafterwave and Captain Cook were in the rear of the field. There was not too much chopping and changing of positions and Adzukis brought the field into the straight before being overhauled by his stablemate Setaflame (China Visit – Setaside/ Usha Stud) who shot ahead near the distance post. Though he had a head start of over three lengths on the “Captain”, the latter moved with giant strides in the closing stages to finish just half-length behind the winner. Both Kamlesh and Trevor had their whips flashing from the distance post. It was a great finish worthy of such an event.

Trevor however had some consolation during the afternoon as he notched up a good double with Tweedle Dee and Astaire. Both runners were ridden in virtually identical manner but the lad had to work harder on six-year-old Astaire (Burden Of Proof-Rhapsody In Blue/ Kunigal Stud) who had been knocking for some time. On-money favourite Anastasio set a cracking pace for the six-furlong sprint with Meet The Legend moving up to in second slot while Astaire was a close third along the rails. After heads turned for home, Trevor set his mount alight with a couple of cracks of the whalebone and did not relent till overhauling the front-runner close to the winning post. Trevor’s earlier winner was more easily earned as the favourite Tweedle Dee (Juniper-Linette/ Capricorn Stud) simply allowed top-weight Apercus to call the shots till the distance post before shooting ahead.

Trainer Daniel David and jockey Sandesh too bagged a double, but theirs was far more hard-earned. Sandesh had to go flat out on Treasure Island (Burden Of Proof-Crown Treasure/ Kunigal Stud) to get the better of runaway Words who keeps earning his oats without seeing the winning post. The favourite Snow White was an unimpressive fourth while Sparkling Silver looks much improved. Sandesh then completed the brace with a hard-fought victory on The Talisman (Noverre-Debinnair/ Sohna Stud) who pegged back the favourite Forest Hills close home in the calorific Handicap.

In the upper division of the Aristocrat Handicap, James McKeown’s Aaron’s (Win Legend-Aracruz (Dashmesh Stud) showed that she is a cut above the rest when she won as she liked after allowing Buckle Up to lead the way till the distance post. Popular owner and steward of the Club, Mr Subir Dasgupta, completed a heavily fancied brace when S John steered Dysnomia (Rebuttal-A La Votre/ Hazara Stud) to a smashing victory in the lower division of the Surfside Plate.

Terms of races framed continue to favour Evesham (Tariq-Everybody Counts/ Equus Stud) and he continues to win at unplayable cramped odds. Nevertheless, Macedonian gave the ‘pet’ horse of RCTC a good fight in the straight before predictably bowing to the ‘terms’. The food for thought here is whether such races are good for the ‘sport’ if such a word does exist any longer in the ‘game of kings’. The win also increased the tally of Vijay Singh and Christopher Alford.