Trainer Vijay Singh’s indomitable stayer, Shivansh(Top Class-Immortal Story), proved beyond doubt that his victory in the Queen’s Cup last month was no flash in the pan as he lifted the Calcutta St Leger on Saturday over an identical trip of 2800m. Jockey Suraj Narredu sat in a box seat and watched stablemate Aashna set a cracking pace till the 1000m marker where he took over the running. David Allan astride the filly Exception set off in hot pursuit behind the favourite but found his pace a little too hot to handle. Rather unfortunately, the filly burst her blood vessel and bled through both her nostrils.  She ended up a tame fourth. Arjun Mangalorkar’s Point To Prove came with raking strides in the final 200m to finish an impressive runner-up. Oaks winner Oriana was a good third. Both these runners  deserve to gointo the notebook for future reference.

Trainer Vijay Singh ended the day with five winners – four of these were in the green and gold colours of  Mr. Subir Dasgupta – the odd one out being Arjuna in the goldie-brown  colours of the late MAM stable.

Jockey Suraj Narredu piloted three of Vijay’s winners The Classic Sky Cup won by unfancied filly Izzy (Western Aristocrat-La Joie de Vie)  saw two riders come down. Both Hindu Singh and Zervan are reported to be doing well. Nikhil Naidu, who fell from Fabiola in the day’s last race, is under observation. Roxor ended up a good second to Izzy while Astoria once again ran out of gas.

The first of Vijay’s five winners saw apprentice Hasib Alam atop Dakshesh (Varenaar-Elegante) get the better of runaway Kefira at the post. The latter seemed to have the race in the bag at the distance post but once again fell short by a whisker. Arjuna (Pleasantly Perfect-Disarming)bagged the Eastern Air Command Cup after a keen contest with front-running Coup De Grace. Nikhil Naidu got a chance ride astride Smith And Wesson (Abbeyside-Bold Reply) and made the most of it despite the 2kg overweight he declared. The five-year-old beat a poor field of runners in the mile race for The Indian Airforce Cup.Aged Rule Downunder ran a good second. The last of Vijay’s five winners was Lakshay (Varenaar-Hugoshair) who won a three-way finish with Millenium Glory and Glorious Sun – thanks to the finishing punch of Suraj Narredu.

Trainer Vikash Jaiswal needs to be complimented for maintaining his aged runners in tip-top condition. Eight-year-old Indus Prince (Noverre-Patricia) won the opening race of the day while making every post a winning one. Though challenged by Casablanca at the top of the straight, jockey Vinay Jaiswal kept the old versatile warhorse going well till the winning post. Stablemate and favourite Optimum ended up second.Another aged runner to get the better of youngsters was Shafiq Kan’s eight-year-old Flanker who was ridden to a narrow victory over fast finishing Dangal. Lumenac too ran a good race and will be worth keeping an eye on.