The years of patronage by racing baron Deepak Khaitan has certainly helped jockey Christopher Alford fine tune his riding skills. Without doubt, his riding has improved by leaps and bounds and though he is still to mature into a top flight jockey, there is certainly promise at this stage. The confident manner in which he guided Andreyan to a comfortable victory over a tired Southern Regent in the Gr.2 Bangalore St. Leger on Sunday was ample testimony to Alford's growing skills. He rode with supreme confidence when sitting well off the pace and then timing his challenge to a nicety. On paper, Southern Regent looked a good proposition to win the Leger considering the fact that he had given weight and a beating to Andreyan when the two clashed in the Gr.2 Maharaja’s Cup two weeks ago. However, there were already signs that Southern Regent was losing his spark and finding the long and unending racing career a bit taxing on his enthusiasm and zest as evidenced by his narrow win in the previous essay. The Leger trip too was expected to pose problems for his stamina because in the Indian St Leger he had ground to a halt after bolting to the front and lost to Warsaw Pact in the dying moments of the race. But the question that begged to be answered was whether Andreyan or Aperitivo would provide enough of a challenge. In the event, superior sprinting abilities proved decisive as the son of Razeen powered his way to an effortless win over Southern Regent. It has indeed been a long wait for Andreyan and his trainer Rashid Byramji who had come tantalizingly close to winning the Derby and the Maharaja’s Cup but lost them frustratingly. The Deepak Khaitan camp had reason to be extremely happy with the way things unfolded on Sunday. Debutant Aristotle won the 1400 metres Esquire Cup, a maiden race for three year olds, in a sensational manner. Full brother to the celebrated duo,Wandering Star and Fond Fantasy, Aristotle and the daughter of Divine Light, Divin Lumiere were both strongly fancied to win but the Vijay Singh trainee had the race well sewn up even before the race was on the boil. Aristotle bolted to the front on turning for home with no apparent effort and thereafter jockey Alford could repeatedly look back and keep his horse on a tight leash even as Srinath rode out the Divin Lumiere with all the resources at his command without getting a suitable response. Surely, Aristotle should go places and it remains to be seen whether he will figure in the line up for the Gr.3 Usha Stud Bangalore Summer Million. The gold and red colors of Deepak Khaitan have dominated this particular race; having been successful in each of the last five runnings. New entrant to the sport, Nityanand, a man of many parts, has been enjoying a glorious summer season silencing many a detractor by saddling a bagful of winners from his modest stock. Maple Fondant became only the third horse during the season to win three races, the others being Holding Court and Powerthrust. The daughter of Young Senor just about hung on to win from Zabdiel and then survived an objection from the runner-up for causing interference in the final 300 metres. Srinath had to drive out Maple Fondant hard to retain the initiative he seized in the final furlong. Ryan Marshall on Dazzling Quintet took things easy but then the Stipes decided to overlook his lacklustre riding because they seem to be in a very generous mood this season. Maple Fondant thus won his third race from four starts. Indeed, it has been a commendable achievement for Nityanand who has performed much better than many a seasoned professional. He is a quick learner and his probing mind should surely help him do well in this field. In the lower division of the Astronomic Plate, Solarity recorded her second straight win. Solarity lost pace early on but moved up swiftly in the homestretch to have the measure of favourite Scottsville and win with comfort. Miss Beautiful also recorded an encore when she got stronger close home to down the challenge of Imperialism who shaped like a winner when he streaked into the lead on turning for home. Despite shifting out of a straight course, Miss Beautiful had enough reserves of energy to overhaul the front-runner quite easily. Arizza and Al Qamar were also strongly favoured to win. While the first named ran out of steam after being prominent at the final bend, Al Qamar continued to choke his supporters. Veteran jockey Shakti Singh was in the limelight, booting home a double after a longish gap. He drove out Diamond Caves to victory over Rivage in the D M Shivaswamy Memorial Cup. Rivage ended up second best for the third time in a row. Prejudice landed a big touch in the concluding race of the day when he put daylight between himself and the rest. Shakti Singh had an arm-chair ride to victory. There was big support for Absolute Black but the son of Pennine Ridge was hopelessly outpaced