Indiarace.com - india's first & foremost horse racing portal

JAKE FOXES ST LEGER RIVALS

By Epsom Ace | 02 Mar 2022 | KOLKATA


Mr Subir Dasgupta & trainer Vijay Singh leading Jake (Antony Raj S Up), winner of The Calcutta St. Leger

A master-stroke by champion trainer Vijay Singh saw his ward Jake (Win Legend-Aerona) make every post a winning one in the 2800 metres race for the Calcutta St Leger at RCTC on Wednesday. The big made handsome bay colt was given a free rein by jockey S. Anthony Raj and it worked wonders for the connections as he showed a clean pair of heels all the way to the wire. After his poor performances in the 2000 Guineas and The Derby, Vijay decided to make a change of riding tactics and instructed Anthony accordingly. He was all praise for the young lad who did not resort to the stick even once or peep over his shoulder. After opening a long gap of about 15 lengths, Anthony gave his mount a breather between the 1000m and the 600m markers when fancied runner Eastwood narrowed the gap to about four lengths before Anthony made a bee line for the winning post – hands and heels. The fact that he stopped the clock at 2min 59.345sec speaks volumes of the staying ability of this prize property of Subir Dasgupta. One race earlier, the same combo of owner-trainer-rider had tasted success with their filly Ieilani (Win Legend -One Vision) who won the 2000 metres race for the Nationalistic Handicap. The favourite and top-weight Dornish ran a poor race, probably because he was running three days after running another 2000 metres race when he went down narrowly to Justified. 

Vijay's other two winners of the day were Legendary Striker and Raisina Star, both of whom won in the hands of Suraj Narredu without raising a sweat. Legendary Striker (Be Safe-Striking View) completed a hat-trick when he won the sprint for the VK Chaudhuri Memorial Cup start-to-finish while three-year-old Raisina Star (Top Class-Malakaye Ziba) followed suit in the very next race – the Red Chief Plate. This was the second win of her career.

The afternoon commenced with HS Bath-trained Lady Laurane (Hymn-Lantana Lady) gaining a narrow verdict over Joanna and breaking out of the maiden ranks. The runner-up will be worth keeping an eye on in future races as she appears to have improved considerably. The sprint for the Aleksei Handicap was a closely contested affair with Vikash Jaiswal-trained Ashwamegh (Net Whizz-Fantasy Moon) coming up trumps close home. The fancied runners Lion Queen and Rush For Gold ran below-par races.

The curtain came down with trainer B Mahesh pulling off a fine gamble with western-India import Bahuleyan (Planetaire – Noble Lady). There were three four-year-old season winners in that field – Tres Bien, Cape Tanaros and Star Justice, but none of them were any match for this five-year-old non-winner from the west whose last run  saw him place third in the lowest class there. This result gives a fair idea of the different scales of calibration at the two centres – sad but true!