Trainer Pesi Shroff`s piping hot favourie, Tiger Tops, once again, stamped her superior western India Class while easily winning the 2,400m Calcutta Oaks, on Saturday. Quoted as a piping hot favourite, and ridden by jockey S. Zervan, the Tiger Hill-Cockayne daughter was taken to the front, right from the start of the race, and she returned triumphant over the local challengers Fly Like The Wind and Sunshine Girl as Aralyn, another out-station challenger, was found to be in distress, finishing way down field as the four horses in the line up turned for home. Zervan also helped trainer Manvendra Singh Midnight Magic win the baby race, the 1,100m Mauritius Belle Plate. Trainer Bharath Singh and jockey A. Sandesh were the other professionals who combined to record a double apiece.

The afternoon also witnessed trainer Vikash Jaiswal`s five-year-old horse, Ego Ego Ego, putting in a courageous performance while having the measure of another hot property, Heirloom, in the 1,600m Star Angel Handicap. However, the 10-1 chance in the betting collapsed and died immediately after passing the winning post.


Tiger Tops made her own pace, leading the field by about three lengths from the start. The filly faced some challenge inside the final 250m of the race as Vijay Singh`s Fly By The Wire came with a threatening run but a couple of cracks made her accelerate and power her way to a shade under three-length victory over the main challenger. The rest in the field were proverbial also ran.

The victory of Tiger Tops makes the filly another frontline force in the Derby, along with Quasar, also an easy winner of the Calcutta 2000 Guineas and the Pune Derby. However, the moot point is who between the two is going to be more comfortable over the mile and half Derby circuit.

The field of the 1,400m RWITC Cup, for horses in the upper Classes, was a compact six but the betting centered around Bharath`s three-year-old colt Santos, who was heading for a hattrick of wins, and Vijay`s four-year-old filly, Adiella, who had made headlines in her first season. Adiella, however, was more in demand, at even-money against Santos who also commanded some respect at 9-4. The two horses raced in close attendance, albeit way behind the runaway Bullet and Wild Card, the early leaders. Sandesh, atop Santos, however, was quick to sense urgency approaching the 800m marker while Christopher Alford, as usual, over-confident, waited for longer and paid the price. The end-results was a comfortable in favour of Santos.

In the day`s opener, the Royal Challenge Handicap, Sandesh had also guided Bharath`s 3-10 hot favourite, Triumphus, to a start-to-finish victory, over trainer Richard Alford`s City Heights. In the same race, Barocci was a mere passenger as the horse was looked to be under-prepared after his recent injury.

Manvendra`s ward, Resolution (Zervan-up), attracted tonnes of money in the 1,200m T. N. Banherjea Cup, but it was Harvinder Singh Bath`s – failed-favourite in his last outing –, Pedro who claimed the trophy. The 9-4 chance in the betting was also given a judicious ride by jockey N. S. Parmar who allowed only a marginal lead to the speedy favourite, until the distance post, before doing the needful for a three parts of a length victory.

Manvendra`s another heavily backed Praise Her Gaze also bit the dust in the 1,100m Romantic Eve Handicap. The race was won by trainer Arti Doctor`s Sole Power (P. Kamlesh-up), also a failed favourite who was out to make amends. The top-weighted horse was a given a waiting race and the 2-1 second favourite also displayed plenty of acceleration when asked for an effort in a fast run eace as speedsters, like Songstress, Hayata and the favourite had the brush with the lead in turns. Torino was the other one who finished full of running as the three leaders ran short of gas but the Bharath`s younster found Sole Power a hard nut to crack.

Manvendra`s Midnight Magic, however, won the baby race with authority. Zervan had the Gaswar filly settled behind a heavily fancied Javed Khan-trained Dark Angel, until the distance post, and took over for a facile win.