The free-striding Captivating outpaced her seven rivals to romp home to a bloodless victory in The Bangalore Turf Club Trophy on Friday. The ward of trainer Dhariwal justified her paddock looks and reproduced her morning track work in the day's feature. Even though the terms of this race did not favour her, her performance was quite wonderful. Only eight runners accepted to face the starter, and each one of them had a rating in excess of a hundred. Captivating (Burden Of Proof – Cesandri) was the best-suited over the sprint. Her ability to go to the front over any distance was a definite advantage. On a few occasions, she had led and got beaten in the last few strides while racing over a longer trip. Her most recent victory had been achieved at Malakpet. Sharat Kumar's Atlantus was trying to emulate stablemate Lionheart, who had won the same race as a rank-outsider in 2008.

The only thing against this runner was the fact that the trip was a bit short for his liking. Arjun's Kyles Of Bute was another hugely fancied contender. Despite his top weight, he was the best-supported horse in the betting rings. The three of them were backed to the exclusion of their rivals and started as joint favourites to lift this prestigious trophy. Apart from the supporters of Captivating, the followers of the other runners were surprised by the happenings on the race track. In the hands of Chris Hayes, the small-made filly darted out of the stalls and set a strong pace ahead of Magnanimity, Originality and Kyles Of Bute. After a quick jump, Atlantus dropped back on the rails to occupy the fifth slot. It was unusual to see the speedy Bhagirathi occupying the last slot, as the runners straightened for home.

The leader raced well within herself, while the others were off the bridle. All Hayes had to do thereafter was to loosen his grip. Captivating lengthened her strides and sped away from a late-finishing Atlantus. Bhagirathi came charging from the last position to deprive Kyles Of Bute of the third spot. The winner is in great heart and is looking as good as ever. The Bhagirathi camp has decided to keep her in training for another season before retiring her to stud. She is bound to pick up a similar race in the near future.

Trainer Dhariwal strengthened his hold at the top of the leader board by scoring another treble today. Apart from Captivating, his other winners were Sunny Gold and Skyliner. Running after a layoff of more than eleven months, rank outsider Sunny Gold (Valid Concept-Trustworthy) came with a smooth run on the wide outside to nail Corleone, Superb Style and the favourite Spark Of Solitaire near the winning post. Nausad Alam rode another neat race on this winner. A couple of noses separated the placed horses.

Skyliner (Hurricane State-Broken Sky) ran away with the concluding race of the day to complete the treble. After winning a sprint in his maiden start, this talented youngster was campaigned over longer trips. Recognizing his inability to stay, the stable decided to revert to sprinting. Ryan Marshall eased him into an early lead, and the horse did the rest. Skyliner won by a widening margin from Montedoro and What A friend. The winner has the ability to win on promotion. Two-year-old colt Zultanite (Midtown-Copper Bracelet) made a superb start to his racing career by coming from an impossible position at the top of the straight, and cruising past a field of some highly regarded youngsters.

He was the third progeny of Midtown to win in the last few weeks. Dhariwal's Capote, Darius Byramji's Mad About You and Neil Darashah's Polaris were the rage in this race. The presence of Chris Hayes, Sylvester Desouza and Srinath astride the three babies added to the hype around these runners. Zultanite was available at 8's and over in the betting rings. Mad About You and Capote fought for the early lead before they settled down to race ahead of Polaris and the others. Zultanite was content to race many lengths behind the leaders, and it seemed as though he was being given an easy start.

Even at the top of the straight, Zultanite was more than ten lengths behind Mad About You, Capote and Polaris. But things changed quickly thereafter. Selvaraj put Zultanite in top gear and the free-striding colt made a dash towards the winning post. He picked up a bunch of tired horses and breezed past them to score with authority. Zultanite looks destined to become a star for the Irfan Ghatala stable. An amazing turn of foot saw B Puttanna's Alianz (Mr Mellon-Sweet As Candy) winning a class B race with ridiculous ease.

This four-year-old's form was quite ordinary and today's performance was a revelation. After a tardy start, this blinkered runner travelled wide for most of the way. Krishnan brought him on the wide outside and gave him a crack. The transformed Alianz sported a pair of wings and sailed away from the field. He won by a widening margin from a late-finishing Angel Queen. The other runners looked tired after running over a metric mile. The one that was seen putting in some good work at the end was Indravati. He has the ability to improve from his present mark. Alianz too has scope for improvement. After Zultanite and Alianz won the first two races in identical fashion, it was the turn of Babu Rao's Fantabulous Star (Steinback-fame Star). The well-backed horse looked beaten in the final furlong. Ailsa and Black Beauty had shaken off the challenge from Star Of Desire, and were almost four lengths clear of a hard-ridden Fantabulous Star, as the runners entered the final furlong of a sprint for horses in Class IV. Jockey B Paswan refused to give up and continued to belt him. He elicited a magical response from Fantabulous Star near the distance post.

The horse literally flew thereafter and managed to beat Ailsa near the post. This was a real brave performance by the winner. Fantabulous Star is bred impeccably, and it may not surprise many if he wins again this season. Chris Hayes was the only rider to score more than once this afternoon. He had to use all his skills while enabling Attaolahi's Six Shooter (Burden Of Proof-Six Speed) to finish ahead of a group of tightly packed runners. While Alpha Baby and Still Will were heading the group, it was Colonel Duff and Six Shooter who caught one's attention. It was pretty evident that these two horses were waiting to pounce on the leaders.

Hayes managed to hit the front with Six Shooter in the final furlong, and had to ride really hard to ward off a challenge from Logan's Run, and Celestial Son. In the process, he hampered the chances of the top-weighted Colonel Duff. Colonel Duff's trainer Darius Byramji took an objection against Six Shooter, but it was over-ruled. The fact that Colonel Duff had ended sixth, could have had a bearing on this decision of the Stewards.

The only other race in the day's nine event card went to Arjun Magalorkar's Gunpowder (Fantabulous King-Badgering). This runner had been gelded, and given an easy start on the opening day of the season. Some steady preparation thereafter, saw him looking nice in the paddock. In an open betting affair, where the first favourite was backable at 5/1, Gunpowder was an outsider. John eased him on the rails, and the pair of them travelled behind Smart Exotic and Royal Nature till the home turn. Gunpowder gained momentum to lead thereafter, and was fully ridden out to contain a strong challenge from last outing winner Gluteus Maximus.