The Karnataka Police Cup, a mile handicap for horses rated 80 and above, featured in an interesting card of eight events framed for Saturday's racing at Bangalore. With only eight runners accepting to face the starter, it had the makings of a match race between the Pesi Shroff-trained Berlusconi (Ikhtyar – Highland Ghillie) and Padmanabhan's Balmoral Castle. This pair of four-year-olds faced six older horses, and since none from the latter brigade had shown any sort of top-class form in recent months, the betting was confined to the two of them. After running a commendable third in The Pune Derby, Berlusconi had been campaigned in some of the "plums" at Mahalakshmi. He finally won a nine-furlong handicap in the highest class a couple of months ago and made his journey to Bangalore. On the other hand, Balmoral Castle won The Bangalore Oaks in January and was sent to Hyderabad to have a tilt at the local Derby. She was distinctly unlucky in that race. After encountering traffic problems in the straight, she had ended a very close second on that day. She returned to her parent centre after another unsuccessful start at Mumbai. The fact that Berlusconi was conceding three kilos to the filly somehow evened out their chances in the day's feature. The bookmakers installed them as joint favourites on the morning of the race. However, with Berlusconi receiving one-sided support at race time, the Mumbai-import started as an on-money favourite to lift this trophy.

At the end of the race, the official result boards showed that Berlusconi had beaten Balmoral Castle in a close finish, but that somehow did not tell the full story. What transpired during the running of this event could have led to an unfortunate accident, and but for the fine temperament displayed by veteran Prakash, we could have had a different result. Jockey Neeraj Rawal decided to dictate the early pace and had little hesitation in taking Balmoral Castle to the front. She was chased all the way by stablemate Topkapi, while the other runners were racing within close proximity of each other. Berlusconi, who was drawn on the extreme inside, was beginning to drop back on the rails, and Prakash was content to stay there as they traversed the first half of the race. The scene altered near the 800 metres marker when the leading pack started taking the rising ground and turning for home. They slowed down significantly and this led to the said incident. With hardly any place to manoeuvre, Berlusconi was hampered for room. Prakash evaded a collision with the leaders by pulling at his reins. The moment he slowed down, there was "bang" from behind. The chasing horse came and banged into jockey Prakash's back, and the two of them were totally unbalanced. There was a groan from the Berlusconi camp as they watched this on the TV monitors. However, all’s well that ends well. Prakash was quick to regain his composure, got Berlusconi back into his rhythm, and the pair of them came with raking strides to nail Balmoral Castle on the post. Both the horse and the rider showed immaculate temperament while scoring this victory. It would be fair to say that, but for this mishap, the winning margin would have been a bit larger.

Prakash had already ridden a pair of extremely short-priced favourites earlier in the afternoon. He was expected to have armchair rides to victory on Attaolahi's Waikato and Padmanabhan's Nearness Of You in the two divisions of a class IV handicap over 1,400 metres. Those amongst the punting fraternity who are prone to backing such short-priced favourites, these were testing times. While Waikato (Imtiyaz – Aglow) managed to scramble home by the proverbial whisker, Nearness Of You had to settle for the second spot. Waikato overtook I Fancy You at the top of the straight and set sail for home. What appeared to be a one-sided affair, suddenly became a thriller. The dickey-legged Akaliki came with fluent strides and all but nailed Waikato near the winning post. Since the judge at Bangalore has started giving exact verdicts, it was confirmed that the third placed I Fancy You had ended 20 lengths behind the two of them.

The well-bred Nearness Of You was expected to have it easy in the upper division of this race. The filly had won a "Million" event at Mahalakshmi and returned back to Bangalore for her summer campaign. With Silver Springs and Arrow In Auto Mode (Razeen – Aglitter) setting a strong pace, it was easy to see that Nearness Of You and Mountain Range were being niggled to stay in place. PS Chouhan was a picture of confidence as he took Arrow In Auto Mode to the front. He pulled out his stick and gave him a couple of backhanders. The chestnut responded by lengthening his strides, and this was good enough to keep a hard-ridden Nearness Of You at bay. Mountain Range ended a long way back in third while a tired Silver Springs hung on to his fourth spot. It was obvious that the favourite had disliked the fast early pace, and also, that she would be better suited over a longer trip.

Trainer Attaolahi succeeded in completing his double for the day, when Allez Vite (Rakti – Alazima) came charging from the back and sped past a hapless Rezoom. Noel Callow exploited the abilities of this talented four-year-old by conserving his energies till the very end. He rode him for eventual acceleration, and this suited the gelding perfectly. Allez Vite was held back in mid-group till the runners began taking the final bend. Under the strong urgings of Mark Gallagher, Rezoom overtook the leading pair of Yamas and Six Gun Smith in the final furlong. Rezoom's dominance was short-lived, as he was soon challenged and passed by Allez Vite. The winner won by a widening margin from Rezoom, Sky Diver and Six Gun Smith. There was huge support for Karisini in this race. This Prithviraj-trainee flopped miserably and finished off the frame.

Incidentally, this was Noel Callow's double for the afternoon, as he had already won the earlier event with Dhariwal's Current Ray (Burden Of Proof – Current Bay). A number of three-year-olds had accepted to participate in this sprint for horses in class III. Free Law, Colour Of Money and Forest Regent cornered most of the betting, as all three stables were equally strong on their respective wards. An accident marred the start of this race. First favourite Free Law played up in the gates and managed to unseat his rider. Ladjadj Stephane was seen lying flat on the turf. It was later confirmed that the young man had broken his toe, and that, this injury would keep him out of the saddle for at least six weeks. The race was run at a fast pace. Colour Of Money tracked the friendless A Move To Remember till the bend before assuming command of the situation. Valdir De Souza urged him relentlessly and the speedy horse managed to shake off his closest rivals. At almost the same juncture, not many noticed the moves of Current Ray on the wide outside. Noel Callow brought her from the tail end of the pack to sail away for an unbelievably comfortable victory. Forest Regent plodded along to retain his third spot ahead of River Side.

The rest of the card included the two divisions of a maiden's event over 1,100 metres. The lower division opened up the day's proceedings. Since all the runners in this race had either finished down the field in their earlier outings, or were running for the first time in their careers, there wasn't much to advertise their chances. On sheer elimination and on the basis of the quality of the jockeys declared to ride in this race, Ganapathy's Southern Bay and Padmanabhan's Provocateur headed the betting boards. The two of them raced prominently till the bend before Southern Bay (Alnasr Alwasheek – Priceless Glory) assumed command of the action and sped away from Yawar and Saphira. Provocateuer shortened her strides to fade away from the scene. Yawar showed promise and he can be earmarked for an early victory.

The upper division saw equal support for Arjun Mangalorkar's Starista and the Dominic-trained Caraway. Both of them had run some fair races in winter, and on paper, looked better than the others. Sun Rich and Lightning Express led on sufferance and caved-in once they were challenged in the straight. Grand Success (Catienus – Maria), Caraway and Starista made their moves from the back and went away to take the first three placings. Despite looking gross in the paddock, Grand Success ran a game race to topple the market leaders. John's handling of Starista looked a bit "soft", but then, that could have been a result of a broken blood vessel that the filly suffered during the running of this race. Caraway is a small made filly with a lot of speed. Weighing only 360 kilos, she looked really small in the parade ring, but ran gamely in this race to finish a good second.