Cilantro (Stavros-Neartica) won the Chamundi Hills Cup, the feature event of Wednesday’s race at Mysore. Making steady headway, as the field took the final bend, jockey B. Srinivas Rao guided Cilantro towards the inner rails to slip in and win comfortably. Prowl King finished second while Byzantine, who received spirited support towards race time, came with a late run to take the third spot.

Byzantine, trained by R Mallikarjuna, received strong support during race time to wind up as the first favourite in the race. There was nothing unusual about it. In the race Byzantine ran in mid-field and improved late to take the third place. The Stewards noticed that Byzantine was not walking normally and sensing that something was fishy, instructed the jockey to unsaddle in the presence of the stipendiary stewards, when the horse returned to the paddock after the race. To the dismay of the stewards, a handful of sharp stones were found under the saddle of Byzantine. An enquiry has been ordered by the stewards into the incident. Placing stones under the saddle is an age-old practice followed by unscrupulous professionals, to make sure that the horse does not perform to its merits.

In another enquiry held after the races, jockey G.Y. Raesh Babu, rider of Precept, in the Kollegal Plate, has been stood down for 12 days for unsatisfactory riding. Archer and Gambit fought for their head right from the start till the last 300 metres wherefrom Mom In Law (Case Law-Miss Biarritz), who was all the way tracking the leading pair, surged ahead and registered a win, which was her third in a row. Kapathos put in a brave fight but failed to get to the ultimate winner. It was later found that Kapathos had burst his blood vessel during the race. Precept came in late to finish third behind Kapathos. Mom In Law is trained by S. Rakesh.

It was a day to remember for trainer S. Rakesh. He led in a hat-trick of winners, Lake Emerald, Mom In Law and River Rule, in that order. Jockey Md. Sameer, who won three races on the day, was astride two of them, Hampton Court being the third. Lake Emerald (Black Cash-Eau de Vie) led all the way to win the five-and-a-half-furlong The Bidadi Plate. Approaching the distance marker, Lake Emerald veered out all of a sudden with High Treason right behind but managed to stay well in front and complete her assignment. Rock All improved well towards closing stages and managed to take the runner-up berth, piping High Treason at the wire.

The in-form River Rule (Royal Kingdom-House on The Hill) kept up her winning streak while claiming the lower division of The Chaitanya Chakram Plate, to make it her fourth in a line. Native Strategy, Green Bro and Milagro were involved in a fight to gain the upper hand at the 400 metres when River Rule unleashed a terrific run to pass them all easily. Milagro finished second while Always For You made a run on the far outside to be in the money.

C.V.G.K. Kishore-trained Flash Flares (Glory Of Dancer-Georgica’s Gal) made every post a winning one in the higher division, with S. John astride. The bottom-weighted Preset, who was hard at work, failed to get up to the leader and finished second 1¾ lengths behind.

R. Mallikarjuna’s Isinbayeva (Bee’s Prospector-Raisin) won The Aristocrat Plate, the first race of the day. Improving steadily from about sixth position at the final bend, jockey G.Y. Rajesh Babu took Isinbayeva ahead of Nano Blue, who had started to shorten his strides inside the last furlong. Mine Games beat Nano Blue for the second place.

Hampton Court (San Francisco-Golden Collection) literarily flew in the last 100 metres to win The Arakalgud Plate. A Run To Remember, Noble Sacrifice and Euphoria were in a keen tussle to gain the advantage when Vikram Appachu-trained Hampton Court caught them all by surprise. The three finished behind the winner in that order.

Ranjit Shinde’s Nishi Girl (Eljohar-Twothousandfour) raced a handy second, behind Master Strategist, till the last 400 metres and showed plenty of speed to take charge and win by a lengthening margin in The Malavalli Plate. Mr. Hurricane had to toil hard to get to the second place ahead of Serious Warrior.