Neil Darashah's five year-old Mighty Heart stormed to a sensational victory in The Kanteerava Cup, the feature event at the Bangalore races on Saturday. The 25/1 rank outsider put paid to the pretensions of his younger opponents led by Captivating, Lowndes Square and Advantage Logan. To be run over seven furlongs, this handicap race for horses in the highest Class attracted a competitive set of ten runners. On the basis of a victory in the same Class prior to finishing a close third in the 1000 Guineas, Captivating was handicapped at the top of this bunch.

Her second place finish behind Sprint Star in the Delhi Derby was an added qualification. She was set to concede a fair amount of weight to two well performed horses of her own age group. Lowndes Square was attempting to complete a quick hat-trick, while Advantage Logan was re-appearing to see if she could win her fourth race this season. The three of them cornered most of the betting. Captivating started as an even-money favourite ahead of a well-backed Lowndes Square at 11/4 against. While advantage Logan had some stray support at 6's, the others were totally ignored from a betting perspective.

Prakash took the free-striding Captivating to the front and set a fair pace ahead of Mighty Heart, Lowndes Square, Blink and Advantage Logan. The others led by Soberano were tightly huddled behind the leading group. The runners entered the straight in more or less the same order, and made their charge towards the winning post. Captivating was the first horse beaten in this race. She shortened her strides near the distance post and retired from the fray. Ryan Marshall sensed a golden opportunity and asked Mighty Heart to "go".

The big-made horse responded gallantly and was soon a couple of lengths clear of Lowndes Square and Advantage Logan. All Ryan had to do thereafter was to keep waving his whip at Mighty Heart, and the horse did the rest. In fact, he was eased up in the final stages of this race to win better than the official verdict announced by the judge. Lowndes Square, Advantage Logan and Soberano finished close to each other while filling the rest of the frame. After his popular double yesterday, jockey Imran Chisty scored another one on Saturday. In addition to that, he finished second on three other mounts and completed what may be termed as a satisfactory weekend by his standards.

Flip Your Destiny and Western Palace were the two runners that won under him today. Nityanand's Flip Your Destiny was the medium of some spirited betting. He had finished off the board in all five starts this Winter. There was hardly any evidence to support this sudden rush of money, but at the end of it all, those who threw caution to the winds ended up making a neat packet on this runner. Flip Your Destiny overcame a sluggish start, and was soon striding freely on the wide outside. He skirted the front group and led into the straight. Imran pulled out his stick and drove the winner to a comfortable victory ahead of a late finishing Gampu. Flip Your Destiny was definitely the best runner in this race. The success astride Warren Singh's Western Palace was comparatively more difficult.

The trainer had entered two runners in this race. Christopher's mount Season's Greetings was backed confidently and started as a firm favourite ahead of Thumping Victory and Dark Horse. In the mean time, the odds against Western Palace began to rise alarmingly. The speedy Neel Gagan tried to run away with this race, and set a scorching pace ahead of Dark Horse and Western Palace. The favourite Season's Greetings was seen struggling to match strides with the leaders, and was beaten even before straightening for home.

Thumping Victory began to improve in the straight, and the front runners were suddenly bunching up. In one of the closest finishes witnessed this season, Western Palace found himself in front of Neel Gagan, Thumping Victory and Dark Horse at the wire. Less than one length separated the four of them. Arjun Mangalorkar's highly regarded Immense justified the strong support of his connections by winning The Glass House Trophy. The chestnut colt had been shining on the track and was touted as a moral certainty. However, his win was achieved after a few hiccups and a bit of luck.

Immense was receiving weight from Gift Of Love and Dim Sum, both of whom were appearing after having won their maiden starts. John was a picture of supreme confidence, as he decided to keep Immense on the rails for most of the way before making his final move. The half-money favourite got stuck behind Dim Sum, and with Gift Of Love moving menacingly on his outside, had nowhere to go. With less than a furlong to travel, Dim Sum rolled off the rails and a dream opening appeared on the rails. John asked Immense to take it and the colt was good enough to do so. He got into his strides and was soon at the helm of affairs.

It soon became apparent that he was travelling much better than Gift Of Love, who incidentally had to settle for the second spot. A brilliant piece of riding by Rajendra enabled Moon Memories to achieve something which looked impossible at one stage. In a mile race for horses in Class III, Moon Memories was designated the top weight of 61 and a half kilos. Lush Lashes and Glitterato were fancied ahead of her. To the dismay of her supporters, Moon Memories lost a distance at the start. Any other jockey may have given up, but Rajendra did not. He relaxed his hold on the filly and allowed her to move up gradually towards the rest. She joined the group at the top of the straight before beginning her assault. With some powerful riding thereafter, he managed to keep Lush Lashes at bay.

Glitterato and Spark Of Reverence were locked together in a rare dead-heat for the third place. The two divisions of a maidens event over a scurry were annexed by horses trained by Dhariwal and ridden with aplomb by Suraj Narredu. Portatone and Jaldi won in contrasting styles. Portatone was lethargic at the start and was soon last of ten as they began taking the rising ground near the three-furlong marker. She improved steadily on the wide outside and soon joined Liberty Ship in front.

With Suraj making free use of his whip, Portatone carried on at the same momentum and managed to score narrowly from Never Say Goodbye. The latter was given a very average ride by Gaurav Sapra, but for which, she may have finished much closer to the winner. Portatone has the makings of a good filly. Suraj had an armchair ride to victory on Jaldi. Despite running green in her first start, Jaldi had ended a close third behind Sky Glider on that day. Her supporters expected her to improve after that experience, but not many amongst them would have expected such a change. Jaldi charged out of the gates and did not allow anybody to come close to her.

She was eased up while passing the winning post, more than four lengths clear of Sky Glider and Fleeting Spirit. The last-named looked slightly gross in the paddock today. She can definitely improve on this performance. The only other race in the day's card was won by Amit Caddy's Cash Is King. This winner received good support in the ring and was confidently piloted by PS Chouhan. Cash Is King settled nicely behind Pearl Of Bangalore and Man Down Under till well into the straight.

It soon became a two-horse race as Cash Is King and Man Down Under skipped away from the rest. Chouhan's horse was always travelling better than Suraj's, and this was reflected in the ultimate result. Pearl Of Bangalore ended a distant third. Cash Is King won with such ease that another success on promotion seems like a strong possibility.