In one of the closest finishes witnessed in a Classic held at Bangalore, Mumbai challenger Pronto Pronto (Major Impact – Sandslash) nailed local hopeful Speed Six on the wire and lifted The Colts Championship Stakes (Grade I) on Sunday. After travelling in close proximity of each other for most of the way, the two of them matched strides right up to the winning post. It was almost impossible to take a call on the final result without calling for a photo. While the commentator was brave enough to separate the two of them, his guess was totally wrong. The digital camera confirmed that Pronto Pronto had beaten Speed Six by a "nose". Srinath's powerful finish had enabled this Imtiaz Sait trainee to get up on the last stride, and it was finally the bobbing of heads which went in his favour. A delighted Shapoor Mistry ran onto the turf to lead-in the winner. The Padmanabhan camp was obviously disappointed. Speed Six had run brilliantly, but it was just not their day. Without taking anything away from Trevor riding a neat race on this brilliant colt, there were many who felt that Noel Callow's stronger finish would have changed the verdict. Even though these discussions carried on till late in the evening, they were only academic. The official results confirmed that Pronto Pronto had beaten Speed Six, Severstahl and Star Marquess to win the second Classic of the Summer Season.

The Colts Championship Stakes attracted a large group of 16 runners. The local challenge was led by the hitherto unbeaten pair of Speed Six and Tiberius, while Pronto Pronto and Amadeus were their worthy opponents from Western India. Vittal Deshmukh's Arrow In Auto Mode and Super Duper were representing Hyderabad in this race. The bookmakers started business by installing Pronto Pronto and Speed Six at the top of the betting boards, but they were soon forced to alter their positions. A huge surge of money on Amadeus saw this Pesi Shroff trainee emerging as a clear market leader. This got-abroad colt had given five kilos to Speed Six in an earlier clash, and there were many who felt that at level weights, the verdict would get reversed. They were ready to gamble on his ability to tackle a longer trip. Pronto Pronto and Severstahl were the only ones in this group to have won over a mile, and there was never a doubt about their staying prowess. Pronto Pronto and Tiberius were heading the juvenile ratings at the beginning of the season, but the lack of a run in recent months was perhaps the only reason that somehow lessened the chances of these two runners. The former had finished far ahead of the latter in a mock race held a couple of weeks ago. Most of the runners looked good in the paddock and it appeared to be a totally "open" affair.

Astapi and Arrow In Auto Mode charged out of the gates and set a good pace ahead of Amadeus, Super Duper, Speed Six and Pronto Pronto as the runners tackled the first half of their journey. Severstahl and Star Marquess were caught in mid-division while Tiberius was finding it difficult to stay in touch with the others. The field began to bunch up in the straight. The first one beaten in this race was the favourite Amadeus. He shortened his strides near the final bend and called it a day. The front-runners ran out of steam in the straight, and we suddenly had some new leaders. Speed Six had come with a smooth run to take over the running, but was soon joined by Pronto Pronto on the outside. The two of them waged a solid duel, and set the grandstands alight by matching strides till they touched the wire. As reported earlier, Pronto Pronto managed to win by the narrowest of margins. Jockey Srinath spoke to Indiarace after the race and confirmed that “this was perhaps the closest finishes that I have ever been involved in as a rider. Even after crossing the wire, I was unsure of the result. While being rolled prior to the judge's announcement, I asked Trevor about his opinion. He was equally confused." Another hard luck story unfolded at the back. Dominic's Severstahl came charging from the back to finish within a length of the ultimate winner. It was learnt that Severstahl had lost a shoe near the 1000-metre marker and the horse had suffered an injury as a consequence of this accident. Severstahl covered a lot of ground despite hanging-out in the straight. Star Marquess was another one who was noticed putting in some good work in the final stages of this race.

The final result showed that the Colts had tackled this trip in a timing marginally faster than that clocked by the Fillies last week. The two groups are now set for a final clash in The Kingfisher Derby. It is often remarked that every yard beyond a mile is a difficult proposition. It will take a real tough runner to wear the sash on the 10th of July. A "final entrant" must pay Rs 16 Lakh to take part in The Kingfisher Derby. With the connections of Lovely Kiss and Severstahl planning to bear this cost, the winner is likely to walk away with a fairly large prize. With the colts finishing in a heap, the Derby picture has become quite confusing. From a betting perspective, we may have a new scenario. Like we see so often in English racing, the favourite may start at 5's and over in the Derby.

The win in the feature sealed a perfect day for Imtiaz Sait and Srinath. Having only two runners today, they won with both of them. Pronto Star (Senure – Mystique Smile) was running in a maidens sprint earlier in the afternoon. He was opposed by Padmanabhan's Shivalik Prince and Satish Narredu's Golden Viper. There was a lot of hype around the latter. The stable had backed this got-abroad horse steadily throughout the morning and his odds had shortened from 5/1 to 5/2. The well-conformed horse looked a bit soft in the paddock. The favourite Shivalik Prince expended a lot of energy by playing up near the starting gates. The handlers managed to push him in, and the field took off to a level start. Violent Storm showed the way to Pronto Star, while Shivalik Prince and Golden Viper were struggling to stay in touch with the leaders. Pronto Star overtook the leader and skipped away from the others. With none of the fancied runners making any sort of impression at that stage, it was left to No Doubt to do the challenging. He came with raking strides to finish on the haunches of Pronto Star. Shivalik Prince and Violent Storm plodded along to take the minor placings. Golden Viper ran in patches and was seen galloping on the wrong leg throughout the race. He will surely benefit from today's experience and must be noted for an early success.

With Imtiaz and Srinath setting the trend, it became an afternoon of "doubles". Actually it was Warren Singh who set the ball rolling by winning the first two races of the day. He landed a nice gamble with Ladzone (Royal Gladiator – Sound Insight) in the day's opener. Having kept him under wraps during the winter months, the horse was given an easy start this season. The declaration of rookie P Mani ensured good odds in the betting rings. Ladzone was backed down steadily to firm favouritism, and the horse obliged with ease. The moment Mani relaxed his hold on this five-year-old, Ladzone lengthened his strides and romped home to an easy victory. Trillion Win and Allegro were fully extended to save place money for their respective connections.

Warren's A Game To Remember (Royal Gladiator – Alice Wonder) was the second favourite behind the heavily backed Sukanti. It was heard that the well-bred Sukanti had been prepared steadily on the training track, and also, that the "right money" was riding on her today. She definitely looked the part in the paddock and was cantered along to the starting gates. There was a hushed silence in the stands as the start was effected. Sukanti had failed to jump out of the gates, and had refused to budge from there till the others had almost finished the race. PS Chouhan had an easy time astride A Game To Remember. He allowed Star Of Stars to gallop alongside till the final furlong before going away from him. Sequana was under pressure to finish third, ahead of an unextended Kalyan and Aanchal’s Pride. PS Chouhan completed his double by steering Darius Byramji's Gluteus Maximus (Gaswar – Ladyfeelgood) to victory in The DM Shivaswamy Memorial Cup. The winner took a smooth jump from an outside draw and kept improving his position till they reached the top of the straight. Under some relentless pushing from his jockey, Gluteus Maximus kept increasing his momentum. He ultimately scored by a couple of lengths from Indian Bolt and Anna.

The lower division of this cup was won by the Rashid Byramji-trained Yamas (Pennine Ridge – Sober Mind). This runner received solid support in the ring and displaced Mark Of Genius and Gunpowder from the top of the betting boards. The four-year-old pulled Stephane to the front and the jockey had no choice but to let him go. He raced well within himself while scoring from start to finish. Fiorucci made a late bid to go close to him but that was all she could do. Yamas put up a much better performance as compared to his winter runs, and won unextended from Fiorucci, Mark Of Genius, Foswell and Gunpowder. Gunpowder lost all his chances by walking out of the starting gates. There was a murmur around the course after the white cone had been hoisted. It was learnt that after declaring use of blinkers on Yamas, trainer Byramji had run this horse without them. The stipes hadn't been alert to the situation and had allowed this to happen. The well-backed Yamas had obliged his backers by posting an authoritative victory. The Stewards have asked the trainer and the stipes to appear before them at an enquiry to be held on Friday.

The Stewards Cup, a sprint handicap for horses in Class I, attracted a small field of nine runners. It was run immediately after the conduct of the Colts Championship Stakes, and the excitement generated in the big race had just about settled down. Racegoers had little idea that they were in for another thriller. In a finish that could loosely be termed as a "handicapper's delight", we saw five horses flying towards the winning post. Classic Charge on the rails, Lads Gladiator in the middle and Successor (Ontario – Lakes Of Killarne) on his outside were battling it out in the final furlong, before Rare And Precious and Atlantus joined the fray. In the midst of whips flying all around him, we had a silent hero. A whipless apprentice named Prabhakaran managed to push the top-weighted Successor through the middle to score a sensational victory. This ward of Neil Darashah had come from behind to win near the winning post. Less than half a length covered the first five finishers in this race. A long neck, neck, nose and dead heat were the official margins.

The day ended with an easy victory for the short-priced Dancing Emeralds (Emerald Cat – Sarabande). Neil and Stephane managed to complete their doubles with this winner. Having failed with this filly in a maiden's event earlier this month, Neil chose to run her in open company. She was lucky to find herself amongst a bunch of ordinary runners. She had the best form in this group, and she proved it on the track. Chasing Game Dancer and Bonanza till well into the straight, Stephane gave her a crack. Dancing Emeralds bounded forward and skipped away from the others. Game Dancer held onto her second spot ahead of Diamond Flame and Youre Rocking. The last-named ran a forward race for the first time in his career. He looked quite gross in the paddock, and this run should do him a world of good. Youre Rocking will be too good to miss the day the connections decide to "go" with him.