Satish Narredu trained Sprint Star (Ontario-Royal Retreat) displayed immaculate form and condition to retire an easy winner of The Saven Group Bangalore City Gold Cup (Grade III) at the local races on Friday. The five-year-old, who is known to be more comfortable over a slightly longer trip, lived up to his name and ran like a perfect sprinter to annex this coveted trophy. Eight of the best horses stationed at this centre accepted to face the starter. The group included the highly talented Siachen. This Dhariwal-trainee had begun her summer campaign by picking up a similar event in the beginning of June. Since she had appeared on a race track after a longish gap, Siachen scored as an "outsider" in that race. She ran poorly in her subsequent start over a more suitable 1,400 metres, when she plodded into seventh place behind Immense and Sprint Star. The terms of today's race were loaded in her favour. Instead of being placed at the top of the scales, Siachen was receiving weight from the others. The in-form Successor, along with Sprint Star, was considered to be her main challengers. Siachen's recent track trials had inspired the punters to back the four-year-old filly down to even-money in the day's feature.

Neil Darashah's pair of Successor and Arts tore away from the field, and showed the way to Sprint Star and Rare And Precious. Kyles Of Bute and Siachen were seen gracing the rear as the runners made their way towards the home turn. Ladjadj Stephane nudged Successor to increase his tempo, and the chestnut gave him a perfect response. He quickened nicely into the straight, but his superiority was short-lived. Sprint Star came with a brilliant run down the middle of the track and Siachen appeared on the wide outside. For a brief while, all three of them raced next to each other. Ultimately, it was Suraj's powerful riding and Sprint Star's brilliant response which settled the issue. He got stronger with each subsequent stride to sail away from Siachen and Successor. Kyles Of Bute made up much ground from the rear to finish a very close fourth. Siachen is not the filly that she was last winter. There is something definitely bothering her, as it was noticed that she was slowing down in the final stages of today's race.

Sprint Star's victory enabled Satish Narredu to seal a quick double as he had won an earlier event with Strive And Serve Tirol-Polistatic). The three-year-old had given indications of a pending success by finishing a good fourth over a mile in much better company. The trainer chose to run him in the lowest class on Friday. Neil Darashah's Miss Ching was the other fancied runner in this race. One could not separate the two of them, as they were closely handicapped. They started as joint favourites to win this event. With a couple of no-hopers doing the early running, both Ashish and Stephane chose to bide their time and waited till the final bend before making their respective moves. Asish brought Strive And Serve through the middle while Stephane and Miss Ching arrived on the wide outside. The pair of them tore away from the others, and matched strides till they reached the winning post. With the support of the inner rails, Strive And Serve moved ahead of Miss Ching near the winning post. Bernicia came from a long way back to save place money for her followers.

A class II handicap over nine furlongs provided an ideal opportunity for Rezoom (Brave Act-Wild Rezonution) to show his prowess. Having finished third behind a runaway Xisca in the Bangalore St Leger, Rezoom was returning to handicap company. This horse had been improving with each run, and even though the comparative weights were against him, Rezoom was the first choice of the punters. He received solid support ahead of Allez Vite and Rip Van Winkle. Chouhan took Rip Van Winkle to the front and dictated pace to Rezoom, Allez Vite and Sunspirit as the runners took the rising ground near the three-furlong marker. Stephane and Rezoom started to bridge the gap on the leader as they entered the straight. At just about the same time, Nausad Alam joined the fray. He brought Allez Vite with a run between the two horses. It was a pleasure to see the three of them charging towards the winning post. In a bobbing of heads, Rezoom lasted out to beat Allez Vite and Rip Van Winkle by the shortest of margins.

Another long distance race held during the afternoon witnessed an equally thrilling finish. The Patrons Cup, a rare mile and a quarter handicap for horses rated 40-65, attracted seven runners. Arjun Mangalorkar's Mountain Range cornered a bulk of the betting. He was the only one amongst this lot that had shown staying abilities. He had been working quite well in his morning trials, and was being partnered by the talented Suraj Narredu today. With second favourite Royal Surprise getting left at the starting gates, the supporters of Mountain Range became more optimistic. The unfancied Supremacy (Burden Of Proof-Supervite) was eased into an early lead ahead of Mountain Range and Radical Attraction. The trailing pack headed by Elite Land raced a few lengths behind the three of them. The order remained more or less the same as they came into the straight. While Supremacy was responding gamely to apprentice Kumar's urgings, the others were rolling sideways. Mountain Range was refusing to improve his position and he was the first one beaten in this race. Despite Stephane's whipping, Radical Attraction made heavy weather of her finishing efforts. She finally managed to finish on the haunches of Supremacy. Elite Land came with a good run to take the third spot ahead of a tired Mountain Range. Ladjadj Stephane tried to overturn the judge's result by lodging a frivolous objection against the winner. The Stewards took the shortest possible time to throw it out.

On a day when most of the races were closely contested, Amit Caddy's One Time Magic (Oath-Fair Folly) produced a sparkling turn of foot to record a runaway victory. He was displaced from the top of the betting boards by Lokanath's Brownie. The seven-furlong trip was considered to be perfect for this Lokanath-trainee, and he looked the part in the paddock. However, during the actual running of this race, he was found flat-footed. Valdir De Souza released his grip on One Time Magic near the distance post, and the small-made horse bounded forward. He overtook Vega and cantered away from a late-finishing Brownie. Now that he has shown his abilities, One Time Magic can be expected to move further up the ladder.

The other division of this race went to Darius Byramji's Hockenheim (Glory Of dancer-Princelene). This winner was ignored from a betting perspective as money flowed in the direction of Hill Rising, Whisper In Town and Free Styler. Since Hill Rising and Free Styler had performed pathetically in their earlier starts, and Whisper In Town was known to have a "bleeding" problem, the race looked like an open affair. It unfurled on similar lines. Free Styler and Hill Rising were passed by Hockenheim near the final bend. With PS Chouhan making free use of his whalebone, the filly kicked-on to contain a belated challenge from the low-weighted Whisper In Town. Hill Rising was put under pressure by Suraj to end a close third. A huge thundershower immediately after this race delayed the rest of the action. Since the rain refused to stop, the Stewards of The BTC had no option but to cancel the last three races in the day's card.