After setting some sort of a record last year ,when String Along gave Ganapathy his fifth straight success in The Mysore 1000 Guineas, the astute trainer added another feather to his cap by saddling Southern Bay to a thrilling victory in The Karnataka Racehorse Owner's Association Mysore 1000 Guineas 2011 (Grade III) on Wednesday. His hard work and perseverance with this filly paid rich dividends, when she responded to Gallagher's urgings and got up in time to beat the Padmanabhan trained In The Spotlight near the winning post. By winning the Mysore Million last month, Southern Bay had already established herself as a frontline contender in the day's feature. The first Classic of the season witnessed the eclipse of the highly rated Lovely Kiss, who ran poorly to finish a tame third. To the dismay of her numerous supporters, she failed to display her normal acceleration and was seen plodding at the end of this race. After some brilliant performances during the summer months, Lovely Kiss had the credentials to start as a firm favourite in this race. She had won the Fillies Championship before finishing a fair fourth in The Kingfisher Derby. In addition to all this, the mile trip was ideally suited to her style of running. The available evidence ensured a place for this Samar Singh trainee at the top of the betting charts. Lovely Kiss was fancied marginally ahead of Southern Bay, while you could write your own card on the others.

Appu and In The Spotlight took a smart jump from an outer draw and led smoothly from Southern Bay, Silken Touch and Dream Of Gold. In the hands of Suraj Narredu, Lovely Kiss settled comfortably in the fifth spot, while the rest of them led by At The Helm raced a couple of lengths behind these runners. The order remained exactly the same as they made their journey towards the home turn. In The Spotlight skirted the inner rails and held the advantage over Southern Bay. The pair of them began to pull away from Silken Touch and the others as the fillies charged towards the winning post. With the leader refusing to give up, Mark Gallagher realized that he would have to fight for this victory. He pulled out his stick and started urging the filly. Southern Bay responded brilliantly and got up in the nick of time to beat In The Spotlight near the final post. There was another scene unfurling at the back. Third placed Lovely Kiss had to be whipped in the straight, before she could manage to get the better of Silken Touch and At The Helm.

The winning combination of Ganapathy and Gallagher were obviously delighted with this result. Speaking to Indiarace after the race, Gallagher was quite excited with his filly's performance. He said," I was quite happy to see In The Spotlight doing the hard work and setting the early pace in this race. Southern Bay settled into a good rhythm, and considering the fact that she had beaten In The Spotlight comfortably in The Mysore Million, I was confident that we could overtake the leader whenever we wanted. However, it did not pan out the way I thought it would. In The Spotlight showed remarkable improvement over her earlier run. I had to pull out all stops before achieving this victory. Southern Bay will definitely stay the Derby Trip and I hope to be back from Singapore to ride her in that race."

The YR Puttannaiah Memorial Cup witnessed an impeccable performance from the half-money favourite Midtown Magic. This well-bred three year old was one of the top juveniles last winter. Due to a serious setback in training, he was rested for almost six months. His return to the Bangalore race track was quite eventful. Sporting heavy bandages, the totally unfancied Midtown Magic carried top weight in a handicap race for horses in Class III. After leading for most of the way, he was unlucky to have got beaten near the winning post. Dhariwal chose to run him at a low weight in the higher class at Mysore on Wednesday, and summoned Zervan from Pune to partner him. The young man rode a perfect race on this winner. Allowing a bunch of no-hopers to lead on sufferance, Zervan decided to wait for an opportunity. He chose to race towards the centre of the track and kept his big-made charge out of trouble. Midtown Magic accelerated quickly in the final furlong to skip away from his rivals. Missoni and Romance In The Air settled for the minor placings.

Apprentice Vaibhav completed riding ten winners last week and was allowed the use of a whip by his master. He celebrated the occasion by winning the first two races in today's card. Lokanath had placed a couple of horses in the lowest class to win the two divisions of this sprint event. Vaibhav's tactics astride both his winners were identical. Rushing Son Of The Sun into an early lead in the day's opener, he made every post a winning one. He was forced to use the stick in the final furlong, as his mount was perceptibly slowing down at that stage. There were no such problems with Bolzano. He was backed down from 5's to 2's to win his race. The grey leapt out of an extreme draw and showed a clean pair of heels to his rivals. Bottom-weighted Manthara tried his best, but all he could do was to finish second. Jeyem raced prominently till the bend before getting tired.

After picking up his first ever "champion trainer" title last year at Mysore, Lokanath looks determined to repeat the said performance in 2011. After scoring the above-mentioned victories, he went on to complete a treble for the afternoon. B Sreekanth steered Beautiful Life to an easy victory in a mile race for horses in Class IV. This horse had won a similar event exactly a year ago. With the withdrawal of Fist Of Rage, Beautiful Life was backed down to 80/100. The four year old confirmed the faith of his followers. After being held up behind Wild Temper and The First Bullet till they reached the home turn, Beautiful Life was asked to "go". He responded gamely and ran away from Spark Of Knight. The others finished more than a distance behind the two of them.

The other professional to corner glory on Wednesday was trainer Nityanand. A couple of three year olds allowed him to score a double. Bay filly Pedigree Nick was still a maiden. She had placed in all her starts during the Bangalore Summer Season, and was therefore allocated the top weight in Handicap Company. Attaollahi trained Sugar Daddy had finished behind Pedigree Nick in an earlier clash. With the weights favouring him today, Sugar Daddy received strong support in the betting rings, and started as an even-money favourite in this race. Ladjadj Stephane and Sugar Daddy led into the straight, but were soon joined by S John and Pedigree Nick. The two of them fought a stirring duel down the length of the straight, before they reached the wire. Pedigree Nick managed to beat Sugar Daddy by the shortest of margins. There was all-round praise for John's handling of this winner

The day ended with a victory for Nityanand's Decorated. There were a number of runners fancied in this race. Sunraider, Biutiful, Decorated, Emphatic Victory and Free Styler carried the hopes of their respective connections. Srinath tried to make all the running, and took Sunraider on a start-to-finish mission. She was followed by Sparkling Star, Biutiful and Decorated. With Sparkling Star getting tired near the bend, the final result was restricted to the other three leaders. The one that showed the best turn of foot was Decorated. Approaching the distance post, Stephane pulled her off the rails and gave her a crack. She sported a pair of wings to sail away from the late finishing Biutiful and a tired Sunraider.