Four year old filly One Life To Love produced a sparkling turn-of-foot in the final furlong to skip clear of her eight rivals in The Maharaja's Cup (Grade III), the feature in a long card of eleven events framed for Thursday's racing at Mysore. She reversed the verdict with Sprint Star, who had beaten her comprehensively a fortnight ago. After winning a couple of handicap races during the Bangalore Summer Season, Byramji decided to campaign her in Graded company at Mysore. Despite receiving chunks of weight from Sprint Star in their earlier clash, the filly had faltered at the start. After trailing the field till the bend, she was forced to travel wide for rest of the way. Inspite of all these problems, One Life To Love had flashed home in the final stages to end a fair third. There were many amongst her fans who had seen value in the said performance. They refused to allow her to run friendless today, and were rewarded for their perseverance. The terms of The Maharaja's Cup allowed Sprint Star to compete without a penalty for his earlier victory. He was installed as a firm favourite in this race. On the basis of her victory in The Indian 1000 Guineas, a performance which she was yet to replicate, Dhariwal's Siachen came in for a lot of money. Pradeep trained Spark Of Gold was backed at 6/1 while One Life To Love was freely available at 8's in the betting ring.

Polish Patriot, Rising Rainbow and Spark Of Gold shared the early lead and showed the way to Arts and Siachen. Sprint Star and One Life To Love lacked early speed and the pair of them graced the rear. The order remained more or less the same as they traversed the first half of their journey and started to take the bend. Realizing that the front runners were about to get tired, both Ladjadj Stephane astride Siachen and Neeraj Rawal on One Life To Love decided to move outwards. Choosing an unhampered passage, they produced their mounts towards the centre of the track. At almost the same juncture, Suraj Narredu and Sprint Star got caught in a traffic jam. Having saved ground till then, they had no option but to wait for an opening. Arts on the inside, Siachen in the middle and One Life To Love on the wide outside were almost abreast as they entered the final furlong. Sprint Star was a couple of lengths behind them. Responding gamely to Neeraj's urgings, One Life To Love lengthened her strides and retired as an easy winner of The Maharaja's Cup 2011. Sprint Star got up on the last stride to beat Arts into third place, while Siachen was a tired fourth. The winner has struck fine form and it will be worth following this filly in her future engagements.

The above mentioned victory completed a nice-priced double for the Rashid Byramji stable. Unfancied Matias had picked up The Nanie & Sons Gold Trophy earlier in the afternoon. Three year olds Loveatfirstsight, Mountain Range and Lad Lady were considered to be much superior to their older opponents. On the basis of her run in a Mile Million at the end of July, Padmanabhan's Loveatfirstsight started as an odds-on choice in this race. Stephane chose to ride her in check, and allowed Greenbro, Mountain Range and the others to do the front running in this nine furlong event. The seven runners began to bunch up at the bend. Loveatfirstsight moved ahead on tight reins, and the race seemed to be over. However, that was not to be. Matia's moved menacingly from the rear of the pack and joined the issue. Under some vigorous whipping from Sreekanth, she sailed past a tired Loveatfirstsight in the final stages of this event. Mountain Range plodded along to finish a poor third.

Stephane's supporters had some compensation when the Frenchman powered away to comfortable victories astride Attaollahi's pair of Six Gun Smith and Camorra. The trainer had placed his wards to win the two divisions of the Udhagamandalam Cup, a seven furlong handicap for horses in class II. In a rare coincidence, both these public choices were ridden identically and went on to post similar victories. Six Gun Smith settled comfortably behind Ahira, before overtaking her in the straight. Just a tap from Stephane was enough to see him extending his margin of victory. In the case of Camorra, there was a late surge of money on Youre Wonderful. Showing complete lack of interest in what was going on behind him, Stephane chased Absolute Reality till the bend. He put the colt in top gear thereafter and Camorra strode away to a magnificent victory. Youre Wonderful improved from mid-division to take the second spot ahead of a tired Absolute Reality.

The success of Scarlette in a latter event must have given Attaollahi the biggest pleasure. Not only did it complete a treble for the afternoon, but also enabled him to score with a filly that had been discarded by the connections. After her fourth in The Indian 1000 Guineas, Scarlette had suffered a setback in training. Since it was a bit too early to send her to Kunigal, they asked Attaollahi to race her at Bangalore. She flopped as a fancied runner on three different occasions at this centre. In all her starts, she would lead into the straight before getting tired. There were no such problems at Mysore on Thursday. After leading comfortably till the bend, she enjoyed the sloping straight. It enabled her to maintain the tempo, and Ryan Marshall did the rest. They skipped clear in the final furlong and managed to keep a late finishing Own Way at Bay.

Another professional to score more than once was John. He rode a winner each for Kishore and Eshwer. While he had to use all his strength to steer Kishore's Cute Style to a narrow victory, he was a mute spectator astride Solmaz. Cute Style overtook Ace High near the distance post and marched towards the winning post. Strongly fancied Kripa tried his best but it wasn't enough to go near the leader. Since Kripa was being seriously extended after a fairly long time, he was a bit rusty. He will definitely improve after today's run, and will be almost unbeatable in a similar set of horses in his next start.

Three year old Solmaz was handicapped at the top of a field of twelve acceptors in The Police Cup. The speed that she had shown while winning her maiden start, as also her subsequent track trials, were enough to see her start as the half-money favourite in this race. John alerted Solmaz at the gates, and that was all that was required to make her run. Solmaz charged away to score a bloodless victory over Sunshower, Chamcha In Chief and Visual Element. The filly is a speedy type and is sure to win her share of races in open company.

Leading trainer Lokanath added another point to his tally when Sparkling Cat arrived late on the scene to seal the fate of the others. Favourite Jaldi had no answer to this onslaught, and was quick to retire from the fray. This allowed Mr Magic and Nishi Girl to save place money for their respective connections. Sparkling Cat has the ability to handle her winning penalty, and it may not surprise many if she comes out to win her next start. Apprentice Vaideeshwaran rode a neat race on this winner.

The day ended with a successful gamble being landed by the Warren Singh stable through A Move To Remember. The chestnut colt had run a couple of forward races during summer and was set to receive weight from his rivals. Warren aided his case by claiming an allowance on him. A Move To Remember opened at 5's in the betting rings, but was soon at the top of the charts. This huge support was justified by his performance on the track. Viabhav eased him into an early lead ahead of Black Beauty, Star Of Desire and Speedy Amigo. Early morning favourite Back Among Friends got knocked around at the back and lost all his chances at that stage. A Move To Remember led comfortably into the straight and was able to hold his advantage till the very end. Vaibhav had to use the stick to ensure that he maintained a straight course. Black Beauty retained her slender advantage over Speedy Amigo at the wire. Back Among Friends made up late ground to finish a poor fourth.