Highly regarded Lovely Kiss signalled a welcome return to prime form by winning The Krishnaraja Trophy at the Bangalore races on Tuesday. After some brilliant performances during the summer season, she had apparently suffered a setback in training. Her poor effort in The Mysore 1000 Guineas was a huge disappointment. Lovely Kiss had come under enormous pressure to finish a poor third behind Southern Bay and In The Spotlight in that race. Trainer Samar Singh refused to lose heart and was confident that she would bounce back. Lovely Kiss justified his expectations and started putting in some good work in her morning trials. The connections chose a six furlong handicap as a lead-up race prior to her Winter Classic campaign. Even though she had never won over a sprint, they had little doubt about her abilities. A small group of six Class I sprinters accepted to oppose her in the day's feature. With declared jockey Jagadeesh injuring himself in a mishap on the previous day, the filly was entrusted to Vivek. Since this was the first time that he was riding her, he was obviously told to take a good jump with this on-money favourite and guide her successfully across the wire. The boy did exactly that and his smiles after the race confirmed that he was mighty pleased with her performance.

Lovely Kiss darted out of the gates and set a comfortable pace ahead of Sunstone, Still Will and Missoni. She remained on tight reins till the top of the straight. Vivek relaxed his hold marginally at that stage. It was a pleasure to see her lengthening her strides thereafter. She literally strolled away from Missoni, Sunstone and Lads Gladiator. Lovely Kiss sported a nice looking coat in the parade ring and looked exceptionally well. With The Bangalore 1000 Guineas round the corner, Lovely Kiss is bound to emerge as a frontline contender in the first classic of the winter season.

This happened to be Vivek's second winner of the afternoon, as he had already won the day's opener with Sharat Kumar's Amazing Performer. In fact, the trainer opened his seasonal account by winning the first two races in the day's card. Amazing Performer had been running some ordinary races thus far in her career and had come right down to the lowest category at Bangalore. It was therefore strange to see the filly being backed down to odd-on favouritism. The money was apparently well-placed as she improved through the field and joined the leaders. She wore down Angad in the straight and hit the front. Amazing Performer managed to contain a strong and determined challenge from Shades Of Scarlet in the final stages of this race.

Sharat's next winner was Magnitude Star. This costly acquisition had disappointed in his earlier starts. A three month gap had seemingly done him a world of good. The strong support that he received in the betting rings showed that he was ready to strike. There was equal support for Hard To Pin Down. Suraj had been working this horse regularly on the training track. The two market fancies ran prominently till the bend. The scene changed alarmingly thereafter. While Srinath and Magnitude Star emerged clear of the pack, Hard To Pin Down stopped in his tracks and faded from the scene. Scarlette and early leader Moves Goodenough fought out gallantly for the second spot. Now that Magnitude Star has re-discovered his winning form, it will be interesting to see what Sharat Kumar plans for him. Magnitude Star will definitely try and emulate his stablemates Lionheart and Atlantus in the coming months.

On a day of "doubles", the other one was scored by Srinath. He had an easier time steering Padmanabhan's Preordained to a popular victory. This highly-strung filly seems to have settled down in recent months. She has apparently overcome a habit of dislodging her riders prior to reaching the starting gates. After a couple of attempts over longer trips in the Summer Classics, Preordained was reverting to a sprint. Her front running tactics had landed her the third prize in the Fillies Championship. Running in The Air Force Trophy, a handicap for horses in class III, Preordained was installed as a firm favourite with the bookmakers. Srinath was able to settle her nicely alongside Chantilly Jewel till they entered the straight. Current Ray and Effectual were tracking them for most of the way. It ceased to be a contest thereafter. A mere tap from Srinath was all that was required. Preordained lengthened her strides to skip clear of Effectual and Current Ray. This performance was quite special as she wasn’t unduly hustled in the final stages of this race. While carrying ten and a half kilos more than Lovely Kiss, Preordained had clocked timing only fractionally slower than the winner of the day's feature. Preordained shapes as one of the best sprinters at this centre.

Fashionably bred Cafe Del Monte found himself heading the scales in a class IV event. Running for the first time in Handicap Company, this got abroad colt looked much superior to his rivals. His third behind Hill Dioro and Field Marshal in his previous start was a commendable effort. The punters refused to look beyond him while making their selection, and the grey was installed as the shortest priced favourite this afternoon. After a slightly sluggish beginning, Cafe Del Monte improved his position and was the first into the straight. Those who expected him to sail away from his rivals were in for a mild shock. Delta Delight came with a strong bid and looked menacing in the final furlong. Frenchman Stephane had to pull out his whip to contain Sreekanth's challenge. To the relief of those who like to back short-priced horses, the favourite lasted out to win by a length at the finish. Yawar came with a long stretch run to take the third place ahead of Lucky Sam. The last named ran a forward race and it would be reasonable to say that Lucky Sam can pick up a sprint at his current mark.

Irfan Ghatala's Sunstorm raised a timely gallop to pip Simply Phenomenal near the winning post. The latter had gone past the early leader Smart Exotic in the final furlong but was shocked by the eventual winner. Responding gamely to BL Paswan's urgings, Sunstorm made up a lot of ground in the straight. He showed marked improvement over his last season form while landing this prize. Well supported Mystic Dawn broke down during the race and was carried away in an ambulance. Smart Exotic plodded along to retain his third place.

A strong ride from Suraj Narredu enabled Gun Salute to down the colours of a runaway Hill Rising. Barring top-weighted Southern King, the other nine runners were all three year olds. Most of them had emerged from the maiden ranks in recent months, and were now running in open company. A huge surge of money on Argentum saw this grey filly starting as a strong favourite in this race. Lad Star, Gun Salute and Hill Rising were quietly fancied by their respective connections. Apprentice Anjar Alam pushed Hill Rising into an early lead ahead of Signifies, Gun Salute and Lad Star. Ladjadj Stephane was seen hustling Argentum in the back-stretch but the filly was in no mood to gallop. She started and finished in almost the same position today. The action in front remained more or less the same as the runners took the final bend. Hill Rising had a nice looking lead into the straight but it was short-lived. She was challenged and passed by Satish Narredu's Gun Salute in the final furlong. The free striding colt retired as a comfortable winner today. Hill Rising and Lad Star managed to save place money for their supporters.

A small field of seven faced the starter in a seven furlong handicap for horses in the lowest class. On the basis of some fancy track work, Gallagher's mount Red Hot cornered maximum support in this race. After showing initial speed, the three year old filly had already flopped as a favourite in an earlier start at Mysore. The same story got repeated today. Red Hot chased Surprisesucceeding till the home turn before calling it a day. Despite Gallagher's strong handling, she looked beaten in the final furlong. At about the same juncture, Vaibhav ridden Sandhurst moved forward. For a brief moment he managed to "head" Surprisesucceeding. Aided by the inner rails, apprentice Noornabi continued pushing the latter and the two runners matched strides till they touched the wire. In a very close finish, Britto trained Surprisesucceeding managed to beat Sandhurst on the post. Red Hot and Powergrid filled the rest of the frame.