After a couple of postponements and a lapse of exactly seven days, the published programme of the opening day's winter races was finally conducted on Friday at Bangalore. With the weather playing truant over the last few weeks, the underfoot conditions at The Bangalore Turf Club have been far from satisfactory. The going has not been better than soft this season. The stipes, who had allowed the declarations to remain unchanged during this period, were expectedly vigilant. Most of the races were keenly contested, and a majority of them were won by public choices.

Leading professionals Suraj Narredu, Srinath, Dhariwal and Darius Byramji scored more than once during the afternoon and gave a rousing start to their personal campaigns. A tradition that has been followed for a long, long time has been the conduct of The Rajyotsava Trophy on the first day of the Winter Season. It was no different this year. A dozen of the best horses stationed at Bangalore agreed to oppose each other on specific terms.

These terms were such, that one saw winners in the highest class being opposed by those with half their rating. The fact that three low-rated youngsters participating in this event managed to figure on the result board, was a bit surprising. Even though Dhariwal's Aprillia (Burden Of Proof – Anonimity) had been supported with a lot of bravado, what surprised those present at the race course was the manner in which she withheld the challenge of her more illustrious and older opponents.

In the hands of Zervan, this sprightly filly confirmed that she is brilliant over seven furlongs. After opening at a nourishing 8/1, Aprillia received one sided support and climbed to the top of the betting boards. In the process, she displaced stablemates Aboline and Tomsk. The race itself was quite interesting. A tightly packed field darted out of the starting gates, with Aprillia and Magnanimity showing the way to the other runners led by Couleur Rouge and Incredible. Tomsk, Aboline and Love Conquers All raced in mid-division, while Atlantus and Nessie graced the rear.

Aprillia raced well within herself while leading marginally till the home turn. Soon after entering the straight, Zervan relaxed his grip on the leader. She darted forward, and within a couple of seconds, established a winning lead in the day's feature. Thereafter, it became a race for the minor berths. Atlantus and Nessie stormed through the pack to take the second and third spots. Incredible and Love Conquers All filled the rest of the frame.

A couple of important facts emerged from this result. First and foremost was the performance of the winner. Aprillia had shown tremendous improvement, as she had decisively reversed the verdict with her stablemate Couleur Rouge. The two had last clashed at level weights in the Mysore 1000 Guineas. The other was the run of the low-rated Nessie. A winner of only one race, this filly was classified in Class IV. The manner in which she got the better of those rated 100 and above was quite extraordinary. It is possible that trainer Dominic had selected this race as a lead-up to a huge touch in her own class.

Now that she has got exposed, the handicapper is bound to give her a suitable penalty. However, she will be worth backing at any price in her next start. For winning jockey Zervan, Bangalore has become his favourite hunting ground. After posting a dozen victories during Bangalore Summer, the youngster began his winter campaign in right earnest. It may not be long before he completes his journey as an apprentice, and graduates to become a full jockey.

For trainer Dhariwal, Aprillia was his second winner of the day. He had earlier won a race for horses in class IV with Hi Life (Mudeer – Flirting Fantasy). Ridden by champion jockey Suraj Narredu, Hi Life tracked a runaway Smart Exotic till the bend, before assuming command of the proceedings. Suraj had to pull out his stick to goad the filly to a comfortable victory over a late finishing pair of Chevvy and Born To Perform.

The entire field was literally crawling at the end of this mile exercise. Hi Life was the beginning of a fluent treble for Suraj. His other two winners were trained by the Byramji family. He steered Darius's three-year-old Alexander Helios (Gaswar – Speed Mistress) to a start-to-finish victory. The youngster was running for the second time in his career. Because of his large frame and excessive body weight, Alexander Helios wasn't comfortable in soft going.

He won this race on sheer class. His job became marginally easier when Imran Khan lost his whip in the final furlong. Top-weighted Liberty Ship was making a menacing move at that stage. Here again, Suraj made free use of the whip on this on-money favourite.

The most impressive of his three victories was the one astride Rashid Byramji's One Life To Love (Inner City – Just Amazing). She was a 6/1 chance against the piping hot favourite Astounding Gallop. On the basis of his close fourth to stablemate Immense in the Mysore 2000 Guineas, and that too when he was racing after a longish absence from a race track, Astounding Gallop was backed by all and sundry.

Arjun expected him to win comfortably. On the other hand, One Life To Love had been rested after winning her only start at Mysore. John allowed Astounding Gallop to settle behind Crown Empress, Skyliner and Yamas, while Suraj and One Life To Love were happy to grace the rear. The supporters of Astounding Gallop raised a cheer as their horse went to the front. His dominance in the straight was shortlived, as he was soon joined by One Life To Love. The filly was brought with a smooth acceleration by Suraj, and it took her only a few moments to settle the issue.

There was a stunned silence as she got stronger and stronger. Crown Empress plodded along to finish a poor third. While Suraj had timed his run to a nicety, it must be mentioned that One Life To Live had obviously enjoyed running on a soft track. The other jockey who received accolades for his riding on Friday was Srinath. He won a couple of races with Gluteus Maximus and Lads Gladiator. While the win astride the former was fairly easy, he had to use all his skills to win on the latter.

Gluteus Maximus (Gaswar – Ladyfeelgood) had been doing some exceptional work after being gelded in June. He reproduced that form in an actual race and romped home to an easy victory over Fiorucci. Srinath's handling of Warren Singh's Lad's Gladiator (Royal Gladiator – Acquest) came in for a lot of praise. He literally forced this horse to snatch the victory near the winning post. Nausad Alam and Tanzanite had spurted clear in the last furlong and looked set to annex this race. None of her opponents looked good enough to catch her, till the winner appeared on the scene.

He flew from the sixth position and responded to Srinath's handling. One was amazed to see him making up this sort of ground in soft going. Lad’s Gladiator got up on the last two strides to ensure a stunning victory. The only other race in the day's card was the first one this afternoon. Being a terms event for maiden three-year-olds, it was touted as a match race between Anna and Adonis. They were much better than the others on juvenile form.

Anna (Glory Of dancer – Scenic View) had lost a couple of similar races in extremely close finishes, while Adonis had placed against better opposition. The pair of them skipped away from the others and fought an exciting battle till the very end. Under the stronger guidance of John, Anna got the nod ahead of Adonis. Adonis was unfortunate to have picked the widest draw, as a result of which, she had to traverse a bit longer. It may not take her very long to emerge from the maiden ranks.