Irfan Ghatala's three year old Portobello scored a long overdue victory in The H B Gundappa Gowda Memorial Trophy, the feature event in Saturday's eight event card at Bangalore. This consistent performer was making a sixth attempt at winning his maiden race. He had finished on the board in all his starts, and the one performance that really stood out was a fair second to D'artagnan over seven furlongs. After a couple of appearances over shorter distances, Portobello was reverting back to 1400 metres in this race. He was set to take on the likes of Bruckner, Flower Alley and Aksinya as his main opposition. Pesi Shroff's Bruckner was an odds-on choice to lift this trophy. After flopping exactly a month ago, this showy dark bay was seen sporting blinkers today. The reports of some brilliant trackwork in addition to his superb looks added to the hype. The fact that three odds-on choices had flopped earlier in the afternoon made Brucker a recovery bet for many present at the course. The final result made them rue their decision of going nap on him. The early pace in this race was quite fast. Bruckner had apparently become "Keener" with the blinkers, and Mallesh Narredu had no option but to let him go to the front. He kept increasing his lead, and was clear of his rivals as they straightened for home. Portobello on the rails and Flower Alley on the wide outside were sent in chase, while the others began to drop out of contention. The scene altered dramatically in the final furlong. The early efforts had taken their toll and Bruckner began to tire rapidly. To the dismay of his numerous supporters, the favourite shortened his strides and allowed Portobello and Flower Alley to gain control of the proceedings. Harish ridden Portobello quickened nicely and posted a comfortable victory ahead of a hard ridden Flower Alley. Bruckner may be better over a shorter trip, and considering his present health, is likely to win in the early part of the Pune season. For jockey Harish, this was a quick double. He had won the earlier race with Warren Singh's Another Destiny. The winner was too good for a bunch of no-hopers led by Glory Bound and Vayuputra . It was the turn of the Hyderabad contingent to celebrate today. This group had been unable to pick up a race in this season. A few of their horses had run prominently but were unable to hoist the winning flag. Deshmukh's Lone Ranger was the first to reverse this trend. This extremely well bred and nice looking colt was still a maiden. Not wanting to take any chances, the trainer decided to use the services of jockey Rajendra. The champion rider did a neat job by steering him to a comfortable victory. After chasing Amazing Queen and Black Beauty for most of the way, Rajendra and Lone Ranger seized the advantage and led into the straight. It was smooth sailing thereafter. Three of the chasing pack finished in a heap with Alcestis getting the better of Lush Lashes and Amazing Queen. Alcestis was the most impressive amongst the beaten brigade. Shehzad Abbas's Aphrodisiac was a worthy winner of The Kumararajah MAM Muthiah Cup. This Class III sprint attracted a bunch of powerful sprinters. Greenbro and Rugged Beauty were the two local hopefuls and the betting was centered around the two of them. Aphrodisiac was the beneficiary of a forward run in The Fillies Trial Stakes, and was reappearing over a more appropriate distance today. The filly attracted attention in the parade ring and cornered a fair bit of support as the horses made their way to the start. Jockey P S Chouhan rode a near perfect race on the winner. After tracking the speedy Above The Line till the last two hundred metres, Aphrodisiac gained the upper hand and surged into an unassailable lead. She kept getting stronger and won ahead of a late finishing Rugged Beauty and Above The Line. Greenbro was out of depth in this class, and may need some more time to win again. Lone Ranger and Aphrodisiac must be followed in their future engagements after returning to Hyderabad. The day's proceedings started with a big gamble being landed by the Samar Singh stable. Diamond Shower was backed down from 4's to evens within a short period of time. The five year old was yet to win a race in her career, and was being ridden by rookie Amarpreet today. None of these facts seemed to deter her fans as they backed her with gay abandon. Diamond Shower gave an anxious time to her backers, as she was unable to collar the front running Sparklingadventure till almost 20 metres from the final post. In a blanket finish, Diamond Shower found her neck in front of Sparklingadventure, Valiant Bid and Fantabulous Hero. The supporters of the favourite were lucky to collect on her. A nine furlong race witnessed a stirring duel between favourite Pelikano and Spandau Ballet. With the two champions Rajendra and Suraj Narredu in full flow, the issue was decided in the last few strides of this long distance race. Being unable to settle her down in the early stages of the race, Rajendra had no option but to show early daylight to Pelikano. She got keen fairly early in the race , and exhausted most of her enegies when the race came to a boil. On the other hand, Suraj and Spandau Ballet saved ground most of the way, and reserved their best for the end. The two runners fought every inch of ground before Spandau Ballet wore down the frontrunner and emerged victorious. Pelikano lives to fight another day, and is in line to pick up an age group race before the end of the season. The bandwagon of the "Spark" stable continued to roll forward. It was the turn of Spark Of Solitaire on Saturday. This Prasanna Kumar trained three year old had been withdrawn on two earlier occasions this season. He had played truant at the gates and had been asked to improve his gate manners. There were no such problems today. Spark Of Solitaire went into the gates like a lamb and sped away from favourite Kingdomofdreams. Jockey John has been riding with a lot of confidence this season, and has been delivering with regularity. His win astride Spark Of Solitaire was another display of competent riding An effort from the Samar Singh stable to close the day's proceedings on a winning note came to grief, when hot favourite Neel Gagan shortened his strides near the winning post. He led from the word "go", and was travelling comfortably for most of the way. His pursuers were unable to make any impression on him. It was only when he started to slow down did we notice a fast finishing Monarchial. The Lokanath trainee looked spectacular in victory. He had come from the rear of the pack and made up a lot of ground in the straight. More than six horses finished in a heap for the minor placings. The magic eye confirmed that Neel Gagan had held on to the second spot from Worth a Million and Whisper Valley.