Vijay Singh trained Ansbach who missed the Kingfisher Bangalore Derby due to a slight injury to the hoof the day before the big event, made amends for that loss with a hard-fought win over Taipan in the richly endowed Dashmesh And Hargobind Stud Million, which has been accorded a Grade 3 status from the coming year. Ansbach was out of action for just two days due to the injury and considering the fact that the son of Alansr Alwasheek had matched strides with the likes of Snow Dew and Royal Gladiator, he was expected to have it say. However, Taipan who had made amazing progress since his last run, caused a bit of anxiety to the supporters of the favourite with a powerful finish though the leeway was difficult to cover completely.

Star Pegasus, Campanero and Astor Place were expected to run prominently but it was Michael Eshwer trained Taipan who surprised everyone with his performance. Jockey Gallagher was pretty confident that Taipan would run a great race. ``Taipan has shown a great deal of improvement and the removal of blinkers has worked wonders with the son of Don’t Forget Me. I am sure he will be right there at the busy end,’’ he had said before the race. And he was proved right though not many were inclined to agree with his assessment before the race.

Aslam Kader had Ansbach held up in the sixth or seventh position and brought the Alnasr Alwasheek progeny on the wide outside on turning for home. Even as Star Chieftan and Campanero were battling it out, Ansbach drew clear in a trice to establish a sizeable lead. Taipan who had a slightly hampered passage, shot through the middle. The son of Don’t Forget Me covered up a lot of leeway but the winning post came to the rescue of the front-running favourite. Taipan was shy at the finish by ¾ of a length. What tilted the scales decisively in favour of the favourite was his ability to quicken faster than the rest.

Taipan has a bright future ahead of him. It would be prudent to campaign him in the Nanoli Juvenile Million at Mysore where he will be favoured by the terms of the race and he could be quite a handful in the classics too as he would be taking on relatively inferior opponents.

Both the divisions of the Cape Dance Plate, a sprint race for three-year olds, saw favourites come a cropper in contrasting fashion. In the lower division of the race, favourite Silvertre played up before being stalled and was withdrawn from the fray. Moses trained El Tonor won unfancied, at lucrative odds, with Memorable Occasion finishing second ahead of favourite-by-default Wovoka. Jockey Woods tried to work his way through the narrow gap along the rails on Memorable Occasion but the got-abroad filly who has an impaired vision in one of her eyes, was hesitant to take the gap and Woods abruptly shifted her out of the rails, causing a big check to Wovoka. Memorable Occasion finished full of running to miss the berth by half a length. Jockey Gallagher took an objection for interference against Woods. The Stewards, much against their own decisions in the past, upheld the objection and disqualified Memorable Occasion and promoted Wovoka to the third spot.

There would have not been any grouse had the Stewards been consistent in their decisions. On several occasions, they have gone by the norm whether the interference made any material difference and if not, the objection has been thrown out. In this case, the interference did not make any material difference. Even if the objection were to be upheld, disqualifying the horse was wrong because Memorable Occasion could have at least been placed fourth. The fact that the Stewards did not view Woods riding as dangerous but only careless made things worse. In the upper division of the race, Imtiaz Sait’s Pleasure Hunt was an overwhelming favourite to win but the Razeen filly that was in season was beaten fair and square by well-backed Extreme Contact at nourishing odds.

Barring Ansabch who won as a strong public fancy, the day’s races went the way of lesser-fancied ones. Abdullah’s Vertigo was strongly backed to win the Bold Gesture Plate (Div II) but lesser-fancied Abhimanyu floored the favourite close home with a powerful run. The run of bad luck for Abdullah continued, with Vertigo becoming the 11^th horse of the trainer to finish second best during the season. Nothing seems to be going right for him. Laplander came up with a late run to finish a noteworthy third. In the upper division, Ganapathy’s Splendid Ally won quite easily from First Principle. Padmanabhan is another trainer who is finding winners hard to come by this season and his poor run continued with favourite Love Unlimited finishing off the frame.

Warren Singh was at his aggressive best when steering lesser fancied Krugar Park to an exciting win over Patriotic while in the lower division, Samar Singh’s Exstream, after a series of seconds, finally obliged at nourishing odds, with a great deal of comfort. Rashid Byramji trained favourite Moonlight Rays was not sighted. It is no longer safe to back a horse, running as a favourite from the yard of the Byramjis.

Ganapathy is all set to claim the trainer’s championship for the second season running. Majestic Emperor won the Lt Col Gaunt Memorial Cup decisively from Native Red to put him a point ahead of long time leader Darashah. Alycylic, ridden by Aslam Kader was the favourite but the drifting odds in the betting ring were certainly indicative of the fact that something was amiss. Alycylic ran a disgraceful last and jockey Aslam Kader has often disappointed by his lackadaisical attitude. The concluding week of the Summer Season should see Ganapathy wrap up the championship.