Great Investment was destined to win the 2400 metres Governor’s Cup (Grade III). Last year, the Libor progeny had the form and credentials to win the graded race but the season came to an abrupt end following the kidnapping of Karnataka’s matinee idol Dr Rajkumar by forest brigand Veerappan, which led to widespread violence and inactivity on the racing front for over a fortnight. Since only the last week of the season was affected and the Mysore season was about to start, the authorities cancelled the rest of the programme and Great Investment who was a final entry, had to return to his home base Pune without fulfilling the task for which he had come to Bangalore.

Sent to trainer Padmanabhan before the start of the season, Great Investment who has a ligament and hoof problem was nursed to peak fitness by the trainer. But with the season turning out to be nightmarish after beginning well with the success of Royal Gladiator in the Grade I Kingfisher Colts Trial Stakes, the trainer hadn’t led in a winner for more than six weeks and he was in danger of ending the season in frustration. Great Investment was not a strongly fancied runner as Alameda who had run a blinder of a race in the Maharaja’s Cup enjoyed public confidence and trust. But lady luck, which had deserted the trainer, finally smiled on Padmanabhan in the form of a win in a big race, which made up for earlier disappointments and came as a big boost to his sagging morale. The Libor progeny who perhaps relished the soft underfoot conditions, produced a striking acceleration in the run in for home to floor the front-running favourite Alameda to win decisively.

The final week’s programme was too big for comfort. A total of 26 races were gone through during the two day’s of programme, in conditions, which were far from ideal due to continuous rains. The authorities showed some ingenuity when they saved ground on the inside by having false rails, at a width of about eight metres for the first seven races of the final day and removed the same for the last six. This ensured that the ground was not too cut up and this perhaps explains why the timing of two minutes 40.49 came about for the 2400 metres trip despite the going been heavy. With well over 50 races over the week including off-course betting operations, punters are bound to be hit hard by such mindless programming and it is time sense is drilled into the authorities to restrict their programming in a manner that one doesn’t have to leave all activity and spend all the time at the race courses. Sometime ago, there was a government stipulation that there should not be more than 180 days of on-course and off-course betting days but with no one to rein in the turf club, there is blatant attempt to milk the racing patrons dry. To what end? Such methods are bound to misfire in the long run.

Be that as it may, Darius Byramji trained Alameda who had won the Stayers Cup at Chennai and had the right credentials to win, was backed to the exclusion of his rivals, with only a handful fancying Great Investment’s chances. Elusive Emperor showed the way till the 1000 metres marker at which point Aslam Kader pushed Alameda to take over the running and opened up a gap of more than five lengths on his rivals. The jockeys of Great Investment and Aerobee too quickly reacted and began to move up. Though Alameda had a useful led, the front-running effort told on the Steinbeck progeny as Great Investment came through with a lightning run along the rails to settle the issue inside the distance post. Aerobee too finished full of running but narrowly missed the runner-up berth as Alameda managed to stave off that threat. In hindsight, Aslam could be ruing his decision to hit the front so early in the race though Alameda enjoys running freely in front.

The Governor’s Cup has indeed been a lucky one for trainer Padmanabhan who had earlier recorded back-to-back victory in this event through Diamantaire. And in the fitness of things, the same race has given him the much-needed booster dose.

With the majority of the runners having no business to be running as they were only completing the formalities of two runs in order to get the subsidy, the concluding day’s races did not run kindly for the punters. Form went topsy-turvy.

As if to oblige the bookmakers, the race named after them, namely the Leading Bookmakers Trophy, run in two divisions, saw favourites bite the dust, with lesser fancied Aerobatic and Astrid landing a quiet touch. But the Leading Tipsters Cup (Div I) went the way of the heavily supported Air Tel who won at the expense of Mohan Valavi’s Indigenous whose wards were seen in different light in the final week. The lower division of the race went the way of the unpredictable Star Blitz.

Darius Byramji’s Appleby has been in blazing form. The Razeen progeny who won his last outing in taking style, swamped the opposition in the 2200 metres Leading Stud Cup, a race for horses rated 30 to 45. Star of Gaiety who had run less than three lengths behind the Derby winner Snow Dew, appeared a cinch but jockey Prakash made the mistake of keeping him too far behind. The Serious Spender progeny performed poorly and finished in the rut. Ma Baker edged out Argolis for the second spot.

Fittingly the Champion Trainers Cup, run in two divisions, saw well-backed horses landing the spoils. In the upper division, there was a quiet touch on Shoorveer who hammered the opposition, with favourite Count My Stride not sighted. In the lower division, trainer Lokanth Gowda kept his supporters happy with a bloodless win on Starjo who was backed to the exclusion of his rivals. The Leading Owner Cup, again run in two divisions, turned cruel for the punters, with Earl Grey and Crown Witness overturning their previous form to win at fancy odds.

With champion jockey Pesi Shroff in the saddle, it was no surprise that the Champion Jockey Cup went the way of favourite Furia Rossa to a smart win over a late-finishing Ivory Wings. However, rank outsider Crystal Delight dealt a severe blow to the beleaguered punters in the lower division.

The Stipes overall did well during the season though they continued to be ineffective as far as drilling fear in the minds of the professionals regarding the in and out running of their wards. Some of the professionals have made this a fine art, taking shelter in one excuse or the other, much to the chagrin of students of farm and the hapless punters.