A succession of failed favourites left in their wake bruised punters who vented their anger by hurling choice abuses at the professionals. The professionals, of course, are immune to all this.  Elusive Hero, hailed as a classic contender, ran a dismal race and this followed the failure of favourite Arcaro. The common factor in both these failures was jockey Aslam Kader who has this habit of finding himself in the eye of the controversies right through the career. There were a spate of enquiries but nothing has come out of it until now and as it happens, nothing will ever come out of it. Saturday’s action was eminently forgettable as far as the race-goers were concerned and they got the wrong side of the stick, with four on-money favourites biting the dust in succession.

The son of Elusive Pimpernel, Elusive Hero had scored twice in succession at Mysore, beating quality opposition in the process. This had given rise to the hope that Elusive Hero could after all be the elusive classic prospect that the famed Byramji stable was looking for this year. That Elusive Hero was a universal choice was reflected in the miserly odds of 10 to 3 on quoted in the bookmakers ring.  What A Pleasure and Flash First were the front-runners, with Butter Sponge racing in the fourth or fifth position along the rails. The backers of Elusive Hero were struggling hard to spot the favourite as Aslam Kader was finding it difficult to move up smoothly. Rounding the final bend, Flash First hit the front and shaped like a winner but M P Mahaesh trained Butter Sponge came up smoothly on the outside to go ahead. The finishing burst of Argyle Gold only helped the Byramji ward to snatch the runner-up spot. Elusive Hero was gaining ground when the race was well sewn up by the eventual winner. While one has no clue as to Elusive’s poor show, the performance of got-abroad filly Flash First was impressive as she appreciated the step up in distance from sprint to a mile. Butter Sponge has furnished himself well since the summer campaign and more wins are in store for him.

Apprentice jockey S Ramesh is shaping well and he can progress far if he keeps a straight course. He drove out top-weighted Alameda to a resolute win in the 1800 metres Stewards Trophy, a race for horses rated 40 and above, the feature event of the day. Elusive Emperor made the entire running but lost the initiative inside the distance post. Jockey Rajesh’s excessive use of the whip on Mr Belvedere only fetched him a reward of a fine and the response from the favourite was not good enough to halt the victory march of Alameda.

Rashid Byramji may well have been surprised by the impressive win recorded by Affined as contrasted with the poor run as a favourite at Mysore. Jockey Aslam Kader, who had a choice to choose between Arcaro and Affined, chose the former, sending the punters in the wrong direction. Arcaro was backed to the exclusion of his rivals but it was Affined, in the hands of Harish, who won as he pleased from top-weighted Flaming Tower. Arcaro was never in the hunt and finished last. Trainer Padmanabhan was at a loss to explain the poor show of Arcaro as he strongly believed that his ward was a cinch. The post-race examination and scoping of the horse did not give any clue to the poor performance of Arcaro. But Arcaro had no business to be such a cramped favourite. Arcaro might have finished behind some good horses but the barometer to judge a horse’s caliber is the horses he has beaten and on this score, he had very poor credentials.

A good type of a youngster was seen in action in the form of Ganapathy trained two-year old Snow Fields who swamped the opposition in the 1100 metres Nursery Plate in the manner of a horse of top caliber. Combat Way led till passed by the eventual winner inside the final 400 metres. The one to show out was the stable mate of the winner Prevalence who dragged herself to the third spot without any apparent effort on the part of her pilot.

Mohan Valavi’s Ek Ek Ek was the betting rage in the 1100 metres Bhadravathi Plate and the son of Argyle Lake who was taken on a start to finish mission by jockey Prithviraj, successfully kept his lone pursuer Amalgamate at a safe distance to land a big touch.

The betting ring is the best barometer to find out if a particular horse is a serious jobber or not. The drifting odds on favourite Save The Day was too glaring to be missed by discreet punters who plumped for Aryawun and Forest Pegasus in equal measure. Jockey Appu, who had a break of about four lengths on the field inside the final 300 metres, drove out Forest Pegasus to thrilling win over a late-finishing Aryawun. Forest Pegasus held on to win by a whisker over Aryawun who found foot rather too late.

Samar Singh’s Rasna was an on-money favourite to win the 1400 metres Cordon Blue Plate. The price was surely no value for money and the punters quickly realised their folly as Oscar who was in a forward position at the top of the straight, held on gamely in the hands of veteran Shafiq to keep the favourite at a safe distance.