Kingfisher Mysore Derby winner of 2000, Chevalier who turned out to be a dismal failure thereafter, finally broke the ice, with an exciting win over Golden Goal in the 2000 metres Stayers Trial Stakes, a terms race for four-year olds and over, the feature event of the races held on Friday. In doing so, Chevalier won his first ever race in Bangalore as all his wins had come at Mysore. Shroff as his wont, rode a brilliant race on the winner while Aslam Kader on favourite Alameda from the same stable, rode a pathetic and questionable race, riding the horse to the ground which resulted in the son of Steinbeck finishing in the rut, in the process also spoiling the chances of owner mate Elusive Emperor.

As Chevalier appeared to have lost his form completely, Alameda who was blazing the track ended up as the favourite as jockey Aslam Kader who had a choice to ride any of the four runners of the same owner that were in the fray. Elusive Emperor who had recorded an impressive win in his last essay was next in demand. Since both were front-runners and belonged to the same owner but to different trainers, one was curious as to the strategy that was likely to be adopted. Quite often, when several runners of the same owner are in the fray, one of them is used as a pacemaker but rarely two fancied runners are used to kill each other’s chances! Jockey Aslam Kader expended the energies of the favourite in hitting the front while jockey Norton, guiding the fortunes of Elusive Emperor was clueless, as he had perhaps hoped that he would be able to hit the front without much resistance, least of all from an owner mate. In trying to hit the front, Alameda and Elusive Emperor blew their chances although Norton, grasping the situation, rode his mount with restraint from the mile marker. But the damage had already been done as Elusive Emperor, after taking charge on turning for home, ran out of reserves inside the distance post and allowed two rank outsiders Chevalier and Golden Goal to fight out of the issue. The better finishing powers of Shroff tilted the scales in favour of Chevalier.

The Stewards ordered an enquiry into the way Alameda was ridden but nothing was bound to come out of it as the jockey had the defense that his instructions were to hit the front and that he had not been given no contingency plans in the event of his mount having to be used up to hit the front. The question that needed to be answered was whether the jockey of his experience was not guilty of not using his own intelligence to suit the situation. It is also strange that when two horses of the same owner were running with identical running patterns, the least the public expected was what transpired. Since the horses belonged to different trainers, the owner could have put in a word or two so that such a eventuality did not come about. These sorts of incidents are bound to leave a bad taste especially when the winner was a long-priced horse from Alameda’s stable.

Padmanabhan trained Queenstown who had recorded a smashing win in her last essay, continued her winning form, with a resolute win in the Tumkur Plate (Div I), a race for horses rated 30 to 45. Jockey Srinath settled Queenstown in the rear till turning for home as Spark of Life did his customary front-running role. Spark of Life was strongly challenged by Butter Sponge inside the final furlong but the former refused to give up and battled on. It took the finishing burst of Queenstown to change the complexion of the race. In the lower division of the race, favourite Indian Rocket who had a weak opposition to contend with had it easy. There was a cavalry charge for minor berths, a mere short head separating Saujas, Psychedelic and Annodomini for the next three slots on the frame.

Kingley was backed to the exclusion of her rivals in the 1100 metres Novice Plate, a race for first season runners, but the Rebounding Thrill progeny caught a tartar in the form of Astrocharm who proved too good, kicking clear from the rest inside the final 250 metres. Silver Feathers was the other Ganapathy ward to win during the day. Be My Star could well have been the winner but the favourite who was lugging in, had her passage blocked along the rails by Silver Feathers and later on, was interfered by Worldly Pick whose jockey S Ramesh failed to keep his mount on a straight course. Be My Star went clear inside the final 100 metres and raised hopes of a comfortable win but the horse apparently broke down and Silver Feathers, after being switched on the wide outside, came out to win. Be My Star returned with a damaged fetlock and was later put down on humanitarian grounds.

Trainer M P Mahaesh’s Fantasy Bay slammed the opposition in the 1200 metres Native Chieftan Plate, winning as he liked from Blushing Star and Niveditha. In the concluding race of the day, Sunchaser who was the firm favourite, held on to win from Private Emotions and Rumpelstiltskin, the latter literally flying home to be an eye-catching third.