The longest Bangalore Winter Season ended on Saturday on a controversial note. The Gr 2 Nanoli Stud Bangalore Juvenile Million saw lesser-fancied Obligado make a successful start to finish mission, barely lasting out to win by a whisker over Castle Park. Favourite Superior Force, who was poorly handled by Prakash, ran into all sorts of problems, the jockey trying to force his way along the rails and then shifting out only to find Obligado in his way. Superior Force who was full of running, was just ½ a length behind the runner-up.

Jockey Prakash objected against Malesh Narredu who rode the winner for shifting in when he was making his run along the rails and closing the gap and again shifting out when Superior Force was gaining ground on the outside of the winner, causing him to check again which cost him the race. The fact of the matter was that jockey Prakash who is increasingly riding over-confident and sometimes indifferent races following his unprecedented success, rode what could be termed an atrocious race. Had he shifted the big-striding Superior Force instead of electing to run along the rails where there was insufficient space, the result could well have been different. Prakash failed to judge the pace of the race and as such, he made the mistake of trying to work his way along the inside. The pace was the race was slow and as such, the front-runners were not coming back in a jiffy. Much to Prakash’s chagrin, even Cold Fire fought on resolutely till the final 50 metres and only after the son of Brave Hunter ran out of reserves that Prakash was able to switch his mount on the outside to essay his challenge.

There was no doubt as to who would have won the race if the race had been a true run race. Prakash lost the race by his poor jockeyship. Prakash had every reason to lodge an objection against Narredu for causing him interference at crucial stages of the races. But the fact of the matter is that in Bangalore, objections of such nature have never been upheld if only because the beneficiary would be somebody else and in this case Castle Park who hadn’t been interfered with by the eventual winner. More often than not, the Stewards have resorted to fining the jockey and letting the placings remain but in the case, the Stewards, perhaps for the first time in recent memory, chose to uphold an objection. Had Castle Park managed to win in the photo finish and Obligado finished second, the objection by Prakash would then have become a straightforward case and the Stewards would have been more than justified in upholding the objection. Since in this case, the beneficiary was a horse that was going to get the race by default, it would have been prudent to let the positions stay and make the jockey pay for his breach. The objection had substance but similar objections have been thrown off in the past. Under such circumstances, the Stewards could well have followed the precedents set earlier. But then in Bangalore, every year, the Stewards set newer precedents that would be difficult to follow.

One of the professionals reportedly said that ``it was a shameful decision’’ and he was being unduly critical and crossing the limits of being a licensed professional. The Stewards have a right to take offence at the same. But then in Bangalore, professionals take too much liberty in their language against the Stewards because the authorities have lost their moral authority by their inability to act objectively and without prejudice.

Coming back to the race, Narredu took Obligado on a start to finish mission and slowed the pace effectively. Cold Fire was in close attendance while Castle Park and Superior Force were within striking distance of each other. Obligado fought on resolutely even as Castle Park essayed a strong challenge on the wide outside while Prakash on Superior Force was searching for room on the inside. In the end, Obligado held on by a whisker to win from Castle Park. Superior Force was a close third. Following the objection, the sponsor who could well have received the trophy, ended up presenting the cup, disappointed by the turn of events.

Arjun Mangalorkar trained Royal Force came in for such big money that the son of Green Forest became on-money favourite in no time when the ante-post odds opened. Royal Force, despite running green, just about managed to win from Another Time, the Champion Trainer Trophy (Div I) to justify the spirited betting. In the lower division, favourite Fabulous Star had it easy, with It’s So Wonderful being a late-finishing second.

Pradeep Annaiah’s Tapatio had been pretty unlucky, having suffered under inferior jockeys. Now entrusted to jockey Appu, the son of Twist And Turn hacked the opposition in the 2200 metres Leading Stud Trophy, a race for horses rated 40 and above, the additional attraction of the day. After being held up in the rear as Ma Baker did the front running, Tapatio moved up smoothly and took charge inside the final furlong to win as he pleased. Tapatio who is a late maturing type, would relish longer trips and could turn out into a useful performer in graded races where he will come off better by the terms of the races.