It was a proud day for the connections of Icebreaker, as this lovely filly pulverized her nine opponents in The Poonawalla Bangalore Derby (Grade I) on Sunday afternoon and completed a rare hat-trick of "Classic" victories in the Winter Season. Trainer Padmanabhan has done extremely well with her, and was obviously confident about her chances, as he had said in a pre-race interview that "whoever wins has to first beat my filly". She had won the 1000 Guineas and the Oaks with a measure of comfort, and it was no different today. She is known for her cool temperament, deep reserves of stamina, fighting qualities and, most importantly, a great turn of foot in the home straight. David Allan has struck a great partnership with her, and the two of them delighted their supporters with a very professional performance today. An amazing feature of her three recent wins has been the fact that the bookmakers have been generous to her fans on every single occasion. They offered 7/2 in the 1000 Guineas because they thought she lacked Class. They again quoted the same odds against her in the Oaks, because they opined that her pedigree was suspect over a staying trip. It was no different on Sunday since they thought that she was no match against Fleeting Arrow. It was a quality field of ten starters in this year's Derby. Seven out of the ten had won Classics at various centres in the Southern Circuit. Fleeting Arrow was the only one amongst them who was unbeaten on the local track. He had won seven out of seven at this centre, and in doing so had won the Colts Trial Stakes and the Bangalore 2000 Guineas. Fleeting Arrow and Icebreaker had never run against each other, but there was a small yardstick to gauge their comparative capabilities. Both of them had beaten Originality by almost identical margins in the current season. Icebreaker had thereafter successfully tackled the mile and a half in the Bangalore Oaks, while Fleeting Arrow was going to be handling a trip beyond a mile for the first time in his career. The optimism of his trainer Babu Rao and jockey Samuel Fargeat was so infectious, that the colt was supported with confidence, and reached the starting gates as a clear favourite to win this Big Race. Abs Fabs and Fantastic Quest were quietly fancied by their respective camps. Chris Hayes found the early pace a bit slow for his liking, and had no hesitation in sending Abs Fabs to the front. The filly showed the way to Star Presentation, Undue, Able Associate and Icebreaker, while the rest were strung out in single file as they traversed the first half of this race. Things began to take a serious turn near the 800-metre marker. With jockeys urging their mounts to take advantageous positions at the top of the straight, two things became very clear. The first pertained to Fleeting Arrow. He was under tremendous pressure to improve his position, and was finding no reserves in the tank. It became apparent that he was uncomfortable over this longer trip. The second thing that was noticable was the smooth acceleration displayed by Icebreaker. She lengthened her strides with ease, and came alongside Abs Fabs with a minimum of fuss. David Allan gave her a couple of taps at this stage and she broke away from the early leader. To the wild cheering of a huge crowd, Icebreaker was seen being eased up in the final stages to win by a shade under two lengths from Abs Fabs. Fantastic Quest made a late bid to finish third. Fleeting Arrow, Able Associate and Timeless Treasure finished in a heap behind the first three. Icebreaker has taken kindly to her master's training. Padmanabhan has decided to take her to Mumbai for the "Indian Classics", where she will challenge Set Alight for supremacy. Icebreaker is definitely a good filly, but whether she's good enough to handle Set Alight, is a question that shall be answered over the next couple of months. Her owners Capt. Appoo and Simone Poonawalla were ecstatic about Icebreaker's performance and delighted with their own decision to race her in Bangalore. Padmanabhan had the glorious distinction of saddling three other winners in a long card of ten races framed for the day. It is common knowledge that his stable houses some of the finest youngsters in Bangalore. The establishment had their first "Baby" winner of the season. He produced first timer Classerville (Placerville- Treasure Hunt) in top condition to win the upper division of a sprint race for maidens. The big chestnut got up on the last stride to nail a runaway Mystic Quest, and showed that he will be more suited over a longer trip. David Allan had to work really hard in order to achieve this victory. The runner-up was unfortunate to come across one better for the third straight time in her career. The lower division of this race was won by Ganapathy's Queen's Collection, who turned out to be far superior to her rivals. Prakash did not move a muscle while guiding her fortunes. She justified the measly odds quoted on her by the bookmakers. Celestial Way ran an unextended second, and this got-abroad filly can be earmarked for an early victory in the coming weeks. The last two races in the card gave Padmanabhan his third and fourth winners of the day. Equidae was a short priced favourite to land the spoils and she ran accordingly. She tracked Silken Thomas till the distance post before Fargeat put her under pressure. The response was immediate as she powered away from her rivals. The last race saw a brilliant piece of riding by Harish astride River Island. A lot of money had gone down on this filly in her last few starts. She was almost friendless today at 6/1, while Aquitaine and Rimpuche cornered most of the support in what was touted as an "Open" race. With Aquitaine and Colonel Duff losing ground at the start, the field was bunched up near the distance post. Harish produced River Island on the wide outside and drove her relentlessly thereafter to keep Rimpuche at bay. Spiritofexcellence was third ahead of Colonel Duff. This victory culminated in Padmabhan celebrating one of the most satisfying days in his professional career. Another thrilling finish was witnessed in the upper division of a sprint for horses in Class II. With favourite Mark Of Gibraltar being withdrawn at the starting gates, the race witnessed a blanket four way finish. Mighty Heart had led them into the last hundred metres and was under pressure to retain his hold on the race. Cart Wheel, Sugar Ray and Calming Influence were flying on his outside. It was De Souza's powerful riding which tilted the balance in favour of the Arjun Mangalorkar-trained Cart Wheel. He was able to pip Mighty Heart at the post. Calming Influence was able to nose out Sugar Ray and save place money for his fans. Less than a long neck separated the first four runners. A rare accident occurred in a Class IV event over seven furlongs. Last outing winner Sunny Gold was set to clash with Siberean Princess. It was touted as a match race between the two as one could write one’s own card on the others. It was Stunning Grey who showed the way to Siberean Princess and Sunny Gold till the runners began to take the home turn. David Allan noticed a severe problem with Siberean Princess at this stage, and decided to pull her up. The filly veered out suddenly and caused a severe check to Sunny Gold, who happened to be galloping right behind her. With both the fancied runners being affected by this accident, it was left to Kandiate and Kalyan to dominate the finish. Kalyan finally put his neck in front and won this race from Kandiate. Sunny Gold finished a faraway third. Refresh and Quiet Achiever were the other winners in the day’s card. It was after a long time that the BTC authorities framed a ten event card on a Derby Day. The attendance was huge, and this was reflected in the turnover at the totalizators. It is learnt that a new record for tote-turnover was set during the afternoon. The figure quoted was well over Rs 8 Crore for the day.