Trainer Padmanabhan and his retained rider David Allan delighted their followers when their champion filly Icebreaker (Alnasr Alwasheek-Iceberg) put up a superlative performance in The Fernhill’s Palace Bangalore 1000 Guineas, the stellar event in Sunday’s race card at Bangalore. The city had been experiencing intermittent showers for the last few days and the track was rendered soft for this first Classic of the winter season. Sixteen well performed fillies had accepted to compete in this well endowed event. Abs Fabs, Originality and Icebreaker were the obvious leading lights and came into this race with very strong credentials. Abs Fabs had won the Mysore Derby in her previous start and in doing so had shown her ability to perform on soft ground. Originality was the winner of her last three starts and was the highest rated filly in the field. The only thing against her was the fact that she was tackling the mile trip for the first time in her career. Icebreaker had made steady progress after her exploits during the Mysore season, and had won over this distance in a Class II event earlier in the season. The three of them had been working well ,and the bookmakers were unable to separate them. All three were available at 7/2 in the betting ring. The odds reflected the “open” nature of this race. The sixteen fillies bounded out of the gates with most of the jockeys getting down to jostling for advantageous positions. Suraj Narredu and Abs Fabs were drawn on the inside, and not wanting to get squeezed out, were seen getting involved in the early action. The speedy Greens made the initial pace ahead of Originality and Abs Fabs, while Icebreaker was held back in mid group along with Inspiring Trust , Reflection Of Gold, Star Wave and the others. The race took a serious turn as the packed field entered the straight. Prakash pushed Originality and took over the running at this stage while Abs Fabs was in close attendance. With Greens getting tired on the rails, it was Icebreaker who was noticed to be moving the best of the lot. David Allan relaxed his grip on her, and she bounded forward with amazing acceleration. She treated the soft going and her fifteen opponents with scant respect, and tackled the mile trip like a true champion. Her rider rode her with immense confidence , and in the end, she was seen to be lengthening her strides while passing the winning post a shade less than three lengths clear of Originality. Abs Fabs was a fair third while Star Wave came from the back to take the fourth spot. Icebreaker has matured into a top class three year old, and her ability to settle down and quicken according to the directions from the saddle , separates her from the others. She has shown a fair balance of speed and stamina, and will be a strong force in the coming months. The year 2008 has been dominated by the fillies, and Icebreaker is likely to keep their flag flying. Padmanabhan is an astute professional, and has trained many brilliant horses in his career. In Icebreaker, he has discovered a true gem and seems to have polished it to perfection. The “fillies” afternoon had a long card of nine events. A couple of splendid performances from relatively smaller yards dominated the days card. It started with Amit Caddy’s Bid For Glory pulverising the opposition in the day’s opener. Samuel Hitchcott put her in top gear as they took the bend, and left the others gasping for breath as she won by a widening margin of almost seven lengths. Sarmaidar and Excellent Ability were able to save place money. The same professionals had a quick double when Price To Fame picked up the only two year old maidens event framed for the day. Ganapathy’s Star Assembly was the rage in this race. This well bred colt, who had finished a fair second in his only career start was entrusted to Srinath. The favourite was racing a handy second behind Rashida, but was found flat footed as soon as pressure was applied on him. In fact, Rashida looked like a winner till the last 20 metres before she was nailed by Price To Fame near the winning post. Hitchcott rode another brilliant finish on this first timer. Byramji’s Agility , after a sluggish beginning, came with a powerful finishing effort to end a close third. The other “double” was achieved by trainer S Singh and jockey S Ramesh. Super Sha and Manthara were the two winners from their yard ,who managed to retain their initial leads and won in close finishes. Super Sha had performed well during the summer , and had come close to winning a race on many occasions. It was his turn today, as he got stronger in the last couple of strides and held a stiff challenge mounted by The Spartan. The runner-up shall be too good to miss in his next start. Manthara was able to get the better of Charavyuha Bhedak, who had been installed as a firm favourite in this race. Well fancied Shisham lost her chances by racing on the outer strip of the race track. A nice gamble was landed on Flaming Lamborgini, who was backed by all and sundry to win a seven furlong race for horses in Class II. The bookmakers took a big pounding , since this winner was hammered down from 7/2 to 7/4. This horse had not won a race in the last year or so and had finished a fair sixth in his previous run. Suraj Narredu was riding him for the first time this year. This decision by his father Satish Narredu proved to be a big boon for this horse. Suraj gave him an immaculate ride and the four year old ran kindly for him. Flaming Lamborgini was a handy second for most of the way, before he was given his head. To the delight of his supporters, the favourite skipped clear of his rivals and checked in many lengths clear of a late finishing Stone Of Destiny and Raiders Sun. The last named is now ready for “take-off”, and should be backed whenever fancied by his connections. The Kumararajah M A M Muthiah Trophy was the supporting event of the day. Irfan Ghatala’s Van De Star showed a clean pair of heels to his rivals and was able to stave off a late bid from Excellent Speed. The four kilos claimed by apprentice Parveen came in extremely handy at the end. Van De Star‘s lead was diminishing in the final stages of the race, but the winning post came to his rescue. Freemason put up an improved performance by finishing a close third. The fancied pair of El Gordo and Badge Of Honour put up listless performances. Irfan Ghatala was distinctly unlucky not to have led in another winner during the day. The horse in question was Firezone , who lost because of a feeble finishing effort from apprentice Selvaraj. Half –money favourite Valiant Bay tried to make it end-to-end, but was passed by Firezone as the field straightend for home. Firezone quickened nicely and was more than a couple of lengths clear of the favourite at this stage .Prakash gave a few taps to the favourite, but Valiant Bay was unable to make any impression on the leader. In the last fifty metres, Firezone began to get tired and Selvaraj seemed to panic. He was like a helpless spectator as Valiant Bay got up on the last stride and snatched the verdict near the winning post. Firezone should be able to grace the winners enclosure in his next start. Sirajuddin and Appu combined effectively to win the only other race of the day. Three year old Take My Word was racing in the lowest class, and this speedy horse was expected to be too good for his adversaries. Appu took no chances on this on-money favourite ,and took him to the front in the very early stages of the race. It was smooth sailing thereafter, as he won by a distance from Gampu and Little Premium. Take My Word is in irresistible form and can win again for the asking.