The Gr 1 Bangalore Derby produced a dream finish for the trainer and owner combination of Ganapathy and Dr M A M Ramaswamy. Two sons of Razeen, Amber Regent and Fabulous Star fought out a thrilling battle in the final furlong, with the former winning by the proverbial whisker. Fabulous Star who was unfortunate to have lost a certain Derby at Hyderabad only the last week, produced a tremendous performance but went down fighting outlining the fact that he is a gutsy performer. Obligado had every chance but the grand son of Razeen clearly did not stay the grueling trip of a mile and half and fizzled out after raising hopes at the top of the straight. Ill-luck continued to dog Padmanabhan trained L’Avenir who was given an uncharacteristic ride by jockey Pesi Shroff who kept the horse too far behind the field and then ran into a wall of tiring horses. By the time, L’Avenir could get a clear passage; the race was well sewn up by the front-running duo. To add to the woes of L’Avenir’s connections, the gelding came back with an injury, which would keep him out of action at least for the time being.

Amber Regent is a horse for the course. Amber Regent who failed in both his outings at Hyderabad including in the Deccan Derby, has been a brilliant performer in Bangalore, and had twice won over a mile and quarter trip and went into the Derby as the fittest of the lot. There was some doubt whether the small made gelding who was running a testing race for the third time within a month would retain the same sharpness. But Amber Regent proved to be a tough customer and what is more, he fought out every inch of the final 100 metres to retain the initiative and stave off the strong challenge of the stablemate. Incidentally, King’s Academy, half brother to Amber Regent had won a triple crown at Kolkata some years ago and as such, stamina was Amber Regent’s forte apart from his ability to quicken in a trice, the quality so lacking in the rest of the opposition in fray, barring the stablemate.

Oaks winner Society Dream was assigned the job of pace maker but the filly lacked the initial speed so much so that by the time Aslam Kader was able to drive out the filly to the front, she had expended her energies and packed up but fortunately for the Ramaswamy brigade, there were others willing to take up that job. Shroff kept L’Avenir, who was always a front-runner, in the rear and he waited with his mount for too long. L’Avenir’s forte is not his ability to quicken but outstay the others and the battle was lost well before it began. The front running Generic Emperor and Tough Emperor packed up on turning for home and Malesh Narredu quickly pushed Obligado to the front even as Amber Regent and Fabulous Star were covering ground on the front-runners briskly. Obligado shot ahead but failed to sustain and Amber Regent surged ahead, with Fabulous Star close on his heels. The leeway of about two lengths that Amber Regent had, stood him in good stead as Fabulous Star inched his way perilously close but the winning post came far too soon for the latter. The Ramaswamy camp was really elated by the success and the turf baron showed his excitement by leading in both the horses and posing for photographs even before the photo-finish result was announced. It was a well-deserved success for trainer Ganapathy and his Boss. ``As long as the God and Boss are with me, I will continue to do well,’’ Ganapathy said to the cheer of the big gathering.

Padmanabhan trained One Magic Moment confirmed the good impression she had created when coming out of the maidens ranks with an emphatic win in the 1400 metres Narasimharaja Cup, a rich terms race for three-year olds. Smart Striker put up a semblance of a challenge but One Magic Moment proved too good in the end. Allies Serenade ran below expectations. One Magic Moment will next race in the Gr 1 Poonawalla Multi-Million at Mumbai.

The Mysore Race Club Trophy, a rich terms race for four-year olds and over, the supporting event of the day too went the way of Ganapathy trained Name And Fame. The four-year old gelding, who is in tremendous form, was the firm favourite to win and the son of Steinbeck duly accomplished the job assigned to him, quickly seizing the initiative inside the final furlong and won with a measure of comfort.

Vivid Dreams ran above expectations and was finishing on strongly at the finish. Vivid Dreams has been a prolific performer, her majority of wins coming over a sprint and her performance over the extended trip has been quite a revelation. Name And Fame is clearly one of the front-runners for the Gr 1 Super Mile at Hyderabad during the Indian Turf Invitation Cup weekend. Ansbach appears to be a spent force.

Loknath trained Just Do It won the Indian Republic Trophy in a thrilling fashion. Hero Worship came in for big support in the ring and the start to finish effort very nearly came off but Just Do It and Butter Sponge spoiled the party. The better finishing powers of apprentice Suraj Narredu tilted the scales in favour of Just Do It. The lower division of the race went the way of Swinging Conquest who staved off the challenge of Nimitz. Nimitz fell back for no apparent reason after being prominent and then had to cover of plenty of ground on the front-runner.

Sure Future was backed to the exclusion of her rivals in the Vidhana Soudha Cup (Div I) but the full sister to the celebrated Six Speed who has been troubled by a back problem, was withdrawn at the gate. The race became pretty open but Star Chivalry who too had come back after a repair job had been done, won quite easily from a late-finishing Red Mamma. Make a note of Red Mamma who appears to have overcome whatever problems plagued her recently. In the other division of the race, La Bella Vita completed a hat trick of wins. Owned by the all-women Fiama Racing Syndicate, La Bella Vita was quoted at cramped odds and the filly readily justified the optimism though the overconfidence of jockey Mrs Silva Storai could have cost dear had a more enterprising jockey other than a five kg apprentice Chandrashekar been astride Bansuri. La Bella Vita should have won hands down and the neck verdict was not a fair reflection of the superiority of the respective opponents.

Why do favourites develop problems when the burden of public money is on them? Star Dot Star who had finished in the rut as an on-money favourite very nearly won in his next outing but High Level prevailed in a close three-horse finish. Sriram Komandur trained Star Dot Star had or developed back/shoulder/stifle/shins/etc/etc (tick which ever is appropriate) as a favourite but when running at nourishing odds, apparently he was not plagued by any problem. As has been said earlier, it is always wise to ignore when horses from these stables run because to click one winner, one has to be prepared for a dozen losses!