The FK Irani Memorial Trophy, a seven furlong handicap for horses in Class I, featured a card of eight events on Saturday at Bangalore. Seasoned campaigners like Tomsk and Atlantus were joined by improving youngsters Bourne Supreme and Win Again in this twelve horse field. Apart from Win Again, who was known to be better suited over a sprint, the other three were running over their favourite distance. The only thing that separated them was the weights that they were carrying. Atlantus and Tomsk were seen conceding chunks of weight to Bourne Supreme. On the basis of his fluent victory in a lower category, as also some fine trackwork thereafter, Bourne Supreme was the first choice of the punters. The support was totally one-sided, and the four year old was backed down to odds-on favouritism at the time of stalling. This was an exceptionally rare phenomenon, as Class I handicaps are known to throw up some strange results at this centre.

The speedy Win Again did his customary front running and set a good pace ahead of One For The Money. PS Chouhan was quick to occupy the box seat with Bourne Supreme, and the pair of them were seen travelling comfortably till the bend. In a strung out field, Tomsk and Atlantus raced towards the rear of the pack. Win Again and One For The Money got tired in the straight and meekly surrendered the lead to Bourne Supreme. He was put under further pressure and asked to "go". At almost the same juncture, Tomsk moved through a bunch of tired horses, while John pulled Atlantus towards the wide outside. Bourne Supreme contained a challenge from Tomsk and powered towards the finishing line. Chouhan realized that Atlantus was moving dangerously towards him, but there was nothing more that he could do. He put his head down and rode with all his acumen. Bourne Supreme lasted out to hold Atlantus by a diminishing margin at the post. Once again, the seven year old Atlantus confirmed that he hasn't lost his zest for racing. As regards Bourne Supreme, the handicapper seems to have found his level and it may take this horse a while to win his next race.

By scoring another couple of points on Saturday, trainer Irfan Ghatala climbed to the top of the trainer's tally. The scene thus far had been quite close with almost four or five trainers sharing the same space. He has a fairly strong string of horses, and it may not surprise many if he ends up as the champion trainer this winter. The unexpected victory of Hillarious set his ball rolling this afternoon. With the withdrawl of Brownie, only four runners took-off from the 2000 metre marker. Castro, Formidable and Hot Stuff were joint favourites while Hillarious was the rank outsider in this race. Anthony took Castro to the front and opened up a nice looking lead ahead of Hillarious, Formidable and Hot Stuff. The scene changed near the half-way stage of this race. While Formidable and Hot Stuff gained ground on the leader, Hillarious dropped out of contention. The four runners were strung out in single file as they entered the straight. Castro was so far ahead of Hot Stuff and Formidable ,that defeat looked almost impossible. But, that is when Hillarious decided to gallop. With Selvaraj making free use of the whip, he shifted towards the outer strip of the track and made a forward move. He got up on the last stride to cause the biggest upset of the afternoon.

Irfan's second winner came in the upper division of The BC Prabhakar Memorial Cup, a class III sprint reserved for horses five years old and over. Since Lad Fury had flopped as a fancied runner earlier in the season, Irfan managed to bring him down a class. He further enhanced his chances by declaring Anjar Alam to ride this top-weighted runner. Taking off smoothly from an outer draw, Lad Fury was eased into an early lead. He was chased by Celestial Son, Kripa and Endurance as they raced towards the bend. The leader showed no signs of slowing down in the straight. With smooth flowing strides, he strode comfortably towards the winning post. Kripa got stronger in the final stages, and managed to deprive Celestial Son of his second berth.

The lower division of this cup race witnessed a runaway winner in Anna. After a string of five unplaced efforts this season, Anna re-discovered some old form and demolished her opponents. The four kilos claimed by apprentice Mudassar helped her cause. Arjun Mangalorkar has been giving opportunities to this boy, and the youngster seems to be learning quickly. He positioned Anna in mid field behind Star Of Desire, Its My Party and Nectar Crown, and made his move after straightening for home. That is exactly the way Anna likes to ridden. The moment she started to gallop, the race was over. In a matter of seconds, she overtook  Its My Party and sped away for a bloodless victory. While it is accepted that she won today amidst a very ordinary bunch of horses, her style of winning was impressive. Sparkling Cat appeared late on the scene to save place money for her followers.

Dhariwal's three year old Meghalaya emerged from the maiden ranks with a thrilling victory over Speedy Girl and Impressive Bolt. Meghalaya's first career run in mid December had impressed her connections, and they had subsequently taken her to Hyderabad to have a tilt at a "million" at that centre. She returned after finishing fourth in the said event, and after some well deserved rest, was entered in today's race. Since most of her opponents had average credentials, Meghalaya started as an odds-on choice of the punters. The presence of Anthony Crastus in the saddle added to the hype around this nice looking filly. Anthony settled her comfortably behind Impressive Bolt, and asked her to quicken in the straight. Meghalaya lugged-in under pressure and made it look quite difficult. PS Chouhan brought Speedy Girl with a flourish on the wide outside, and the three of them were almost abreast at the furlong marker. It was the maturity of Maghalaya that tilted the scales in her favour. She responded to the stick, produced the desired acceleration at the right moment and beat Speedy Girl and Impressive Bolt near the winning post. The second placed filly is a good type, and it may not be too long before she discovers her winning ways.

A small group of eight lined up near the mile marker to participate in a handicap for horses rated 60-85. With most of them having poor form, there was nothing that one could support with confidence. Neil Darashah's Aztec Gold and Irfan trained Sunspirit carried the confidence of their respective camps. However, the final outcome was restricted to the other two runners from these very yards. While Scarlette, African Queen and Aztec Gold remained prominent till the bend, it was left to Native Talent and Sun Control to fight out the finish. John brought Native Talent with a well-timed run on the wide outside and assumed control of the proceedings. Sun Control came rushing from the tail end of the pack and joined the issue. With both of them racing side by side, it was the whip that settled the result. Anjar Alam's pushing wasn't enough to overtake the leader. Sunspirit improved late to finish on the haunches of third placed African Queen.

A seven furlong event for horses in class IV looked like a match race between Irfan Ghatala's Hill Rising and the Dominic trained Rise To Glory. The betting boards showed that the pair had been backed to the exclusion of their rivals. Both had run forward races in the recent past and had been a trifle unlucky to get beaten near the winning post. The two market leaders fought for an early advantage and ran each other off their feet. By the time they reached the distance post, it was evident that both had run out of gas.Realizing what was happening in front, Imran Chisty seized the opportunity and pushed Beau Sancy into a comfortable lead, but that proved to be short-lived. In the hands of apprentice Kiran Rai, the Warren Singh trained Bernicia made a move from the back and nailed Beau Sancy on the post. Hill Rising ended a poor third while a dry-coated Rise To Glory failed to figure on the board.

Trainer Babu Rao's wait for a winner ended on Saturday, when Spark Of Passion finally won a race and enabled her trainer to log his first point of the Winter Season. She had been a consistent performer in the last couple of months, but had been unable to enter the winner's enclosure. Since Spark Of Passion had failed to score in the hands of an apprentice, the trainer changed tactics by entrusting her to Jagadeesh today. The race had a strong favourite in Sharat Kumar's Attaturk, who had run a good second in his previous start. Like most Class V events, wherein the lesser fancied runners charge away to the front, we saw Surprisesucceeding and Flip Your Destiny leading into the straight. Spark Of Passion and Agusta made up ground at the bend, while Attaturk was forced to skirt the field from a hopeless position. The three horses coming from behind grew stronger in the last furlong and strode towards the winning post. Spark of Passion responded to the stick and managed to keep a hard ridden Attaturk and Agusta at bay.