Friday's racing at Bangalore saw outsiders winning all the eight races that were on offer during the afternoon. Punters took one punch after another and were totally dazed at the end of the proceedings. Racing at this centre is normally a mixed bag wherein strongly fancied and well backed horses win a fair number of races during the season. It was after a long time that we were witness to such a disastrous result with the highest priced winner of the day paying out 500 bucks for a tenner. There had been heavy rains in the city for the last couple of day's as a result of which the going was on the softer side. The timings recorded were slower than normal. The Sandur Cup run over 1200 metres was the day’s feature and had attracted eleven runners. Padmanabhan's River Island was the rage and her price was shortening with each passing moment. Arjun's Colonel Duff was quitely fancied by his connections, while the others were available at fancy odds. Mallesh Narredu took Olivia Valere to the front and was closely chased by the speedy bunch of Easy, Lush Foliage, and Colonel Duff. River Island was in mid bunch and was seen travelling the widest as they straightened for home. She was briefly able to head the runners in the last furlong, before Stylish Bay and Strong Minded came from the rear and swept past the field. Suraj Narredu riding his father's Stylish Bay was able to get the better of Vinod Shinde ridden Strong Minded, while the favourite plodded on to be a fair third. The winner had to go through the motions of confirming the result in the steward’s room as the runner-up had raised an objection against him on the grounds of interference. The objection seemed to be frivolous and was rightly overruled within a few minutes. Satish Narredu completed a long priced double with El Gordo in a mile race called The Narmada Trophy. Bold Reply and Ever So Clever cornered the betting ahead of Alchesaye and Surprise Package. All four of them had top class riders while Narredu's El Gordo was entrusted to rookie R Koch. The early running was done by Jersey Power; Crackerjack and Surprise Package whiles the fancied ones were seen sitting off the pace. Alchesaye and Bold Reply Took over in the last furlong and were seen going head to head, when El Gordo got a dream opening on the rails. Koch gave him a crack and the response was immediate. El Gordo shot through and won by a neck from Bold Reply. Alchesaye was a close third. Much money went down the drain on the Srinath ridden Ever So Clever who obviously did not stay the trip. The jockey's championship has taken an intersting turn with Suraj making good ground on Prakash with only a couple of points separating the two of them. After missing out narrowly on Bold Reply, Suraj won the last race of the day on Inayathulla's Royal Hero. This was Royal Hero's fifth start in the last two months, and the third consecutive one under Suraj. There was a change of tactics today as Royal Hero was held up in mid bunch and popped the question only in the last two hundred metres. There was a brief duel with Dock Of Bay before Royal Hero went away from her. Give Me The Money flew from the last position and was seen putting in good work to finish an impressive third ahead of the early leader Worth A Million. With this victory the stage is set for an interesting duel between the two top jockeys on Saturday, which happens to be the last day of the season.He is only two points behind Prakash. Admittedly, Suraj has some great rides tomorrow and has a realistic chance to realize his dream. The day started on a disastrous note for the punters as the first three races saw the eclipse of three half money favourites.In the first race Divine Dew was backed down with gay abandon but refused to gallop freely during the race. Her backers could have thrown away their betting slips within the first few strides as she was totally at sea in this maiden’s event. Dhariwal's Chinab was leading all the way and was challenged by Sunny Baba, who was racing on the edge of the outer sand track. Samuel Fargeat was able to keep him going, and he kept getting stronger with each stride. His style of winning indicated more laurels for him during the summer season. The second race saw Prithviraj's one-eyed Pretty N Fast getting backed down from evens to half money. Her last run was very suggestive when she had just lost on the post. She too was in no mood to gallop today and despite the best efforts of Jodha, lugged in under pressure and finished in the ruck. This race for horses in the lowest class was won by Royal Liaison from Royal Artist and Badda Rupaiyya. It was after a very long time that there was such strong support for a horse in class B. The third race saw the appearance of a got abroad colt from the Byramji yard called Desert Rule. There was amazing hype around this colt, who looked a trifle heavy in the paddock, that people were heard talking about his classic prospects. His backers were in for a rude shock when after taking over the running, he was smoothly passed by another Samuel Fargeat ridden horse called Repique. Luminous Gold finished a faraway third. Both the beaten horses should improve after this run. The other two races were won by the consistant Good Companion and the speedy Artic Blast. Good Companion's stablemate Sangini was fancied better than him, but disappointed and ran fourth. Shoban Babu was sitting a faraway third with Good Companion, but the moment he showed daylight to this good looking colt, he got a good response and the two of them were able to nail Anoosheek near the winning post. Early leader Paint Me Red had to be content with the third spot. In the other race, well fancied Turbo Babe got left at the start and lost a lot of ground. Artic Blast made all the running and lasted out to win from a late finishing Kaliyug Raja and favourite Hidden Pleasures. It was a pleasure to see Imran Khan ride a tactical race on the winner as he went to the front and slowed down the pace. Just as the others thought that he was coming back at them, he pulled out the stick and extricated a little bit extra from this game horse. All in all, it was a day when most punters returned home with big holes in their pockets.