The weekend's racing at Bangalore was preceded by un seasonal rain over a couple of days, thus rendering the track a bit slower than normal. The ground conditions made it difficult for horses to accelerate from a rear position thus giving an advantage to horses, who had early speed and found themselves in front at the home turn. Having watched this trend in the first three races of the day, the connections of Royal Ambassador were a bit worried, because he is a known slow starter who makes his final move only in the last few hundred metres of a race. He was an odds-on choice to win the mile long Stewards Trophy, the feature event in Saturday's race card at this centre. Royal Ambassador who was an impressive winner in his last start was opposed by two formidable rivals in Talk Of the Devil and Our Little Savage. The former was fancied on the basis of his impressive fourth in the Super Mile at Hyderabad, while the latter had run well to finish a close second in the Delhi Derby. To the relief of his numerous supporters, Royal Ambassador jumped almost level with the rest of the field and was racing in midfield as Dare Don and Our Little Savage made the early running and brought the field into view. Royal Ambassador was seen being strongly urged by Suraj Narredu as Our Little Savage got the better of Dare Don and seemed to be holding on to his lead. Suraj did not give up and was able to nudge the favourite to go ahead of Our Little Savage in the shadow of the winning post and win in a thrilling finish. Dare Don hung on to third place ahead of a late finishing Lionheart. Talk Of The Devil ran a very poor race and finished in the ruck. Royal Ambassador was cheered all the way back to the unsaddling enclosure because since he was the first fancied runner of the day to enter the winner's enclosure. The day's opener seemed to have set a trend for the day. In a scurry event for maiden three year olds, the betting was confined to Spicy Star and Radiant Act. The former was fancied on the basis of his eye-catching second in his first start, while the latter had the champion jockey Prakash in the saddle. Ryan Marshall was a picture of confidence on the odds-on Spicy Star and held him back on a tight leash as Suraj pushed rank outsider Man United into the lead. Ryan panicked when he saw the front runner responding to Suraj's whipping and tried to pull out all stops on his mount and made a desperate effort to breach the gap. He had apparently misread the situation and given too long a lead to the front runner.In the end Man United won by a small margin from Spicy Star while Radiant Act plodded into fourth place behind Monarchical. Samuel Fargeat ridden Spread A Smile was the rage in the next race meant for horses in the lowest class. Here too, Suraj Narredu pushed Girl Next Door to an early lead while both Silver Paris and Spread A Smile lost precious ground at the start. After giving her a breather near the bend, he cajoled Girl Next Door to hold on to a slender advantage over a fast finishing Silver Paris, while Spread A Smile was a hevily whipped third. A bunch of no hopers made up the rest of the field. Race goers were very hopeful of Suraj Narredu carrying on the good work in the very next race, where after winning on the earlier two outsiders, he was riding the public choice Aelenia for trainer Byramji. She was opposed by the Irfan trained Milagro, who was making a reappearance on a race track after twelve months. It was reported that he had developed a tendon and was on the repair list for most of that period. Adorabella, in her customary front running style made all the running while the favourite was tucked in behind her and seemed to be travelling well. Lush Foliage and Ciboney were also seen to be gaining ground with each stride. Adorabella who normally starts to tire near the distance post was in no such mood today, and fought every inch of ground with Aelenia. The two of them flashed past the post in a very close finish. To the dismay of the punters, the judge ruled in favour of Adorabella by a nose from Aelenia. The punters were in for another shock, as the B Puttanna trained Super Sonic was seen dropping back to finish in the ruck in a sprint race for horses in class IV. This filly was a most impressive winner in the same class exactly a month ago and was backed down to start as the shortest priced runner of the day. Dhariwal trained Act Smart in the hands of Lloyd Marshall made it two in a row as he held on to win from Royal Hero. Super Sonic was reported to have burst her blood vessels. It was a strange coincidence that this was the third favourite in this weekends racing to have burst their blood vessels. After Satish Narredu's Different Opinion and Irfan Ghatala's Mucho yesterday, Super Sonic completed a treble of such cases in a weekend when racing was held in relatively cold conditions with the temperature not even touching 20 degrees. An old timer at the BTC was heard asking a friend "Why is it only the hot favourites who burst their blood vessels at Bangalore?” It is always a wonderful sight to see two good youngster's fighting it out in a close finish. The public was witness to one such performance in the Agumbe Trophy, a terms race for three year olds where winners were made to carry a statutory 4 kgs more than the maidens. Three well performed runners were backed with equal enthusiasm to lift this trophy. Prakash on Valiant bay, Imran Khan on Royal Amber and Appu on Spark Of Isis were a pictire of confidence as they took off from the gates. Spark of Isis went to the front with the other two in hot pursuit. Royal Amber overtook Spark Of Isis in the final 300 metres and was shaping as the winner before Prakash was able to extricate the last bit of energy from Valiant bay. Valiant Bay produced the little bit extra and wore down Royal Amber to ultimately win by half a length. Inspite of the give in the ground, the race was run in a fast timing. With another rank outsider Sun Zone winning the final race in the card, the punters were seen leaving the race course with long faces. On a dull afternoon, Suraj Narredu excelled in the saddle by riding three winners and playing the role of a bridesmaid on two other mounts during the afternoon.