Friday's racing at Bangalore witnessed a couple of heart-warming performances from a pair of talented professionals. Both Sharat Kumar and Suraj Narredu, who are currently involved in a close fight for supremacy with Irfan Ghatala and PS Chouhan in their respective "championships", seized their opportunities and added five points each to their personal tallies. It is rare to see a jockey or a trainer winning five times during an afternoon. What happened on Friday was quite exceptional. The fact that they combined with each other while winning four of those races, was perhaps a significant factor leading to such a scenario. Sharat has skipped six points clear of Irfan, while Suraj finds himself two ahead of Chouhan at this stage. It is learnt that the Stewards of The Bangalore Turf Club may include the results of the two "extra" days of racing while tabulating the final charts. If that happens, then we are sure to see a lot more excitement over the next two weeks. The new combination of Sharat and Suraj may flourish further.

The Ashwapriya Cup, a mile handicap for horses in class II, featured an ordinary looking card of eight events on Friday. Four out of the nine acceptors were participating after winner their previous starts. Magnitude Star, Supremacy, Arabian Gold and Cafe Del Monte were attempting to defy the handicapper. Sun Control and Six Gun Smith had run impressively a couple of weeks ago. The race looked extremely tricky. Since most of them possessed speed, it was sure to be run at a fast pace. In an open betting affair, one could back anything at 4/1 and over. This was one event that Sharat won without the help of Suraj Narredu. Not wanting to disturb a winning combination, he had entrusted Magnitude Star once again to Henrique. The horse had seemingly enjoyed Henrique's handling while running away from his opponents last time out.

The race was run at a brisk pace. Once again, it was Magnitude Star who went to the front. Touching The Town, Supremacy and Arabian Gold stayed in touch, while Six Gun Smith and Sun Control graced the rear. The order remained more or less the same till the top of the straight. The only thing that changed a bit, was the scene at the back. Arabian Gold and Sun Control got hampered near the bend and lost all their chances at that stage. Magnitude Star retained his advantage into the final furlong. Despite drifting marginally off the rails under pressure, he continued to dominate the proceedings. Six Gun Smith rallied towards the inner rails, while Cafe Del Monte essayed his challenge on the wide outside. But there was no stopping Magnitude Star. He revelled under Henrique's guidance and scored fluently from Six Gun Smith and Cafe Del Monte. Like a few others, the winner is another horse from Sharat's stable that has won him three races this season.

Suraj and Sharat started their winning spree after picking up the second race of the afternoon. Super Saloni was recent promote to class IV. She was odds-on to get the better of Lucky Sam and the others. The two market leaders raced in close order for most of the way. In fact, Lucky Sam managed to get his neck in front of Super Saloni near the furlong marker. However, Vivek and Lucky Sam failed to find anything "extra". Super Saloni rallied brilliantly on the rails, regained the lead and won by a widening margin of over two lengths at the finish. After taking off level from the gates, Thunder hung onto his third spot till the finish. After the end of it all, Sharat was heard confirming that a "good jockey" makes a huge difference to the final outcome of a race.

A winner of his last two starts, Southern King was bidding for a hat-trick. Having beaten a group of younger horses in early March, Southern King was distinctly lucky to find himself being retained in the same class. There were a couple of things in his favour today. The first was the fact that he was facing older opponents, and the most important bit was the nine furlong trip. While Southern King was known to relish a staying distance, the others lacked stamina. It was purely on this count that he received strong support to carry his heavy weight to victory. A bunch of no-hopers led by Hard To Pin Down and Indravati brought the field into view. The pair got tired after setting the initial pace, and was seen slowing down in the straight. Never Say Goodbye and Southern King made their moves at the same juncture. Producing a nice turn-of-foot, Southern King came strongly from the back and ran away from Never Say Goodbye and Kripa. PS Chouhan raised an objection against Suraj, as he felt that Southern King had hampered Never Say Goodbye's passage near the two furlong marker. Even though this was confirmed by the TV Replay's, the Stewards felt that this mild interference had not impacted the result of the race. They declined to alter the Judge's placings.

Living Legend had failed as a fancied runner in his previous start. He had been a victim of a skirmish near the starting gates. Sharat realized that the horse was capable of picking up a race, and decided to run him again within a period of only seven days. Suraj took him to the front and never looked back. Using his stick with gay abandon, he pushed Living Legend right till the point of crossing the wire. This helped their cause in a big way, as Apollo King was seen "flying" towards the end. But for the feeble handling of an inexperienced Vaideeshwaran, the final verdict would have been much closer. The Samar Singh trainee is sure to win his next outing. The other six runners in this field were only out for an airing.

In the interim, Suraj rode a winner for Irfan Ghatala. By running a good second amongst a group of talented youngsters, Esteban had shown that he would be a readymade winner in his next outing. Partnering the short-priced Esteban, Suraj recovered after an erratic jump from his extreme draw. Esteban moved smoothly into third place and tracked Royal Ladyship and Cielo Signore till the top of the straight. Cielo Signore showed a good turn of foot near the bend and stormed into a decent lead. Not one to be caught napping, Suraj was upto his task. He got Esteban onto his right leg and popped him the question. Like a seasoned campaigner, the colt responded to the stick and gained momentum. He went past Cielo Signore and Art Of Enchantment to post an easy victory. Both the placed runners impressed on debut, and can be earmarked to emerge from the maiden ranks in the near future.

The last race of the day gave them their fifth winner. It was a sprint for horses in the lowest category. Bottom-weighted Amber Star was known to be a speedy type who lacked stamina. He would always lead into the straight before stopping in his tracks. There were no such problems today. Suraj rode him with a lot of understanding and did not allow him to expend all his energies in the back-stretch. Holding him on a tight leash, he led by a narrow margin from Jeyem, Dream Runner and Caraway. Amber Star was allowed to quicken in the last two furlongs. Responding to Suraj's stick, the chestnut produced a perfect gallop. He tore away from a late finishing Caraway, Supreme Regent and Dream Runner. Sharat Kumar and Suraj were absolutely ecstatic after this victory.

The lower division of this Class V sprint witnessed a thriller. Public choice Independence Day lost a bit of ground after a lethargic start and trailed a field led by Heart Of Gold, I Fancy You and Cute Angel. With the first two losing steam into the straight, we saw a clear leader. Under the strong urgings of John, Cute Angel established a nice looking lead and seemed to be in control of the situation. At almost the same juncture, PS Chouhan pulled Independence Day towards the outer portion of the grass. The favourite made up much ground and nailed Cute Angel on the post. Only a short head separated the two of them. Heart Of Gold maintained his third spot till the very end.

Padmanabhan's State Secret had confirmed that she is a talented filly by finishing close behind Jersey Girl in a "Million" event a couple of weeks ago. But for getting knocked around in the early stages of that race, she may have ended much closer to the winner. Satish Narredu trained Athletic Star, who was incidentally the course favourite that day, had stopped in his tracks to end a dismal fifth. The two of them met again on Friday. State Secret opened at a short price, but a late surge of money on Athletic Star, saw the filly being offered at "evens" by the bookmakers. Those backing the colt had obviously chosen to ignore his earlier run, but at the end of the race, they had paid a heavy price for having made such a decision. State Secret gave jockey David Allan an armchair ride to victory. After settling down comfortably in mid-division during the initial stages, she dragged her rider to the front and powered away from Firelight and Entertainer. Athletic Star tried runaway tactics before coming to a crawl. There is something definitely bothering him, and it is possible that the trainer may consider gelding the colt before he runs him again.