The Bangalore Summer Races 2012 which went on for almost three months came to an end on Friday, with a long drawn card of ten races being run on the concluding day. The feature of the day’s card was the running of the Governor’s Cup – Grade III, a grueling 12 furlongs trip for horses 4 year old and over. The other race that evinced keen interest in the day was the one for the top spot among the jockeys, with P.S.Chouhan and P.Trevor with equal points and Suraj Narredu lagging behind by two points.

Suraj won two races to draw level, but Chouhan and Trevor drew blank on the final day and with all three level at 23 wins apiece, the Championship was awarded to P.S.Chouhan on the basis of more number of second places. S.Padmanabhan was the leading trainer with 22 wins to his credit. Apprentice M.Noornabi was the leading Indian jockey claming allowance with 5 wins. Kunigal Stud with 24 wins was the leading stud farm. The leading individual owner was M/s. United Racing & Bloodstock Breeders Limited, while the leading joint owners were M/s.Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Pvt.Ltd. & Radiant Bloodstock Pvy.Ltd. The Kingfisher Derby winner Borsolino walked away as the Champion Horse for the highest stake money earned, while Indian Bolt was adjudged as the Horse of the Season with 4 wins.

The winter Derby winner Toroloco, had recently won the Maharajas Cup and then finished a runner-up to In The Spotlight, in the St.Leger. Jockey B.Prakash was specially brought in to guide Toroloco’s fortunes in the race and the gelding was sent in to the race as the piping hot favourite against the seven rivals. Jockey A.Sandesh on Hills And Stars (Razeen-Altitude) rode his race to perfection and snatched the race from Toroloco in the shadow of the winning post.

Sandesh settled his mount at the rear along with Toroloco and was not perturbed by a true pace that was set by Camorra. At the half way stage, Camorra was barely in front with Magnitude Star, Spearhead, Star Marquess, Ridgeway, Forever Glory, Toroloco and Hills And Stars in that order. Rounding the final turn Hills And Stars was still at the tail with the other runners rallying into position. Star Marquess came in first on the straight but Toroloco with a good burst of speed sped past, 300 metres from home. When it looked like Toroloco would pull off a popular victory, Hills And Stars unleashed a terrific run from the rear to pick on every horse in front and nailed Toroloco at the wire.

Hills And Stars who had shown a lot of promise, winning the Pune Derby last year and her performance since then has been below expectation. The filly has finally found her feet and trainer S.Padmanabhan deserves all the praise for the work he has done on bringing her back to winning form. The confidence level of A.Sandesh has been on a rise after a few big wins this season, which includes the Kingfisher Derby and he gave a cool and confident ride on the filly.

Suraj Narredu’s double came through Ascot Magic and Bryant Park. Mallesh Narredu trained Ascot Magic (Strategic Prince-Sun Shower) moved quickly from an outward draw to settle in third behind Summers Breeze and Firelight and once on the home stretch shifted gears to surge ahead, carrying the top weight of 62.5 kiilos to a facile win in the division I of the Champion Trainer Cup. Saltoftheearth rallied on to finish second.

Sriram Kamandur’s Bryant Park (Hurricane State-Aryanush) scored an encore in the Leading Stud Cup. From around a tenth position rounding the final bend, Bryant Park found a lovely gap along the inside and Suraj took that readily, stepped up the acceleration and drew clear. Effectual was travelling around the field all through the race, came six to seven wide at the bend and finished on to take the second spot ahead of Wild Nexus.

Hillstone (China Visit-Wave of Bliss) caused and upset in the lower division of the Leading Owner Cup, beating the Veyron in a close finish. Hillstone went ahead inside the last furlong and Veyron moved through horses to challenge strongly towards the inside but looked to be lugging in badly and lost out a keenly fought race by a ‘head’. Bessie finished third in front of Rising Sun.

The day started off with B.Puttanna trained Wonder Lash (Royal Gladiator-Miss Sunrise) scoring over the favourite Brigade’s Supreme by half a length. Chouhan took Brigade’s Supreme on a start to finish bid but Wonder Lash came on strongly in the final 250 metres and after a fierce duel surged ahead towards the closing stages. Chouhan had to bite the dust in the higher division of the Leading Tipster Cup, where his mount Surprisesucceding lost out to Hilton (Major Impact-Shiseido). The winner was bracing the rear till approaching the bend, maneuvered his way through the horses in front to get to striking position on the extreme outside. When the rider B.L.Paswan asked for an effort, Hilton responded brilliantly to surge ahead and get the better of Surprisesucceding.

Dominic’s Point Taken (Gaswar-Blue Hen) took control inside the last 300 metres and won comfortably, in the lower division of the Champion Trainer Cup. The well supported Market Maker failed to rise to the occasion and finished a tame second.

Rayan Marshall who replaced an indisposed S.John on Savvy Concept (Valid Concept-Sterling Prospect) successfully piloted Arjun Mangalorkar’s ward to a pillar to post victory, in the division I of the Champion Jockey Cup. Favourite Warrior and Little Lion covered ground in the last 200 metres but could not collar the front running Savvy Concept and ended up second and third respectively in a close finish.

Apprentice A.R.Pradeep did well for himself, piloting a double on the last day. He rode Warren Singh’s Lad’s Ability (Diffident-Shaandari) to a popular win in the higher division of the Leading Owner Cup. Lads Ability was well ahead on the straight and Pradeep suddenly found his saddle to be slacking. Decorated was beginning to apply pressure, getting closer with every stride in the last 100 metres but Pradeep held on boldly on the loose saddle and went past the winning post three parts of a length in front.

Pradeep rode M,P,Mahesh’s Native Indian (Juniper Desert Native) to victory in the lower division of the Champion Jockey Cup, the last race of the day. Running last even near the 500 metres marker, Native Indian slipped in along the inner rails and shot through to appear in front within the last 150 metres and won impressively. Sarang finished second 1 ½ lengths behind and the rest were far away. Two fancied runners in the race, Lucky Sam and Magic Wave were withdrawn near the starting gates.