Expectedly, Rashid Byramji trained Camarioca won the Gr 3 Karnataka Racehorse Owners’ Association Mysore 1000 Guineas quite capably from Queen of Fashion on Friday. The performance of Adesina was below par and one has to take this run with a pinch of salt. She was a beaten horse from the word `go’.

The Kunigal bred and Dr Vijay Mallya owned Camarioca had been on the upgrade and her close third in the Nanoli Million was an eye-opener. There were many who were inclined to believe that the form of the Nanoli Million race could not be taken on face value on the belief that Spectacular Quest had run below potential. However, the decisive manner in which Camarioca won should enhance the value of the performers of the million. Adesina did not pose any problem to the favourite or to Queen of Fashion whom she had beaten at Bangalore, by watching the action from the rear!

Adesnia dropped back to the rear at the start as jockey David Badel reportedly lost his stirrup momentarily and thereafter was a beaten cause. Passing the seven furlong marker, Badel was seen bending and adjusting his stirrup and according to Stipes, the jockey said that the stirrup was slipping. As to why he raced Adesina in the rear and not made efforts to improve his position in relation to the fancied Camarioca and Queen of Fashion who were both racing upfront, the jockey told the Stipes that his instructions were to ride the horse way off the pace and to track Star Angel and do his best in the straight. Surely with such self-defeating instructions, if Adesina had won, it would have been a miracle!

Pricelessly set a fast pace as the starter dispatched the field for the mile long trip, with Black Berry and Camarioca and Queen of Fashion tracking each other while Adesina was dropping completely out of contention. Jockey Malesh Narredu who had replaced an injured Shroff who is recovering from a back problem, moved up swiftly at around the 700 metre marker and had the first run on his opponents. Though Queen of Fashion came up with a flourishing run, Camarioca’s supremacy was never under threat. Star Angel managed to push Adesina to the fourth sport. Camarioca clocked a smart time of one minute 37.76 seconds.

The competition at Mysore has been pretty poor. Only a handful of Bangalore trainers are racing their wards at Mysore and with the gold and brown brigade not displaying its true arsenal, the Byramjis are reaping a rich harvest against mediocre competition posed by Mysore based trainers, after a disastrous Summer campaign. Byramji’s Al Qamar who had failed as a favourite many times, relished the extended trip of nine furlongs and may be the hard underfoot conditions by swamping the opposition in the Air Force Gold Cup. Since Al Qamar beat a modest opposition, nothing much can be made out from this win. Another Byramji ward Andreyan came out of the maidens’ ranks by winning quite capably from Nanie & Sons Gold Cup. Though Andreyan won easily, the well bred son of Razeen beat a mediocre lot. Samar Singh brought off a smart win on Ciraja in the K Thammanna Gowda Memorial Cup, a race for horses rated 30 to 45, the supporting event of the day. In the hands of Rajesh, Ciraja picked up speed on the wide outside and easily got the measure of Limitations, Winelight and Star Alone to record a facile win. Winelight ran a good forward race after a longish gap and he is running into form. Star Alone found the six furlong trip too sharp for comfort.

Rajesh had a double for the day when he drove out Ladyfeelgood to stave off the challenge of Roda Rosen in a close finish. Ladyfeelgood had the best credentials but the three-year old daughter of Conquering Hero had to be fully stretched to win from her little known adversary. With Indian Fame who was backed to the exclusion of her rivals hurting herself at the gates, the first race of the day was at the mercy of Money Shop. However, the top-weight did not have things her way as Sedgemere led all the way barring the final inch. Money Shop covered lot of ground to nose out the front-runner. In the day’s other action, Grace In Motion won at nourishing odds and Royal Debut pipped Jai Bharath on the post to land the spoils in a tight finish. Jockey Imran Khan had to use the whip more than the permissible number of times to get the desired response from Royal Debut.