Public choice Equine Lover put up a stout-hearted show in The Mysore 1000 Guineas (Grade III) and cantered away from her seven opponents on Friday. The big made filly proved her mettle in an emphatic manner by making every post a winning one. She displayed wonderful abilities of both speed and stamina by clocking a near record-breaking time in the first Classic of the Mysore Season. While it is conceded that the quality of her opposition was fairly modest, and the track was exceptionally fast on Friday, the fact remains that she performed like a real champion. She came into this race as the highest rated runner amongst the eight that had accepted to face the starter. After just two victories during summer, the Bangalore handicapper had promoted her straight to Class I. She vindicated his opinion and announced her arrival on the "Big Stage". It will take a real tough opponent to get the better of her in the ensuing Classics. Trainer Padmanabhan is known for a knack of getting the best out of his wards. Equine Lover paid him a rich compliment with this performance. She was installed as an even-money choice of the punters. In the absence of a clear second favourite, the other seven were available at 8's and over.

Equine Lover darted out of the starting gates and set a strong pace ahead of Midnight Cruze and Art Of Enchantment. The others raced in a tightly packed bunch as they traversed the back-stretch and made their way towards the rising ground near the halfway marker. Prakash had little problems in settling her and she was racing well within herself at this stage. While Equine Lover continued to dominate the proceedings, the others came under pressure. Each and every rider at the back had pulled out his stick. With two furlongs still to travel, all doubts about the winner of this race were dispelled. Equine Lover had lengthened her strides and opened up a yawning gap at this stage. In a scramble for the minor placings, stablemate Chase The Sun emerged from group and ended a clear second. Art Of Enchantment lost her third place to a heavily whipped Jersey Girl. One could deduce a couple of things from this result. The first pertained to Jersey Girl. The connections have blunted her speed by campaigning her over longer trips. She showed once again that even though she possesses a lot of class, she has limitations of stamina. It may be a good idea to campaign her over shorter distances in future. Secondly, Art Of Enchantment's run was quite eye-catching. She is another one that could turn out to be a good handicapper. Most importantly, Equine Lover showed that she is a star in the making. It will be interesting to see what Padmanabhan plans for her in the future.

The rest of the day's card was equally kind to the punters. After the drubbing that they had received at the hands of the bookmakers yesterday, Friday's racing was kinder to them. On-money favourites Divine Deliverance and Somethingdifferent won the two divisions of The Nanie And Sons Gold Cup. Neil Darashah's Divine Deliverance had served notice of an impending victory by ending a close third to Alcazaar. The three year old was now running in handicap company and his opponents looked ordinary. All he needed to do was to reproduce his last run. PS Chouhan took him to the front, and after a couple of cheeky looks at the back, enjoyed the luxury of easing him up in the straight. Sukhmanee and Viva Diva finished alongside to save place money for their respective connections.

Sirajuddin's Somethingdifferent was another three year old that got an opportunity to pick up an easy race amongst modest opponents. This time it was Suraj Narredu who made every post a winning one. Ganapathy trained Excellent Design came with a decent challenge in the straight, but her efforts came to naught in the final furlong.  The latter was the medium of some inspired betting close to starting time, but with M Ravi unable to offer much assistance from the saddle, Excellent Design settled for the second spot. Even though Somethingdifferent won by widening margin at the end, it would be pointless in reading too much into this performance. In my opinion, it may take a long time for this filly to re-enter the winner's enclosure.

Britto trained Bessie had been a bit unlucky in her career, as she had met one better on a number of occasions. The four year old was yet to clear the maiden ranks. She finally got an opportunity to do so on Friday. Running in a seven furlong handicap for horses in her own age group, Bessie was a joint favourite with Caspian Sea. Both of them were running over a suitable trip, and the respective yards were quite optimistic about their charges. PS Chouhan took the speedy Bessie to the front and enjoyed a healthy advantage near the bend. A couple of cracks was all that was required thereafter. Bessie move strongly in the straight and ran away from the rest. Royal Spirit and Emerald made late headway to take the minor placings. The fancied pair of Caspian Sea and Jaldi disappointed their fans with lacklustre performances.

The JH Foley Memorial Gold Cup witnessed a fresh clash between Inquisition and Radical Attraction. The pair had ended close together over a marginally shorter trip in their previous meeting. The verdict of a "nose" had gone in favour of Inquisition on that occasion. With the weights favouring Radical Attraction today, the four year old filly was favoured ahead of the gelding. Puttanna trained Sudden Magic, who had separated Nadia and Golden Viper in his last start at Bangalore, was the other one that was fancied in this race. PS Chouhan kept Radical Attraction in a striking position from the word "go", and tried to steal the race in the straight. The filly overtook front running Absolut Grey near the furlong marker and charged towards the winning post. It was at the same juncture that Imran Chisty brought Inquisition into contention. Despite his back-breaking impost, Inquisition displayed a rare turn of foot and joined the leader. Inquisition got the better of Radical Attraction and went onto score comfortably. In this sort of form, Darius trained Inquisition looks capable of winning in the highest class.

Prithviraj's Brabus Speed held onto his early advantage and managed to withhold a late challenge from Skyway in the upper division of The AC Somanna Memorial Trophy. With Vaideeshwaran claiming two kilos allowance, Brabus Speed made use of his favourable draw and led at a steady pace from Migrolino and the others. Both these horses came under the stick in the straight and scampered clear of the chasing pack. With Migrolino running out of steam, Brabus Speed's job became a bit easier. However, he was flat out to contain Skyway. The latter ran a good race after a fairly long period of time. She looks like a readymade winner the day she runs against Mysore based horses.

A sprint for horses in the lowest category was split into two divisions. Both these races witnessed heavy action in the betting rings, and for a change, the punters got it right. Faraz Arshad's Florence had run a couple of times in maiden company, and because of her poor runs, was relegated to the present category. Only those in the know could capitalize on this situation. Florence got off to a brisk start from the gates and never gave a chance to any of her opponents. Gnaneshwar was a mere passenger for most of the way. Shining Fame and Caress made a feeble effort of matching strides with the eventual winner till the bend, but finding the contest totally unequal, were happy to concede defeat. Florence could repeat on promotion.

Sharat Kumar's Angel Queen did well to take the other division of this race. The five year old mare was one of the lowest rated horses stationed at Bangalore, and had failed to figure on the board on numerous occasions. The betting trend showed that the connections were quite serious about her chances today. She did not let them down by running the best race of her career. After tracking Magnifique and Smart Edition till the bend, Angel Queen produced remarkable acceleration to kick away from them. Christopher used his hands-n-heels thereafter to keep her going. Segomo came from the tail end of the field to pip Smart Edition near the winning post. This is one horse that can pick up a similar event before the end of the season.