The Maharaja’s Gold Cup (Grade III) featured a card of eight events framed for Friday’s racing at Mysore. This mile race, which never fails to attract the best talent stationed at Bangalore and Mysore, was once again blessed with a fairly well represented set of runners.. This richly endowed event attracted fourteen acceptors this year.  Based on the recent form of most of these horses, the race seemed to have an open look. Arjun Mangalorkar’s Ridgeway had run couple of good races alongside Toroloco during the summer season. Since he was reverting to a more suitable trip, he was installed as the first favourite in the day’s feature. After an eye-catching third behind Atlantus and Optimus Prime,  Byramji’s One Life To Love was also running over a favourable distance. Those who felt that she would reproduce that run were inclined to back her today. On the basis of some brilliant track work. Star Marquess was  quietly fancied by his connections. The one horse that failed to elicit support was Indian Bolt. After four wins in summer, he had found it tough to handle higher company at Mysore. He had ended more than four lengths behind One Life To Love in Atlantus’s victory. He had never won beyond seven furlongs, and this was the first time that he was running in a graded event. He was accordingly available at 20’s and over in the betting ring.

Magnitude Star did the usual front running and set a decent pace ahead of Cielo Rey, Ridgeway, Star Marquess and Indian Bolt.  In a fairly strung out field, One Life To Love was many lengths behind the leaders.  The runners began to bunch up near the bend. With Magnitude Star getting tired near the bend, it was Cielo Rey that went ahead at this stage. He opened up a nice looking lead into the final furlong.  However, the top weight began to take its toll on this runner and he started to feel the pressure. The moment Indian Bolt emerged from the chasing pack and joined the issue, Cielo Rey surrendered tamely.  With nothing else looking threatening, Indian Bolt enjoyed his dominance in front and went onto score a fairly easy victory. Rising Rainbow and One Life To Love made up much ground from the back to take the minor slots. Ridgeway, Star Marquess and Atlantus were totally exhausted at the end of this race.  The winner showed rare abilities while posting this victory. The fact that he was caught amidst a tightly packed group for most of the way, and found galloping room only in the last furlong or so, aided his cause. He utilized his short burst to great advantage. Indian Bolt has done really well for the Inayathulla stable.

Last outing winner Talisker came with a nice effort in the straight and beat the front running Make My Day quite easily. The YR Puttannaiah Memorial Cup was a seven furlong handicap for horses in Class II. Since Talisker was handling a furlong longer than last time, there were many who doubted his ability to tackle the present trip. Even though Lokanath had lightened his heavy burden be declaring apprentice Mudassar astride him, the odds against Talisker continued to rise. Low-weighted Make My Day was expected to run away with this race. Ryan Marshall tried to do that, but the five year old got tired in the straight. She was a couple of lengths clear of Talisker at the bend, but once she moved outwards under pressure, it was apparent that she would be beaten. Talisker came with giant strides towards the inside and kicked clear in the final furlong. He won by a widening margin of over three lengths at the finish. After a fairly long time, Kilimanjaro found some very old form to end alongside Make My Day. This Babu Rao trainee looks like a readymade winner in his next start.

Trainer Sharavanan must be complimented for the performance of his charges Virat and Harini, as both of them remained unbeaten this season. Three year old Virat had shown rare abilities while trouncing his opponents in his first start a couple of weeks ago. Making every post a winning one, he had stopped the clock marginally outside the course record. The handicapper had given him a severe penalty of 25 points. Virat appeared amongst class III horses today, and started as an even money choice of the punters. He carried apprentice Rajesh Kumar to a glorious victory. After tracking Chinab till the bend, the free striding gelding upped the tempo and cantered away from a late finishing Cationic, Miyarsprincess and Spirituality. Because of his unruly behavior, Brave Assault lost all his chances at the starting gates. Virat is perhaps the best that we have seen amongst the present crop of three year olds based at Mysore.

Sharavanan’s Harini became the first runner to score a hat-trick this season. She joined his stable when she was one of the lowest rated horses in Bangalore. After two popular wins in the bottom category, Harini  was now running in class IV. In an open betting race, she came powerfully in the final furlong and galloped away from her rivals.  Shiva Kumar, who had ridden Harini to her first victory, was her partner once  again. With Queen’s Cruise and Ace High fighting for an early advantage, Harini was held in restraint. After the front runners had run out of gas, Harini decided to make her charge. Responding nicely to her riders whip, the six year old posted a fine victory.  In this sort of form, it is difficult to assess her true potential. The trainer could place her to pick up another race amongst local horses.

The Police Cup, a class IV handicap over 1100 metres was split into two divisions.  The top half saw Ganapathy’s Forest Spirit making a re-appearance.  The filly had been thumped by Virat earlier in the season. With her conqueror scoring again in the day’s opener, Forest Spirit’s chances looked bright today. However, she had a strong opponent in Amar Prem. The six year old had shown some form by ending fourth to Mr Carpe at Bangalore. With Satish Narredu claiming allowance on his charge,  Amar Prem seemed to have a realistic chance of winning this race. The two of them were backed to the exclusion of their rivals, and reached the gates as joint favourites in this event. After a mild skirmish soon after the jump, the runners  got down to racing. While Sunshower took a smooth jump and went ahead, it took a while for the speedy Amar Prem to move into second place. Forest Spirit and Happiness raced close behind the leading pair as they swung homewards. Amar Prem overtook Sunshower and moved towards the inner rails while Forest Spirit  challenged on the wide outside. With the latter continuing to veer out in the straight, it was very difficult to say who was ahead of the other. The camera confirmed that Forest Spirit on the wide outside had beaten Amar Prem by half a length at the finish. Apprentice Saddam Hussain was quick to raise an objection against Ashish, as he claimed that Forest Spirit had given his horse a severe bump within a few metres after the hump. As a result to of this interference, he had got unbalanced and his mare had lost her strides. The Stewards had a number of looks at the TV replays. Even after confirming the bump and the consequent unbalancing of Amar Prem, they chose to overrule the objection. Since the audio in the live telecast of the proceedings was almost non-existent, it is very difficult to ascertain the reasons for such a decision.

In the lower division, it was Britto’s Saphira who went onto claim a popular victory. The filly had failed as a favourite in her last start, when she had stopped under pressure. There were no such problems today. Noornabi  rode her patiently and allowed her to settle before popping the question. She tracked Flirting King, Count Royal and Surya Putra in the initial stages and made her move in the straight. Saphira responded to the stick and moved strongly towards the leaders. She overtook them one by one, and charged strongly towards the finishing line. Flirting King and Surya Putra settled for the minor placings. Since this was an extremely poor set of horses, it would be pointless reading too much into these performances.

A rare handicap event restricted to three year olds rated in Class IV was held on Friday.  A couple of Bangalore based youngsters made the trip to take part in this race.  On the basis of her second to Applejack , Dhariwal’s  Allure was strongly fancied in this race. However, her trotting action near the gates did not satisfy the officials  and they declared her a non-starter.  With second-in-demand Always Inspiring taking off awkwardly , it was left to Stardom Girl to show the way to Encourager, Always Inspiring and Bank On Me. They travelled in single file for most of their trip and the order remained the same even as they sailed past the furlong marker. It was at this stage that Bank On Me made her move. In the hands of Noorulla, this Amit Caddy trained filly rallied towards the inner rails and shocked Stardom Girl on the post. It took everybody by surprise as she had performed poorly all summer. Encourager and Always Inspiring ran on to occupy the last two slots on the result boards.