A brilliant turn of foot at the bend and some fine riding from Colm O’Donoghue enabled Karthik Ganapathy’s Red Baron to lift the biggest prize of the ongoing Bangalore Winter Season. By performing gallantly in The Kimmane Bangalore Derby (grade I) on Saturday, this brave horse presented the trainer with his first ever Derby victory. This years Derby attracted some fairly ordinary horses. With local champions Wind Stream and Borsalino going away to have a tilt at bigger “plums” elsewhere in the country, the Bangalore Derby had only eight acceptors. Because of the final entry fees paid by a number of runners, the authorities were able to allot a respectable 35.70 lakhs to the winner. There was little doubt that amongst those who had been running against each other at Bangalore and Mysore, Super Storm had a distinct advantage over the others. His winning effort in the Mysore 2000 Guineas was followed by a close second to Wind Stream in The Poonawalla Mysore Derby. On all known form, it was fair to assume that he would be able to tackle the extra quarter mile comfortably.The only unknown commodity in this race was Red Baron. He had been a rousing performer last winter . However, his poor showings during Bangalore Summer had dismayed his connections. A fine win over a mile and a half at Pune was followed by some placed efforts in good company. After Karthik was able to convince Dr MAM Ramaswamy to pay a final entry fee, the chestnut had arrived at Bangalore. As regards action in the betting rings, Super Storm, Red Baron and Snow Bird were backed to the exclusion of their rivals.

The eight runners took off to a level start. Athletic Star rushed to the front and opened-up a four length lead over State Secret, Maths Baby, Jersey Girl and Snow Bird. Colm O’Donoghue and Red Baron were tucked-in behind the leading group and he had only two behind him, and those were Super Storm and Shivalik Fire. The order remained exactly the same as they finished traveling the first mile and began to take the rising ground near the three furlong marker. It was at this stage the field began to get closer. David Allan was the first to make his move astride State Secret. The filly sped past the front runners and opened up a nice looking lead into the straight.  Those around her were totally exhausted and were seen fading out of contention. O’Donoghue and Valdir DeSouza made their moves at an identical juncture. Red Baron and Super Storm devoured ground on the wide outside. A better turn of foot displayed by Red Baron enabled him to score a point over the others. Within the next few seconds, he overtook State Secret and set sail for home. Super Storm made a valiant bid, moved into second place but failed  to gain further ground on the leader. Red Baron strode majestically ahead of the others and went onto pocket the 2013 edition of this race. State Secret ended a good third ahead of Maths Baby. She reversed the huge verdict with Bangalore Oaks winner Snow Bird in emphatic fashion.

For trainer Karthik Ganapathy, this was a huge occasion. Apart from the fact that it was his first Derby, he was more elated with his judgement. In a post race interview with indiarace, he said that he was very confident about Red Baron’s chances. After so many years of training, he had scored his first Classic victory in The Indian Oaks a few days ago. After today’s triumph, it was too good to believe that finally it was all falling into place. Red Baron had taken the race well and was set to move back to his parent centre. For the records, the winner presented his sporting owner with his 562nd Classic of his long racing career.

The most exciting race of the day happened to be The Mysore Race Club Trophy. It was a terms affair for horses aged four years old and over at the time of starting. To be run over a mile, it attracted some of the best horses stationed at Bangalore. Old rivals like Sovetskaya, Sprint Star, Southern Bay and Ridgeway were set to lock horns with each other. There was a relative newcomer to this group. Irfan Ghatala’s Hillfiger  was making his debut in this company. There were a number of things against him. First and foremost, his official rating was much lower than most of the others. More importantly, he had never tackled a mile. After winning a number of times over a sprint, Irfan had experimented by campaigning him successfully over 1400 metres in December. He was now asking him to tackle an extra furlong. With Paul Mulrennan guiding him brilliantly, Hillfiger brought a smile to the face of his trainer. He saved ground by hugging the rails and traveling comfortably in fourth place behind Magnitude Star, Southern Bay and Sovetskaya. After Southern Bay assumed command of the proceeding and skipped clear of Sovetskaya, Paul did not panic. He waited for an opening and it appeared near the distance post. Hillfiger saw daylight and accelerated immediately. He managed to beat Southern Bay on the post. Sprint Star and Ridgeway made late bids to take the minor placings on the result boards. Hardly a length covered the first five finishers in this race.

Paul rode a couple of winners for Neil Darashah’s yard, and ensured that the two of them stole the thunder on Republic Day. The NRCE Cup was a seven furlong race for maiden three year olds. The only runner with form and experience on his side was Neil’s Strengthandwonder. His second to Solitaire Royale on debut was considered to be a good effort. In a large field of thirteen, he received strong support to lift this trophy. Mulrennan took a good jump with him, and not wanting to take any chances, sent him to the front. The horse enjoyed his solitude in front and moved strongly towards the bend. For most of the way, Arziki shaped as his closest challenger. After Arziki shot her bolt at the bend, it became a one horse affair. Strengthandwonder got stronger in the straight to power away from Bronzino and Noble Path. The last named made an impressive start to his career. Despite an extremely wide draw, he ran a suggestive race.

Mulrennan’s third winner was the second for Neil Darashah. A nice little gamble was landed on Cinnamon Rush in a class III handicap over 1400 metres. With loads of money being wagered on her close to race time, she started as a clear favourite in this race. Paul rode her in copybook fashion while achieving this victory. He allowed Money Ball, Thrillseeker and Flying Tricolour to lead him into the straight. With Thrillseeker and Savvy Concept going ahead of the others and the field spreading out in the final furlong, there were a lot of vacant spaces available. Cinnamon Rush was brought through an unhampered passage and asked to quicken. Under some hard riding from Mulrennan ,Cinnamon Rush sped away to a facile victory. The most impressive runner in this race was undoubtedly Apollo King. This Samar Singh trainee lost more than ten lengths at the start. After making up that leeway, he was able to join the others in the straight. He further quickened under an apprentice to fly into second place. Over a mile, and amongst horses in his own age group, Apollo King will be too good to miss in his next start.

Neil’s cup of joy was full to the brim after Adonis gave him his third winner later in the evening. This  dickey-legged six year old had been missing from the training tack and had been prepared in the swimming pool. Because of this small handicap, he was ignored from a betting perspective. With favourite Mystere running out of gas at the bend and second-in-demand Yamas seen  struggling after a slow getaway, this race was sure to witness an upset. Three horses came charging down the straight and fought a close finish. Early leader Six Shooter was joined by Saratoga Spring in the final  furlong. Neither of the jockeys realized that were being challenged by the top weighted Adonis towards the inner rails. Vaideeshwaran was quick to seize the lucky opening . His enthusiasm paid rich dividends when Adonis got up in the nick of time to beat Saratoga Spring and Six Shooter on the post.

Faraz Arshad and Valdir DeSouza dominated the early action on Derby Day. They combined effectively to win two out of the first three races with Resurgent and Union Jack. These horses won both divisions of  The Bharachukki Cup, which happened to be a sprint for class IV runners. Resurgent had very little difficulty in going to the front in the day’s opener. Joint favourite Assurance gave him company till the bend, before she got tired in the straight. It turned out to be a “procession” thereafter. Resurgent lengthened his strides and galloped away from a late finishing Fire Storm. Assurance could do no better than end a tame third.

Valdir had to make a little more effort on Union Jack. This horse had been beaten by Anfield exactly six days ago. Even though he had the weights in his favour, there were not many who gave him a serious chance of toppling his opponent. The connections of Anfield felt that he belonged to a much higher category, and that was precisely the reason why they were running him within such a short span of time. His win over a similar trip had been achieved with ease. Chouhan took Anfield to the front and eased him into a small lead ahead of Union Jack and War Artist. They traveled in more or less the same order till the bend. While Anfield was going comfortably, Union Jack was under pressure. Valdir pulled out all stops and whipped his horse to join the issue. After moving alongside Anfield for about a hundred metres, Union Jack seized the initiative in the final furlong. To the dismay of his numerous supporters, Anfield failed to put up a fight. War Artist hung onto his third berth by a nostril from the late finishing Abbas Dreams.

A  truly representative field of well performed Class II milers lined-up in The Indian Republic Trophy. This race looked like a complicated puzzle , as most of the runners were tightly handicapped. On the basis of his fluent success in a lower category, Satish Narredu’s  Mountain Range was a marginal favourite ahead of Auburn Beauty and Courage In Red. The speedy Courage In Red showed early intent and tried his best to run away with this race. He was passed by Mountain Range in the straight. With Ashish making free use of his whip, the favourite ducked towards the inner rails. His closest challenger at that stage was Panamera.

Even though the mare was more than three lengths adrift, she looked threatening. PS Chouhan had put her in top gear and she was responding to his urgings. The two of them pulled away from the rest. The gap between the two leaders lessened with each stride and they were besides each other as they flashed past the finishing line. It was extremely tough to judge the result with a naked eye. The digital cameras confirmed that Panamera had managed to “nose-out” Mountain Range at the finish. Radical Attraction came from a long way back to take the third spot ahead of a hard ridden Sussex Downs.

The Nethravathi Trophy over seven furlongs attracted a number of four year olds that were still searching for their maiden victories. The most prominent amongst this group of fourteen was Irfan Ghatala’s Ice Kingdom. The grey filly had ended third and second in the two starts that she had tackled thus far in her career. With Paul Mulrennan looking for his fourth winner of the afternoon, she attracted a lot of money to start as a firm favourite in this race. Dominic’s Prince Of Darkness looked much fitter than what he looked in his last start. The TV screens displayed the fact that he was weighing 30 kilos less than what he had weighed in mid December. Resultantly , there was late support for him in the betting rings. It certainly was a lot of weight for a race horse to lose in less than six weeks. The start of the race was greeted with a huge groan from the punters. Public choice Ice Kingdom got off to a lethargic start and  trailed the pack for most of her journey. On the other hand, Prince Of Darkness raced prominently and led into the straight. With nothing really moving from behind, it seemed as though he was going to land the “gamble”. However, his camp was in for a shock. Rank outsider Go Green made a determined bid from the back, devoured ground in the straight and sped past a helpless Prince Of Darkness. Ice Kingdom picked up a bunch of tired horses before moving into third place. Go Green’s improved performance gave a significant hint of further successes in the weeks ahead.