An ordinary looking card of eight events was held at the Bangalore Turf Club on Friday. The Saptharishi Cup, a sprint handicap for horses in class II, was accorded the pride of place as the day’s feature. A number of improving four year olds who had already scored this winter and moved up the ladder, were taking part in this race. Esteban, Courage In Red, Volcano, Will Star and Pack Ur Bags had won quite a few races between them, and were fancied by their respective connections. The one that attracted a bulk of the money was Esteban. He had won the last start with the help of an apprentice and his subsequent track trials showed that he was in top condition. With Paul Mulrennan astride, Esteban started as a 5/4 favourite in this race. Courage In Red was known to be blessed with a lot of speed. After a runaway victory earlier this season, he had been asked to tackle a mile. After leading till well into the straight that day, he had been beaten for stamina by Panamera and Mountain Range. He was reverting to his favourite trip today. For those amongst the betting public who rely on weights and timings, there were a couple of low weighted horses that attracted attention. They had clocked good timings while carrying top weights in a lower class, and were now running on promotion. On reverse calculations, they had the ability to upset the applecart of their better fancied rivals. 

A groan greeted the start of this race. Favourite Esteban was the last out of the gates and was seen trailing the pack as they stormed towards the far turn at the four furlong marker. Bottom-weighted Pack Ur Bags was quick into her strides, and she set a good pace ahead of Mr Carpe, Volcano, Colour Me Red and Will Star. The order remained more or less the same till they entered the straight. Paul Mulrennan and Esteban were still running a detached last at that stage. Mr Carpe overtook Pack Ur Bags near the two furlong pole and tried to run away with this race. However, his dominance was short-lived. Sreekanth brought Will Star with a smooth gallop on the wide outside and went past him. It was smooth sailing for Will Star thereafter. Sreekanth gave him a couple of taps with his whip and the horse continued to respond to his urgings. The jockey looked around for possible threats before putting away his stick. With the others getting tired, Mr Carpe and Impressive Bolt were fighting for the second spot. There was a sudden roar from the crowd. Esteban had started to move from the back and was seen charging towards the leader. He overtook a bunch of tired horses and ended a very impressive second. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind, that had he taken a level start, he would have won the day’s feature. A closer look at the TV replays showed that Esteban had got squeezed out at the start. 

Trainer Suleiman Attaollahi was successful in leading-in a couple of winners today. While Scarlet O’Hara won as a favourite, Saltoftheearth managed to score as a rank outsider. An 1100 metres race for maiden three year olds attracted a dozen acceptors. Some of them amongst this group had already had a “run”, while the others were making their debut. Scarlet O’Hara, Forever Honour and Cash My Way had shown some speed in their earlier starts and were expected to run prominently in this race. Their experience finally had a big say at the finish. Forever Honour took an early lead ahead of Cash My Way and Scarlet O’Hara and retained his advantage till the distance post. It was at this stage that things became closer. Scarlet O’Hara responded to Trevor’s whip and got up on the last stride to nail the leader. Cash My Way ended right beside the pair of them. Not many noticed the action at the back. After a lethargic beginning. Wind Surfer and Royal Sarot were seen trailing the pack. They were almost ten lengths behind the front-runners at the bend. Wind Surfer made her move on the wide outside, while Royal Sarot galloped towards the inner rails. They finally ended very close to the first three finishers. Wind Surfer looks like a readymade winner in her next start. 

Saltoftheearth put it across a bunch of strongly supported opponents in The K Venkatesh Nayak Memorial Trophy. With the withdrawal of Saltoftheearth’s better fancied stablemate Cocktail Circuit, only seven of them faced the starter. Sumitomo and Ice Stone cornered most of the betting. While Sumitomo had run a good second to Diamonite over seven furlongs, Ice Stone had ended close behind Sussex Downs in late December. Both of them were known to be comfortable over the present trip. Ice Stone tried runaway tactics and led at a steady pace from no-hoper Cherelle till the bend. Spaniard, Sumitomo and Saltoftheearth followed at regular intervals as they entered the straight. The first horse beaten at that stage was Ice Stone. He stopped suddenly and surrendered the lead to Spaniard. Sumitomo laboured under DeSouza’s whipping and failed to quicken. The one that impressed with his movements was Saltoftheearth. Ryan Marshall showed him daylight and the horse was alert to his task. Gaining speed with each successive stride, he moved past a hard ridden Spaniard and went onto lift the beautiful trophy. Sumitomo and Ice Stone ended many lengths behind to take the minor slots on the result boards. 

The other trainer who did well on Friday was Sharat Kumar. He saddled a couple of well backed horses to exciting victories. Burden Of Lady won the day’s opener. Her only claim to fame was a poor fourth in a similar race a couple of years ago. Since she was appearing on a race track after a gap of over thirteen months, not many gave her a chance to win today. Furthermore, she had not been sighted on the training track. Sharat had obviously used the swimming pool to get her fit for this race. Just five minutes prior to race time, there was huge support for her. Burden Of Lady was soon the first favourite to win this race. Apprentice Irvan Singh took a level start and settled his mount behind a wall of horses. Aetius and Fruit King dominated the proceedings throughout this trip and they fought tooth and nail till the winning post. With less than fifty metres to travel, Burden Of Lady loomed large on the wide outside. She gathered momentum to finally beat the leading pair by half a length. This well bred mare has the ability to pick up another race before the end of this season.  

Last outing winner Go Green was Sharat Kumar’s other winner. He too was supported to get the better of the Padmanabhan trained favourite Wing Commander. The latter had little form to support his credentials. Even his paddock looks were fairly ordinary, as he appeared to be on the heavy side. With the bottom-weighted One From A Billion shooting off to the front, the other eleven were strung out at the back. David Allan was making a futile attempt to improve with Wing Commander on the wide outside, but his mount wasn’t responding to him. In the midst of all this, Go Green traveled comfortably for Henrique. Making a smooth move at the bend, the four year old sailed away for an effortless victory. One From A Billion clung onto the second berth, while Brownie succeeded in warding-off a late challenge from Serengeti and held onto his third spot. Go Green is in fine form and has the ability to repeat on promotion. 

Mahesh trained Midtown Delight did extremely well to win his third start this winter. He completed a fine hat-trick by picking up a sprint for horses five years old and over in Class IV. He had been rated around the middle of Class V at the beginning of this season, and today’s victory ensured a smooth passage for him into Class III. Midtown Delight’s track trials after his second win in late December showed that the five year old had improved further. In the absence of a strong opponent, he was installed at the top of the betting boards. His supporters seemed to have lost hope as the runners tackled the first half of their journey. Midtown Delight was finding it difficult to match the early speed of A Move To Remember, Bebo and Magnomical. After the leading group got tired and started to spread across the track, the favourite got a nice big opening in the middle. Shobhan Babu pulled out the stick and goaded his mount to go through the pack. The gutsy Midtown Delight lengthened his strides and moved ahead of the others. He finally won comfortably from Bebo and a fast finishing Shoot Out. 

The day ended with some relief for the punters, when Narayan Gowda’s Sparkling Cat carried the public purse to a popular victory in the lower division of the above event. On the basis of her fourth in an upper category, she was the first choice of the punters. Even though Affirmator and Hatchet Harry had some support in the betting rings, the heavy bandages sported by the two of them did not inspire much confidence amongst the betting public. Saddam Hussain’s three kilo allowance on the favourite enhanced her chances. The apprentice has been riding confidently this season, and he did well to score with her. Not worried by his position at the bend, Saddam did well to stay out of trouble. He allowed Magic Wave, Artic Breeze, Hatchet Harry and a couple of others to fight for the early advantage. Just as Hatchet Harry seized the initiative in the final furlong, Sparkling Cat appeared on the wide outside. She produced a nice turn of foot and thundered past the leader. The boy rode her hands-n-heels thereafter to finish ahead of a late finishing Affirmator. The latter got up on the last stride to push Hatchet Harry into third place.