Inayathulla trained Volcano won his third start this season while claiming The Nilgiri’s Trophy at the Bangalore races on Friday. The four year old carried his bottom weight to a fluent victory. Taking into account the fact that he burst a blood vessel during the running of the race, this was a real gutsy performance. The four kilos claimed by apprentice Arshad Alam came in very handy at the end. The day’s feature attracted eleven runners. Top weighted Esteban was the shortest priced favourite in the day’s card. His form this winter was brilliant. In his last start, he had ended a flying second against most of his present opponents. The fact that he had received severe interference at the gates on that day, had ensured a troubled passage. Paul Mulrennan was lucky to have stayed aboard Esteban after getting squeezed at the start. Running detatched from the field till the home turn, Esteban had literally “flown” in the last furlong of that race.  A mere repetition of that run seemed to be enough to win the day’s feature. The three kilos claimed by apprentice Saddam Hussain, was an added advantage. Resultantly, he started as the 80/100 favourite in this race. The others were freely available at 10’s and over in the betting rings.

Volcano made use of his innermost draw, and skipped clear at the start. Nessie took a good jump and occupied the second spot ahead of Esteban, Will Star and Courage in Red. The order remained more or less the same, as they took the bend and straightened for home. Volcano continued his good work in front and moved steadily towards the finishing line. Nessie held second, while Esteban was stuck towards the inner rails in third. The boy was unable to extricate the favourite from that position, and the horse was seen plodding throughout the race. It is difficult to say whether lack of galloping space made a crucial difference to his performance, or, was it just that he was in no mood to gallop today. The first three horses raced in the same order from start to finish. An interesting feature that emerged after the results were flashed on the screens, pertained to the jockeys astride the first three finishers. The winner Volcano and the placed horses Nessie and Esteban, were all ridden by apprentice boys. In fact, five out of the eight races decided on Friday, were won by horses that had an apprentice on board. With leading jockeys PS Chouhan, Suraj Narredu and S John serving out suspensions, the trainers at Bangalore have been offering good mounts to these youngsters.

Three year old Cash My Way was Inayathulla’s second winner this afternoon. This speedy horse had ended third in his last two runs and shown improvement with each effort. Vigorous and Kentucky Rose were the other fancied horses in this race. Both had ended fourth on debut and had been prepared by their respective trainers. On the basis of the better timings clocked by Cash My Way, this mount of Ashhad Asbar was a firm favourite in this race. The youngster took Cash My Way to the front and led at a steady pace from Kentucky Rose and Vigorous. While Kentucky Rose moved on the wide outside, Vigorous hugged the rails and traveled right behind the leader. The runners began to get closer to each other at the bend. In the process, Vigorous got too close to Cash My Way and clipped the heels of the favourite. The horse stumbled and dislodged B Paswan. Attitude Extreme, who was right behind Vigorous, was the next to suffer. He too parted company with Ryan Marshal and ran rider less thereafter. The action in front unfurled on expected lines. Cash My Way tore away from the rest and scored a bloodless victory. Feet On Fire and Sue Nevell occupied the minor slots ahead of an exhausted Kentucky Rose. Ryan Marshal and B Paswan were both rushed to hospital. While Paswan suffered severe damage to his leg, Ryan was lucky to escape with a minor concussion.

Prior to winning the day’s feature astride Volcano, Arshad Alam had scored a thrilling victory astride B Puttanna’s Open Page. After finishing on the board at a low weight in a higher category, Open Page was asked to carry the top weight in this seven furlong event. Last outing winner Deep Blue Sea was the horse to beat in this race. The four year old had stormed home from an impossible position over a sprint, and beaten a heavily gambled Balance Of Nature only six days ago. The fact that Satish Narredu had chosen to run him over a bit longer after such a short interval, reflected the confidence of his connections. Deep Blue Sea ran a nice race, but he wasn’t good enough to collar Open Page on the post. Only a “nose” separated the two of them at the wire. While Arshad Alam made his run with Open Page on the wide outside, Saddam Hussain faltered astride Deep Blue Sea. By the time he realized that there wasn’t enough space towards the inside, and changed course with the favourite, the race was more or less over. Open Page enjoyed a three length lead at that stage. Deep Blue Sea ran bravely thereafter to all but nail Open Page on his last stride. Saddam tried to reverse the verdict in the Stewards Room, but his objection was thrown out in quick time. 

The Infants Plate, a sprint for maiden three year olds, generated a lot of excitement. With Invincible Prince, Man Of Vision and Absolute Red receiving equal support in the top division, there were many who got confused and stayed away from this event. All three of them had already had a run this season and their track work was satisfactory. Each one of them looked well turned out and it was difficult to make a choice. The one’s who chose to back Padmanabhan’s Invincible Prince, reaped a rich reward for their decision.  The colt tracked Man Of Vision till the bend before overtaking him in the final stages of this race. Man Of Vision started to veer out in the straight. In the process, he pushed Invincible Prince towards the outer portion of the track. David Allan realized the danger and used the whip with his left hand. Invincible Prince lengthened his strides and scored a comfortable victory. Capitalize, who was traveling third throughout this race, managed to save place money for his followers by keeping a hard ridden Absolute Red at bay. 

The bottom half of this event witnessed a runaway performance from Samar Singh’s Lagoona. The filly had participated in a “Million Event” earlier in the season and had obviously benefited from that experience. With money flowing in the direction of first-timer Stimulate and Transformer, Lagoona was easily available at 5/1 with the bookmakers. While Lagoona darted to the front and opened-up a healthy lead in the initial stages of this race, both the fancied runners were seen struggling at the back. By the time they extricated themselves from the pack, the race was over. In the hands of Ashhad Asbar, Lagoona raced in solitary splendour and cantered past the winning post. After a hard fought duel down the length of the straight, Stimulate managed to finish marginally ahead of Transformer. Stimulate has the ability to improve after her maiden start and score in the near future. 

A Class IV sprint, for horses five years old and over, was split into two divisions. While the upper division was won by a well backed Magnomical, the other division went to rank outsider Artic Breeze. Lokanath’s Magnomical had come down to this category after a number of unplaced efforts over the last year and a half. She had shown a marked improvement in her form by ending a close fourth in February. Since she was facing modest opposition today, the punters decided to back her with confidence. After losing astride quite a few public choices earlier in the day, Saddam Hussain was able to score a solitary victory astride Magnomical. By trying to take a short route along the inside rails astride Esteban and Deep Blue Sea, and getting beat in the process, the boy learnt from his experience and did not repeat the same mistake in this race. After tracking Astonishing, Sweet Angel and Inspirator till the home turn, he switched lanes and came on the wide outside. Magnomical saw daylight and increased her momentum. She won without a fuss from Inspirator and a fast finishing Alianz. 

The lower division was a well fought affair which was decided near the winning post. A number of horses received strong support in the betting rings and the race looked like a wide open affair. Top-weighted Magic Wave utilized his early speed and showed the way to Artic Breeze, Diamond Flame, Alpine Shine and Signifies. His lead began to disappear in the final furlong. Artic Breeze and Alpine Shine began to move forward with each stride and the three of them were almost abreast near the distance post. Apprentice Indrajeet Singh managed to coax Artic Breeze further, and the pair lasted out to keep their head in front of Alpine Shine till they reached the finishing line. Magic Wave was a fairly close third. Signifies ran in patches and took down a lot of money. 

The biggest bombshell of the afternoon was dropped by Lokanath’s Athletic Star, who came from way off the pace to beat hot favourite Shivalik Fire near the winning post. The mile handicap for horses in class III was expected to be a match race between Shivalik Fire and I Say. Both of them were known to be comfortable over the present trip and had better winter form as compared to their six opponents. With I Say losing a lot of ground at the start, the backers of Shivalik Fire were obviously optimistic. Their choice was seen traveling comfortably behind Entertainer and Sans Frontieres, and Saddam Hussain had him on a tight leash till the bend. The grey quickened well at the bend and skipped clear of the pack. Not many noticed the movements of apprentice Prabhakaran and Athletic Star at that stage. He skirted the field and moved steadily towards the leader. Despite being ridden hands-n-heels, Athletic Star got stronger with each stride and managed to go ahead in the last fifty metres of this race. He was Lokanath’s second winner on Friday.  He paid a healthy 60/1 at the totalizators. After gracing the tail end of the pack till well into the straight, I Say made up much ground to end within a couple of lengths of Shivalik Fire. The filly was undoubtedly unlucky to lose today.