Altamash Ahmed's An Acquired Taste confirmed his superiority over his seven rivals by winning The KN Guruswamy Memorial Cup at the Bangalore races on Saturday. Tackling the mile long trip with ease, he spurted clear at the bend and held onto his lead till the very end. As a three year old last summer, An Acquired Taste had shown signs of being a top class horse. Some niggling problems thereafter were responsible for his lacklustre performances in winter. He came into his own while beating a strong field in The RR Ruia Gold Cup (Grade II) at Mumbai. His fifth in The Indian Derby, and a fair sixth in The Indian Turf Invitation Cup were his only other starts. In both of them, he had suffered from traffic problems and there was little doubt that he could have finished much closer with a clearer passage. An Acquired Taste was reasonably well placed at the scales in Saturday's feature. On sheer class, he stood tall in this handicap event for horses rated 80 and above. Chase The Sun and Panamera had been running well in recent months, and the pair of them shaped as his closest challengers. For some strange reason, the odds against An Acquired Taste began to rise rapidly. In a matter of minutes, the odds more than doubled from evens to 9/4. It was learnt that some pundits did not like his looks in the paddock. According to them, the favourite had lost condition and was looking "light" in the parade ring. 

Bottom-weighted Severstahl took them along at a steady gallop, and led from Spearhead, Panamera and Chase The Sun. An Acquired Taste moved steadily on the wide outside and came within striking distance, as they took the rising ground near the three furlong marker. Christopher did well to keep the free striding favourite out of trouble and brought him with a smooth run towards the wide outside. Once Severstahl shot his bolt in the straight, the stage was set for An Acquired Taste. He grabbed the lead, moved towards the inner rails and charged relentlessly towards the finishing line. Under some strong urging from Franco DaSilva, Panamera went in chase. However, she wasn't able to go anywhere near the leader. An Acquired Taste confirmed, that at the present weights, he was superior to the rest of them. Chase The Sun lost her third spot to Spearhead near the winning post. All these horses shall continue to clash with each other in the "graded" races later in the season. 

After winning four races over the opening weekend of the summer season, jockey Trevor doubled his score on Saturday. He dominated the day's proceedings by scoring an identical number of points during the afternoon. The young man has been riding with confidence over the last few seasons and can definitely be counted amongst the top riders in the country. He began by steering L D'Silva's Queen Of The Stars to a bloodless victory in The Prince Khartoum Trophy. Being a scurry for maiden three year olds, the speedy Spiritofchartwell was installed as the favourite in this race. After a solitary start at Hyderabad, Leo had brought Queen Of  The Stars to Bangalore. The yard had a high opinion about her abilities, and the same was reflected on the betting charts. She was backed down from 4/1 to 18/10 favouritism as the horses began to enter the starting gates. The filly took a good jump and got straight down to business. Spiritofchartwell made smooth headway from an outer draw and joined the issue. The pair headed the twelve horse field and moved towards the final bend. It ceased to be a contest thereafter. With Trevor pushing her hands-n-heels, Queen Of The Stars spurted clear of the pack and romped home to a comfortable victory. Jolie and Deep Diver took the last two places on the board. Another one that impressed in this race was Deep River. After a slow jump, he trailed the pack for most of the journey. He was allowed to gallop only in the final furlong. His smooth acceleration thereafter showed that he is fit to emerge from the maiden ranks. 

Pesi Shroff trained Acclaimed had won on debut at Mumbai. The manner in which he had come from behind to nail public choice Tahrir near the winning post showed that he is a talented colt. Wanting to test his "staying" abilities, the trainer chose to run him over a slightly longer course today. The bookmakers refused to offer odds against him and he started as the shortest priced runner of the day. Not bothered by his heavy impost, Acclaimed made every post a winning one. Trevor was a mere spectator as his mount gave him an armchair ride to victory. Sherman Oaks and Igah Igah Igah fought tooth and nail for the runner-up berth.  The winner is likely to be targeted at the Classics later in the season. 

The other two victories for Trevor were achieved astride a pair of horses trained by Dhariwal.  A class III sprint was expected by be a close affair between Fearless Moments, Cristoffe and Solitaire Royale. The first named was an unbeaten youngster. Having won thrice for the asking at Hyderabad, he was the highest rated three year old in this group of twelve. The other two had also shown signs of belonging to a higher category. A much older Lucky Sam was urged to the front and he set a good pace ahead of Cristoffe and Fearless Moments. Solitaire Royale met with severe interference in the initial stages of this race, and refused to gallop thereafter. The front group was closely bunched at the bend and it seemed as though we were in for a close finish. However, it all changed suddenly. Cristoffe emerged from the pack and darted to the front. A mere tap from Trevor was enough for him to go storming ahead of the others. With Fearless Moments stopping in his tracks, it was left to Impressive Bolt and Skylight Express to corner the minor placings. Cristoffe confirmed that he is a fine sprinter with a very bright future.

Apparition was lucky to find herself in an ordinary set of runners. Being classified in the lower division of class IV event, she did not have to do much while taking care of her rivals. Even though there were some other three year olds in this race, they had repeatedly failed to figure on the result boards. After taking a smooth jump from a wide draw, Apparition was never off the bit. This 45/100 favourite progressed on expected lines and was in no danger of getting caught by Potomac and Par Excellence. It will be interesting to see how she deals with her winning penalty 

After leading-in the pair of Cristoffe and Apparition, Dhariwal had the distinction of completing a popular hat-trick. The last race of the afternoon was an age group event for horses in class IV. The dickey-legged Sukhmanee had overcome a number of problems last winter and had been running well in recent times. She looked well today, and with the withdrawal of early morning favourite Balance Of Nature, was supported confidently by her connections. Mumbai based apprentice Akshay did well to keep her away from traffic snarls, and rode competently to ensure a comfortable victory. After a quick jump, he allowed Somethingdifferent and Fire Storm to lead him into the straight. With those in front of him getting tired at the bend, Sukhmanee was shown daylight at that stage. Like all good horses, she put her head down and galloped strongly to win by a widening margin from a tired Somethingdifferent, a late rushing Delilah and Fire Storm. Delilah was the best amongst the beaten brigade. 

A seven furlong event reserved for Bangalore based maidens witnessed a close finish between public choice Scenic Warrior, Noble Path and a late finishing Absolute Red. To the delight of his numerous backers, Scenic Warrior got up in the nick of time to put his head in front of the other two. After a couple of strong performances in much better company at Mumbai, Scenic Warrior returned to his parent centre in summer. On the basis of those runs, he was rated much higher than any of his opponents. Those who backed him at a short price today were hoping for a runaway victory from this strongly built three year old. However, it did not pan out the way they expected. Sreekanth settled him comfortably behind Forever Honour, and Noble Path, and made his move at the bend, By the time he got Scenic Warrior on an even keel and asked him for a response, Noble Path had established a firm hold on the proceedings. After a stirring duel down the length of the straight, the ultimate winner just about managed to keep Noble Path and a late rushing Absolute Red at bay. The last named was seen moving the best at the finish, and he is the one that should be ear-marked for an early victory.