Suleiman Attaollahi’s Sovetskaya put up a wonderful performance in The HB Gundappa Gowda Memorial Cup, the feature in a card of eight events held at Bangalore on Saturday. The five year old mare devoured ground in the straight while coming from almost the last position to floor her opponents. After a fairly long time, horses like Sprint Star, Chul Bul Pandy, Secret Punch and Sovetskaya were running in a handicap event. Most of them had clashed repeatedly in “terms” races this year and finished alongside each other. Sparingly raced Shivalik Star, who was known to be blessed with a lot of speed, was strongly fancied by his connections. Apart from being the youngest horse in this race, he had done some brilliant track work and it was felt that he was yet to achieve his full potential.  Secret Punch had suffered from traffic snarls in both his starts this season, and it was clear that if this big made horse gets a free run, he could trouble the best. Even though the trip was bit short for him, the consistent Sprint Star had his own followers. Sovetskaya was the one that was backed at race time. It was felt that this was her best trip and her paddock looks justified this support. All in all, the day’s feature had the makings of a “thriller”.

Secret Punch took a good jump from his innermost draw and set a good pace ahead of Shivalik Star, Sunday Storm, Aristos, Quick Enough and Sprint Star. The backers of Sovetskaya were a worried lot as they saw her gracing the rear. The tightly packed field raced in close order till the bend. Imran Chisty put further pressure on Secret Punch and asked him to quicken. Not finding anything extra in the tank, the leader began to falter towards the inside rails. He was soon overtaken and passed by Shivalik Star. Just as his supporters began to cheer him as the winner, there was something that moved on the wide outside. With Trevor waving his whip at her, Sovetskaya began to pick a tired group of horses. She passed them one by one and came alongside Shivalik Star. There was little doubt that she was the fastest finishing runner at that stage. Sovetskaya got up in time to claim the day’s feataure. Secret Punch and Sprint Star fought an intense battle for the third spot.

A terrific performance from Mallesh Narredu’s three year old filly Loveofmylife, was the other highlight in the day’s card. The Tippu Sultan Cup, a sprint for maiden three year olds, was the added attraction in the day’s card. The day’s proceedings started with the lower division of this race. Loveofmylife had been doing some outstanding work and the filly opened as a firm favourite in this race. However, the odds against this filly curiously began to expand rapidly. In a matter of minutes, she was freely available at 5/1 in the bookmakers ring. Aashikaara and Natural View received better support to climb above her in the betting charts. Loveofmylife carried Suraj to the front and raced well within herself to lead from Aashikaara and Eezy Go Lucky. The other seven were seen struggling to keep pace with the front runners. What happened in the straight was quite interesting. Loveofmylife shot ahead like an arrow and went a distance clear of the rest. Suraj himself seemed a bit surprised by what she had done, as he looked around to see if there was anything close to him. He had the pleasure of easing her up much before the pair crossed the finishing line. By clocking a smart timing, Loveofmylife confirmed that she is a top class filly. For the records, Ancient Title, Aashikaara and Ezee Go Lucky finished in a heap while taking the minor positions on the result boards.

The upper division had a strong favourite in Altamash Ahmed’s Deep Diver. This well bred horse had come from Mumbai as an unraced three year old, and had started his career about six weeks ago on the local track. After a lethargic beginning, he had covered good ground to finish an unextended fourth. His subsequent track trials had shown that there was a lot of improvement in his condition. With a positive switch in the saddle, wherein Sandesh replaced Kamble, this horse was backed at every price to start as the shortest priced runner of the day. Leaping out of the starting gates, Deep Diver set his own pace and skipped away from Sovereign Rule and the others. Sandesh kept niggling him in the final stages to stay clear of his closest rival. First-timer Sovereign Rule ran a very nice race to finish an impressive second. Since he is bred to tackle a longer trip, it may be a good idea to back him confidently in his next start.

An interesting mile handicap for horses in class II generated a lot of excitement. Earlier winners in the season like Spaniard and Sussex Downs were being opposed by Saltoftheearth and Apollo King. Most of them had run against each other in the past, and based on their present ratings, it was clear that they were closely matched. The first vote obviously went to Saltoftheearth, who was receiving a lot of weight from the others. However, the bookmakers did not think so. They doubled the odds against Saltoftheearth from 6/4 to 3/1, and continued to lay him till he entered the gates. To their delight, Trevor and Saltoftheearth missed the kick and lost a lot of ground at the start. He was literally “out of the race” thereafter. The action in front saw One Time Magic, Spaniard and Sussex Downs getting straight down to business. They continued to dominate the proceedings till the bend. At that stage, Apollo King raced last but one and was a few lengths away from those ahead of him. Neil Darashah trained Spaniard was shown daylight near the bend by PS Chouhan and asked to accelerate. The dark bay shot ahead and opened-up a healthy advantage into the final furlong. Apollo King covered a lot of ground from the back but never looked threatening at any stage. All he could do was to finish on the flanks of the leader. Sussex Downs slowed down to end a tame third.

The Kumararajah MAM Muthiah Cup, a sprint for horses five years old and over in class III, attracted a large number of acceptors. This race was accordingly split into two divisions. The upper version was a very open affair with Lads Gladiator, Violent Storm and Flying Tricolour being marginally fancied ahead of the others. None of them had won a race this year, and picking a winner seemed like a tough proposition. Those who were expecting to see a close fight in this race, were quite surprised by what actually transpired. Flying Tricolour, who would normally lead for the first half of a race and retire thereafter, was a totally transformed horse today. John partnered this Sharat Kumar trainee to the front and led comfortably into the straight. Both Lads Gladiator and Violent Storm tried their best to get close to him, but Flying Tricolour was refusing to stop. He got stronger close home and won easily from a late finishing Hillstone, Lads Gladiator and a totally exhausted Violent Storm. The last name should be left alone from a betting perspective for the rest of this season.

The lower division of this race witnessed a thrilling finish. The lead changed hands a number of times before Inayathulla’s Lucky Sam arrived on the scene. Sunday Cruz, The Guardian, Superb Style and Mark Of Genius raced in close order till the top of the straight. PS Chouhan was the first to move astride The Guardian, and this bandaged favourite made heavy weather of going to the front. His brief dominance ended in the final furlong, when he was passed by Zervan and Mark Of Genius. With the rider making free use of his whalebone, Mark Of Genius spurted clear of the pack and roused hopes of a long overdue victory. However, the party was spoiled by Lucky Sam. The chestnut responded gamely to Vivek’s urgings, made up a lot of ground on the wide outside and got up in time to win the last race of the afternoon.

A handicap for horses in class IV was expected to be a match race between Ganapathy’s Supreme Regime and Darius Byramji’s Peter Parker. Both these youngsters had failed a couple of times in maiden company, and their respective trainers had chosen to pitch them against older rivals. During the closing stages of the winter season, they had tested their skills against each other. On that occasion, Supreme Regime had beaten Peter Parker by a couple of lengths. The two kilo advantage enjoyed by the latter, seemed to have brought them closer today. Realizing that Peter Parker was somewhat one-paced, Imran Chisty took him to the front. Sreekanth and Supreme Regime were quick to relax in second place, while Royal Rein and Viva Diva followed at regular intervals, as the thirteen runners turned for home. It was at this stage that Sreeknath relaxed his grip on the favourite. Supreme Regime burst clear of the pack and won by a widening margin from a late finishing Royal Rein and a tired Peter Parker. The winner seems to have a lot of ability, and in his present form and condition, looks to be capable of defying the handicapper.

A nice little gamble was landed by Lokanath’s stable when four year old Prince Of Kintyre succeeded in running away from his bottom class opponents. The four year old had been given a number of runs over the last year or so and had come down a lot in his ratings. The two top weights in this seven furlong race for horses rated 0-25 were Shivalik Beauty and Simra. Both of them had run prominently in a similar race a fortnight ago and figured on the result boards. The presence of PS Chouhan and Suraj Narredu astride these two contenders was enough reason for the bookmakers to install them as joint favourites in this race. However, with money coming onto Shivalik Beauty and Prince Of Kintyre at race time, Simra was seemingly out of contention. Gnaneshwar was able to push Prince Of Kintyre into an early advantage and the pair surged clear of Shivalik Beauty and Autumn Red, as the runners turned for home. While the leader continued to get stronger in the straight, the chasers ran out of steam. This enabled Independence Day to make a move on the wide outside and surge into second place. The rest of the runners struggled to cross the finishing line, and it will be surprising if any one of them can pick up a race before the end of this season.