The Bangalore Turf Club has increased the stake money substantially for the summer season and as such, bumper cards should be par for all the days of the programme. The stake money offered for the lowest category of racing compares favorably with that given in the highest category elsewhere. With over 170 outstation horses having arrived to take part in the Summer Season, racing should be highly competitive and absorbing contests should be the order of the day. Trainer Ganapathy, who has maintained a stranglehold on the championship stakes, holds all the aces, with the country’s highest rated three-year old colt and filly namely Southern Empire and Haunting Memories under his charge. His firepower has doubled as the horses which otherwise would have stayed back at Pune under Dallas Todywalla have also migrated to Bangalore and are under the care of Ganapathy. It would pay to follow the fortunes of the gold and brown brigade of Dr.M.A.M.Ramaswamy who has virtually bought the best produce of almost all the stud farms in the country. Given the bench strength that Ganapathy has at his command, the other professionals can only hope for immense luck to snatch the plum events from his grasp. Southern Empire who is a full brother to the Indian Triple Crown winner Smart Chieftain has proved to be an exceptional horse, having already won four races. Southern Empire is more strongly built that his predecessors and has greater range and depth. He is blessed with a tremendous turn of foot and he fulfills all the attributes of a great horse as he has speed and more speed. Bred to stay, Southern Empire has everything at his mercy barring any hiccup. The Gr 1 Kingfisher Derby will have added money of Rs 50 lakh. The Bangalore Turf Club is planning to guarantee Rs 1 crore as stake money next year which would make the event as the richest race in the country. Ganapathy’s prominent horses during the season would be Haunting Memories who made the opposition legless in the Gr 1 Poonawalla Breeders’ Multi-Million, Flaming Glory, Diabolical et al. The list really is endless. Among the others, Padmanabhan has a few horses which merit attention. Topping the list would be Rain Splasher. The daughter of Placerville served notice of her classic potential when she made a smashing winning debut during the fag end of the winter season. Rain Splasher is the one who can stretch Haunting Memories in the Fillies Trial Stakes where the mile long trip could possibly blunt the brilliance of the Poonawalla Million winner Haunting Memories. But there is no denying the fact that Haunting Memories is at the moment is head and shoulders above the rest of her sex. This year, quite a few Mumbai based trainers have arrived for the season. Apart from Imtiaz Sait who is a regular, the others who have come with reasonably good horses are Bezan Chenoy and Pesi Shroff. Kolkatta’s Vijay Singh has an exciting prospect in Ardelis who is regarded highly. Apart from the big guns, it also pays to follow trainers who did not fire to expectations during the winter season.