Ocean And Beyond (Kingsalsa-Sayuri) scored a convincing victory in the Governor’s Cup – Grade 3, which featured the long card of nine races on Friday. Six horses faced the starter for the grueling 2400 metres trip. Super Storm which had finished third in the Bangalore St.Leger and Ocean And Beyond having made known its return to form while winning the Maharaja’s Cup, shared the favouritism in the betting.

Mountain Range donned the role of the pace setter with a tidy pace as the six of them started off.  Spearhead followed in second about four lengths behind with Super Storm, Ocean And Beyond, Sun Kingdom and Cool Approach in that order in a single file. Nearing the last 800 metres Spearhead was urged to move alongside Mountain Range with the rest still in the same order behind. Into the homestretch for the final run, Mountain Range did not show any signs of tiring out and kept the strong challenge of Spearhead at bay. Ocean And Beyond had in the meanwhile was alighted to make its move on the extreme outside and the 6 year old son of King Salsa showed plenty of maturity while heading to the front inside the last 150 metres for a trouble-free victory. Jockey Suraj Narredu studied the pace exceptionally well to give Ocean And Beyond its second successive Graded race victory this season. Mountain Range was a game runner-up ahead of Spearhead while Super Storm faltered under pressure and ended up fourth.

Trainer Patrick Quinn deserves all the praises for tuning Ocean And Beyond to its pristine form. Bringing down a small contingent of five horses from Kolkata for the season at Bangalore, he has done remarkably well, packing his bags with five trophies, three of them graded races, the Chief Minister’s Cup, The Maharaja’s Cup and the Governor’s Cup. Speaking to India Race after the races Patrick Quinn said,”I brought five horses and had a pretty good season, with my main one Ocean And Beyond winning both the races that we targeted, the Maharajas’ and the Governors’. He is a brilliant horse and he now goes to Pune where the main target will be the R.W.I.T.C. Gold Cup.” On speaking about his other horses, Patrick added,” Ancient Wonder came here with a lot of problems but he did well to win a race. The big shocker was Paras Mani. I always knew that she was a good filly but she has done extremely well on this track. She will be a serious contender for the Fillies’ Trials at Kolkata.”

Friday’s race at Bangalore was the last day of the season for tabulating the championship charts. The extra day that has been advertised for Friday next will not be considered for the championship tally. Trainer Irfan Ghatala and Jockey Suraj Narredu had a clear advantage over their nearest challengers and emerged on top of the table. While Irfan drew a blank on the final day to keep his score at 22, Suraj Narredu hogged the limelight, booting home four winners to end with a score of 30 winners. Trainer Amit Cady saddled a treble while the other highlights of the day were doubles by trainer Patrick Quinn, Arjun Mangalorkar and jockeys S.John and P.S.Chouhan.

Arjun Mangalorkar trained Alfons De Borja (Noverre-Ektebaat) was on a debut in the Leading Bookmaker Cup. The well bred son of Noverre which had shown a lot of promise in the track trials was sent in as the favourite for the sprint. Taking off to a flying start, Alfons De Borja maintained a steady lead all the way till the final bend. On entering the final straight jockey S.John looked back under his arms to gauge the situation and with just a tap the youngster accelerated in fine fashion. Accuracy ran a bit green under pressure when asked to quicken but still managed to finish second ahead of Ace Lexington. Evraz was withdrawn on veterinary grounds before the start of the day.

Another youngster from Arjun’s yard, Adriphos (Princely Heir-Factual) scored a maiden win in the Champion Trainer Cup. Racing in about eight positions as the field of 14 rounded the bend near the 500 metres board, Adriphos was guided by jockey S.John through the narrow gap along the inner rails and forged ahead with 150 metres left from home. Royal Rein came up with a strong challenge but failed to get to the winner. Lucky Thirteen maneuvered through horses with a late dash to beat Royal Rein in the shadow of the winning post for the second place.

Patrick Quinn’s Paras Mani (Mull of Kintyre-Savoy) earned its second win at Bangalore in a nail biting finish in the Leading Owner Cup. Paras Mani set out on a start to finish mission and was travelling well with a lead of over four lengths approaching the last 300 metres. The favourite Perfect Soul after a sluggish start was in mid-field for most part of the race with horses all around. Wriggling out of the mess Perfect Soul came out of the pack through the inner path and started to devour ground with John riding out vigorously. Bridging the gap at a rapid pace with every stride Perfect Soul joined Paras Mani in a tight finish. Paras Mani had touched the wire first by ‘the proverbial whisker’ and was declared as the winner. Neil Darashah, trainer of Perfect Soul lodged an objection against the judge’s verdict, claiming that the ‘photo’ was a case for a dead heat. The stewards overruled the objection after reviewing the photograph.

Trainer Amit Cady saddled a treble with The Gentle Don, Money Ball and Better Than Over, all three sons of Oath. All the three were ridden by Suraj Narredu. The Gentle Don (Oath-Edelweiss) won the lower division of the Leading Tipster Plate, the opening race of the day. After a good jump, The Gentle Don was in the lead till passing the 900 metres board and settled back in fourth with Immaculate leading the pack. Into the final straight The Gentle Don improved easily to challenge Immaculate and surged forward to win. The favourite Distinctive warmed up late to finish third, a ‘nose’ behind Immaculate.

Money Ball (Oath-Deserting) which had failed as a favourite in its last outing, made amends in the higher division of the Champion Jockey Cup. Travelling around the field all the way, Money Ball rallied strongly to head past the leader Scuffle inside the last furlong. Sensational Mover and Caraway covered ground from behind to finish second and third respectively.

Better Than Ever (Oath-One Way) justified the favouritism with an effortless win in the lower division, the concluding race of the day. Travelling easy in about fourth position all the way, Better Than Ever took charge approaching the distance post and drew away. Right on Time got the better of Gift of Love for the second place.

P.S.Chouhan piloted Potomac and Absolute Majority to score a double. Hidayat Khan trained Potomac (Ikhtyar-Buenos Aires) won the higher division of the Leading Tipster Cup beating the favourite Youre Gorgeous. Potomac and Cool Nature headed to the front at start and disputed the lead till the last 500 metres. Cool Nature dropped out of contention near the final turn as the stable companion Youre Gorgeous improved to stake its claim. P.S.Chouhan kept riding out after stopping the use of the whip near the distance board and the gelding responded readily to step up the pace and moved away to score its maiden win. Youre Gorgeous finished second.

Suleiman Attaollahi trained Absolute Majority (China Visit-Blue Ridge) earned its second win of the season under P.S.Chouhan in the Leading Stud Cup. Cielo Signore and Mister India were in front as the field showed up on the straight. Chouhan started to wave his whip in front of his mount’s face and the 4 year old galloped with a flourish to surge forward. Cielo Signore and Mister India finished second and third respectively.