A brilliant display of speed and stamina from Satish Narredu’s Mountain Range, enabled this well built horse to dominate the proceedings in The Governor’s Cup at the Mysore races on Friday. While making every post a winning one, he succeeded in keeping his strongly favoured stablemate Super Storm at bay. Being a terms race for Indian horses four years old and over, this mile and a quarter event attracted only six runners. Indian Derby winner Super Storm was handicapped ahead of the other five. In his most recent start on this very track about three weeks ago, Super Storm had been beaten on the post by Toroloco and Immense. The three of them were separated by a couple of “short heads” at the finish. Apart from being the only four year old in this set, Super Storm had good form to back his credentials. He was working well ,and also, was reported to be in good health.He was accordingly installed as an odds-on choice of the punters. Stablemate Mountain Range  had come back after a couple of starts at Hyderabad. While he had finished second behind Camorra in The Nizam’s Gold Cup, his poor last in The President Of India Gold Cup subsequently was quite disappointing. However, he was the obvious second favourite ahead of Nadia and Spearhead.

The six of them took off to a level start. Mountain Range was quick to seize the initiative and was soon a couple of lengths clear of Spearhead and Super Storm. Bold Police and Rising Rainbow followed in close order, while Nadia brought up the rear. Neeraj Rawal and Mountain Range continued to travel comfortably in front. After matching strides with the front-runner till the bend, Spearhead ran out of gas and faded from the scene. It was hereabouts that Super Storm made his move. His long and fluent strides allowed him to get closer to the leader. Once Mountain Range moved off the rails and galloped towards the centre of the track, Suraj switched lanes with the favourite and went inside. With both jockeys riding strongly, the margin between them failed to diminish. Mountain Range continued to enjoy a clear advantage till they reached the finishing line. In a close battle for the minor berths, Nadia got up in time to beat Spearhead into fourth place.

The other interesting feature in Friday’s racing was the performance of a six year old named Crrisp. Trained by M Bobby, this import from Western India has struck some tremendous form this season. After a number of starts on the local track, he won a race in mid September. Running against Mysore based horses, he went to the front in a seven furlong race and lasted out to hold onto his early advantage. Realizing that he may be more effective over a sprint, Bobby got an opportunity to run him in a similar race a few days later. Once again, he proved to be too strong for his class III opponents.  Within twenty odd days of his first win, Crrisp was seen running against some well performed Bangalore based horses in a class II sprint on Friday. With money flowing in the direction of Absolute Majority, Impressive Bolt, Nessie and Lads Ability, not many felt that Crrisp could complete a hat-trick. With regular partner Saddam Hussain aboard, Crrisp tracked Lads Ability till the bend. He forged ahead in the straight and established a nice looking lead into the final furlong. After a troubled passage earlier in the race, Absolute Majority took his time to find his rhythm. By the time he did so, the race was more or less over. Absolute Majority was marginally shy at the wire. An unreliable  Brabus Speed made up much ground on the wide outside to take the third spot.

The added attraction in the day’s card was The AC Somanna Memorial Cup. The sprint handicap for horses in class III attracted a large number of acceptors. The race was accordingly split into two divisions. One must acknowledge Neil Darashah’s professional acumen in the clever placing of his horses. Realizing that the race may get divided, he accepted with  both Divine Deliverance and Mr Carpe. Since both these horses had been running good races in the recent past, it wasn’t difficult to fathom the reason why they started as firm favourites. The upper version saw Divine Deliverance setting a strong pace ahead of Sky High, Caldera and Clever Trick. Once the three pursuers got tired, it was the turn of Samara Sun and Starstruck to move forward. But the action in front remained constant. Divine Deliverance marched strongly towards the finishing line and won from Samara Sun and Starstruck. John did well to guide the favourite comfortably across the wire.

Mr Carpe’s victory was even easier. Neil utilized the services of PS Chouhan astride this runner. Even though a couple of speedy horses leapt out of the gates and tried to head the pack, it was Mr Carpe who moved steadily from an outside draw and went ahead. He opened-up an eight length lead over Refreshed at the bend. Strongly fancied Sweet N Smart was trying her best to move forward, but the pace was too hot for her. It was only after Refreshed got tired and stopped in his tracks that Sweet N Smart was able to take the runner-up berth.  Red Admiral came with a long stretch run to go ahead of  Sans Frontieres and save place money for his backers. The manner in which Mr Carpe won this race was quite remarkable. In this sort of form, he can surely score on promotion and pick up a similar race at Bangalore.

Another race that was split into two was The D Gopalraj Urs Memorial Cup. The upper division of this seven furlong handicap for those rated between 20-45, had a strong favourite in Amit Caddy’s Presidents Rule. After winning a race in a lower category, he had run a good second behind Amazon Bay in his next start. Homeric and Hillton had some support with the bookmakers, but both of them were short of recent form. Suraj took Presidents Rule on a start-to-finish mission, and showed the way to Perfect Speed and Influence. He continued to dominate proceedings till the distance post. It was hereabouts that Influence looked threatening. She responded gamely to Md Shoaib’s urgings and put her neck in front of the favourite. The Dhariwal trained three year old filly maintained her momentum right upto the winning post. Trust Me Boy made up some ground on the wide outside to finish close behind the first two finishers.

Sharat Kumar’s Himavari sported a pair of wings in the lower division of this race, and flew away from her helpless rivals. The race had a firm favourite in S Narredu’s Aero Star. On sheer breeding, Aero Star appeared to be an outstanding participant at her present rating of 21. But the question uppermost in everybody’s mind pertained to a late start in her career. The lanky filly failed to enthuse the punters with her paddock looks , and the odds against her began to rise like mercury. With some support flowing in the direction of Himavari and Well Known, the race attained an “open” look. Aero Star showed early speed and led from Optimus Prime till the bend. Himavari traveled comfortably in third, while the others were far behind. The leader shot her bolt at the bend and fizzled out of contention. At just about the same juncture, Himavari appeared on the wide outside and skipped clear of the rest. It was left to Afternoon Delight and Gambit to come comfortably from the rear and take the other positions on the result boards. Aero Star must be left alone from a betting perspective, as she needs to improve a lot before putting up a winning performance.

The day ended with an exciting victory for V Appachu’s Gunpowder. There were a number of horses that were fancied in this event. Since it was restricted to local horses, we saw money coming onto Guapo, Words Of Wisdom, Historica, Sanatana and Unchallenged. While Guapo utilized all his energies by hitting the front, others like Gunpowder, Unchallenged and Historica waited behind. Sanatana and Historica raced alongside in fifth as the runners turned for home. Guapo was challenged and passed by Gunpowder in the straight. With Gnaneshwar making free use of his stick,  Gunpowder got stronger with each stride and marched away for an easy victory. Historica, Guapo, Sanatana and Words Of Wisdom finished in a heap to figure on the result boards.