The Bangalore Winter Season 2013-14 began with a well packed card of nine events on Saturday. Fairly wide false rails on a lush green track greeted racing patrons as they thronged the race course. Racing was fairly mixed, as a few favourites and some long-priced outsiders won their respective events. While Cullinan, Alcazaba and Equine Lover posted bloodless victories, most of the other races were decided near the winning post. Trainer Arjun Mangalorkar and jockey Trevor cornered the day’s honours by scoring “doubles”. The Rajyotsava Trophy (Gr.3), a terms race over 1400 metres, was the day’s feature. With more than One and a half Million Rupees in total stake money, this race saw a pair of smart three year olds taking on their more experienced rivals. Even though the field was small, there was no dearth of talent. While Immense, Aristos, Sun Kingdom and Silken Touch had won a number of races at this level, there were three of them who were relative new-comers to “graded company”. Equine Lover, Jersey Shore and Rock With U had won their previous starts in class II, and earned promotions to the highest category. All three were yet to win a race in class I. The confidence of their respective yards could be gauged from the fact that they were being asked to race at terms which weren’t ideally suited to each one of them. However, the final result confirmed that their trainers were almost right. While Equine Lover and Rock With U strode away from their rivals, the connections of Jersey Shore were disappointed with his performance. Even though Equine Lover had run away from her rivals in summer, there weren’t many who supported her chances today. The presence of veteran jockey Appu in the saddle failed to enthuse many to support her with confidence. As expected, Rock With U and Jersey Shore shared favouritism, as the eight of them began to enter the starting gates. 

Equine Lover got down to her customary front running tactics, and set a good pace ahead of Rock With U, Aristos, Silken Touch and Jersey Shore. Immense was a bit flat-footed in the early stages, and the chestnut was finding it tough to keep in touch with those in front of him. The order remained exactly the same as they approached the final bend. Equine Lover’s lead was being cut down by Rock With U in the straight, while those at the back were rolling sideways under pressure. Despite PS Chouhan’s strong belting, Rock With U came under pressure in the final furlong. Equine Lover’s free and flowing strides were impossible to match today. With Appu waving his whip at her, the rangy filly maintained her momentum and cruised past the winning post. Rock With U retained his runner-up berth ahead of a hard ridden Silken Touck. Immense made up some ground towards the inner rails to take the final place on the result boards. Trainer Padmanabhan has done really well with Equine Lover in recent months. The filly has rediscovered her old form and one can expect even better performances from her in future. Rock With U did well to finish a commendable second. 

The Kunigal Trophy, a seven furlong handicap for those in class II, was the added attraction in the day’s card. This race had a firm favourite in a filly named Alcazaba, who was incidentally bred at the same stud farm. The daughter of Burden Of Proof was the only three year old in this nine horse field. She came into this race with fine credentials. A couple of smart victories earlier in her career, saw her being promoted to class II by the handicapper. She ran in a similar race during the summer season and was distinctly unlucky to lose to Lad Star in a photo. Despite being caught in a traffic jam, she came with raking strides to finish alongside the winner. Suleiman Attaollahi ran her next in the Summer Million over a metric mile. Being a winner of two races, she was seen conceding weight to most of the others. She failed to stay the extended trip and ended a tame fourth behind Strike The Stars. Alcazaba was now running at a low weight over a trip better suited to her style of running. The half-money favourite looked the part in the paddock and trotted comfortably towards the starting gates. She took a nice start and settled comfortably behind Athletic Star, Magnitude Star and Diamonite. Trevor’s posture in the saddle was a clear indication of how she was traveling. Alcazaba was only waiting for a signal from her partner. The moment Trevor released the brakes, the race was over. She went marching ahead of the others in the straight and cruised home to a comfortable victory over Magnitude Star and a late finishing Stellar Ambition. In this sort of form, Alcazaba looks capable of defying her winning penalty. 

Trevor completed a quick double by winning the very next race astride Arjun Mangalorkar’s Castle Stuart. This was another horse that won as a relative outsider during the course of the afternoon. Much was expected from Castle Stuart during summer, but the three year old had run disappointingly in all his starts. The trainer chose to geld him thereafter, and gave him a longish rest before bringing him back on the training track.  Because of his unplaced efforts in maiden company, the handicapper allotted him a low rating of 26. This made a big difference to his chances in a mile handicap for those rated 20-45. Even though he was clashing with the highly regarded pair of Mannat and Priceless Ace, there were many who gave him a realistic chance of winning this event as he was receiving weight from the two of them. Trevor chose to take him to the front, and Castle Stuart was good enough to skip a couple of lengths clear of Priceless Ace and Mannat.  The order remained exactly the same till they turned for home. Castle Stuart took his pursuers by surprise when he quickened further in the straight.  While Priceless Ace packed up like a pricked balloon, it was Mannat who went in chase. The filly responded gamely to Imran Chisty’s whip, but was marginally shy at the wire. Castle Stuart had lasted out to keep his neck in front of her at the finish. Almost a distance behind the pair of them were Priceless Ace and Lucky Thirteen.  

Arjun’s other winner for the day had come in the day’s opener. It was the lower division of an event reserved for three year olds that were yet to win a race in their career. Barring a few who were running for the first time ever, the others had failed to make an impression in their earlier starts.  Arjun trained Cullinan had finished fourth over an identical trip on debut in summer, and the colt was now attempting to improve on that performance. With John in the saddle, he was installed as an odds-on choice of the punters. The scene in the betting ring changed suddenly. Darius Byramji’s unraced filly Flashy Ways received strong support and climbed to the top of the betting boards. It was touted that this daughter of Holy Roman Emperor possessed too much class as compared to the rest of them. However, the filly failed to live up to this opinion. Flashy Ways took her own sweet time to find her rhythm and was seen racing in seventh position as the runners entered the straight. The action in front saw Cullinan sporting a pair of wings and literally darting ahead of his eleven opponents. John didn’t have to do much while steering him to a nine length victory over a late finishing Flashy Ways, Luc Divine and Bolts Colt. The last named made up much ground at the end to finish alongside the two that finished ahead of him. The well bred Flashy Ways is sure to benefit from this experience. 

The higher division of this maidens event generated a lot of excitement. Top market fancies Vigorous and Conrod fought a stirring duel, and the race was decided close home. Taking off smoothly from her inner draw, Irfan Ghatala’s Vigorous hugged the rails and moved comfortably ahead of Conrod and Crown Emperor. Both Suraj on Vigorous and Imran Chisty on Conrod had their mounts under complete control, and the two of them were seen cantering easily ahead of the others. Neither of them made a move till the top of the straight. It was hereabouts that it became a bit more serious. Vigorous tried her best to shake-off Conrod on the outside, but imran Chisty wasn’t giving up without a fight. Making free use of their whalebones, the two jockey’s got really busy in the final furlong. With the support of the inner rails, Vigorous and Suraj Narredu were able to win by half a length from Conrod. Crown Emperor did some good work at the end to finish right behind the two of them. Even though he had a very hard race today, Conrod has it in him to win a similar race before the end of this year. 

The biggest bombshell of the afternoon was dropped by the 100/1 outsider Sans Frontieres. The four year old had joined the Komandur stable a few months ago, and had done the front-running in his only start at Mysore. Even though he was eligible to run in the lower category against those in his own age group, the trainer chose to campaign him in this class III sprint. Smart three year olds like Ace Mesmerise, Rumour Has It , Sun Glow cornered most of the betting in this race. Late support for Ace Mesmerise ensured that he started as a firm favourite in this race. Inderjeet Singh claimed only a fraction of his allowance astride the speedy Sans Frontieres. He went to the front and set a good pace ahead of Ace Mesmerise, Refreshed, Rumour Has It and Sun Glow. A majority of those riding in the race, as well as those watching it, thought that Sans Frontieres would slow down in the straight. Nothing of the sort happened. He continued to hold a hard ridden Ace Mesmerise right upto the finishing line. Without much assistance from the saddle, Invincible Prince did well to end a respectable third. Rumour Has It  was not sighted near the winning post. 

The only other event in the day’s card was a seven furlong race for horses four years old and over in class III. Despite a number of acceptors being balloted out, this race was divided into two divisions. The upper one had a couple of strongly fancied runners. Arjun Mangalorkar’s Wrekin and Byramji’s Violent Storm received strong support with the bookmakers. The one that finally won this race was the Darius trained I Say. This filly had got left at the starting gates in her last few runs, and it was no different today. While Firelight, Wrekin and Violent Storm raced prominently in front, I Say got off to a lethargic start and graced the rear. Once Wrekin shot his bolt in the straight, the race seemed to be confined to Firelight and Violent Storm. Not many realized that Roushan had been able to rouse I Say from behind, and the filly was responding to his whip. She wove her way through a group of tired front-runners, came between Firelight and Violent Storm and strode away to a surprise victory. Violent Storm’s run was quite suggestive. He seems to be fit enough to run a much better race at a low weight in the upper category. 

The lower division of this race witnessed a successful gamble being landed by the Prithviraj stable. In the hands of apprentice Kiran Rai, the stable backed Veyron with confidence. The connections were obviously ecstatic at the end of this race. Prasanna Kumar’s Volans was a strong favourite ahead of Cocktail Circuit and Greyconnection. Once money started pouring onto Veyron and he climbed the betting charts, there was total confusion in the betting rings. Greyconnection made use of her innermost draw and darted ahead of the others. She set a good pace in front of Cocktail Circuit, Veyron and Volans. The supporters of Volans lost all hopes in the straight, as their choice was seen wilting under pressure. By that time, Greyconnection had asserted a strong grip on this race and was managing to keep a hard ridden Cocktail Circuit at bay. It was only in the last hundred metres or so that Veyron discovered his galloping shoes. He produced a sudden burst of speed to race past Greyconnection and settle the issue. Cocktail Circuit and Sunday Cruise ended a fair distance behind to take the minor slots on the result boards.