The Madras Race Club Trophy, a terms race for three year old Indian horses, featured an ordinary card of eight events on Friday at Bangalore. Since there were penalties for earlier victories, Strombolite was seen conceding weight to the others. A couple of maidens had  accepted to run at the lowest possible handicap. On the basis of his only run in his career. Arjun Mangalorkar’s Alfons De Borja was the choice of the punters. His fine looks in the parade ring enthused many to go “nap” on him. Neil Darashah’s speedy filly Whispering Gallery was another one that was strongly considered by her followers. The only question mark against her pertained to an ability to race beyond a sprint. There was little doubt that she would lead till the final furlong, but whether or not Whispering Gallery would last out thereafter, was something that would be known only after the race. Trainer Padmanabhan had run Invincible Prince only six days ago in a Class III sprint. In the hands of an inexperienced rider, the bay had done well to finish a game third behind Sans Frontieres. Invincible Prince was a late entrant into this race and he started as a third favourite to land this trophy.

The race began on expected lines. Whispering Gallery and PS Chouhan went smoothly to the front and set a good pace ahead of Alfons De Borja and Accuracy. The chasing pack was headed by Invincible Prince, as the runners took the rising ground and turned for home. The order remained exactly the same as they made their final charge towards the finishing line. With Whispering Gallery refusing the surrender her advantage , John had a tough time bringing Alfons De Borja into contention. Despite his strong urgings, the favourite  could do no better than get a bit closer.  In the midst of all this, Invincible Prince appeared on the scene. Not bothered by what was happening towards the inner rails, he galloped strongly on the wide outside. Responding gamely to Sandesh’s urgings, he sailed into a comfortable lead and posted one of the easiest victories on Friday. He made it look very easy and confirmed that he is a top class horse with a bright future. The action at the back saw Whispering Gallery holding onto her second spot ahead of a hard ridden Alfons De Borja.

Padmanabhan had won an earlier race with Regal Boast. The class IV handicap had a couple of strongly fancied runners. While Jackie Oh and Force Ensign shared favouritism all morning,  some late support for Great Secret at race time made it more interesting. Not many gave a chance to the Appu ridden Regal Boast. Once Youre Rocking and Dance With Me went tearing to the front, the fancied trio of Force Ensign, Great Secret and Jackie Oh raced in close order till the bend. With Great Secret beginning to send distress signals at the top of the straight, the race seemed to be confined to Force Ensign and Jackie Oh. Just as the two of them got down to fighting a duel, a horse began to get close to them. Regal Boast made up a lot of ground from the back and shocked them at the winning post. Jackie Oh got up on the last stride to beat Force Ensign by a “nose” at the finish.

The Garden City Trophy, a class II sprint for horses four years old and over, produced an interesting finish. Irfan Ghatala’s Icelander carried the public purse to a popular victory. In his last two runs, Icelander had been a trifle unlucky to lose in very close finishes. First it was Brabus Speed, and thereafter Sun Divine, who had beaten him on the post. On both those occasions, he had led from the start and gotten tired in the straight. Suraj changed his tactics today, and held him back for most of the way. Allowing Mr Carpe and Real Steel to lead a tightly packed group into the final furlong, he brought Icelander through the middle . Utilizing his sharp burst of speed effectively, Suraj was able to move him steadily through the pack . Icelander lengthened his strides and won with a measure of comfort from Mr Carpe and Real Steel. With this performance under his belt, Icelander looks capable of making a mark in the next category.

A brilliant performance from Evraz helped Darius Byramji and Imran Chisty  open their account for the afternoon. The well-bred son of Multidimensional had won over a sprint at Mysore and was now attempting to move further up the ladder.  Even though he was being opposed by some highly regarded three year olds like Ace Badraan, Winged Foot and My Lakshmi, Evraz continued to remain the favourite till the time of the race. Settling nicely behind Scarlet O’hara and Zagato, Evraz traveled well within himself till the bend. His rider produced him on the wide outside, showed him daylight and asked him to “go”. Evraz skipped clear of the pack in the straight and sauntered home to a very easy victory. The timing that he clocked for a mile was very good. Since he had achieved it with a top weight on his back, it is quite possible that the connections may be enthused to run him next in the Bangalore 2000 Guineas. For the records, a hard ridden Ace Badraan ended second ahead of a tired Winged Foot and My Lakshmi.

Darius and Imran scored their next point with five year old Taylor Made. This horse had been away from a race track for more than a year before he appeared in a class V race at Mysore. By ending a close fourth, he confirmed that he was fit to resume his racing activities. Darius raced him next at a low weight in the higher category, and Taylor Made ran a game second to a much superior Click. He was once again carrying the lowest weight against horses in his own age group. Making use of his innermost draw, Imran took the box-seat behind a runaway Astonishing, and stayed there till the bend. Pressing the throttle in the last two furlongs, Taylor Made strode clear of the pack and lasted out to win from a fast finishing A Game To Remember and Jeraline. The last named apparently went lame during the running of this race. Strongly supported Sparkling Cat ran no sort of  race and ended in the ruck.

A couple of events for horses in the lowest category were won by relative outsiders. In both of them, on-money favourites were beaten into second place. The day’s opener had a firm favourite in Amit Caddy’s Romans Run. This small made filly had run a tame third at Mysore, and was now facing some pretty ordinary opponents in the lower division of this race. The presence of Suraj Narredu in the saddle added to the hype around her chances. A poor start and total lack of initial speed led to her downfall. While the Sharat Kumar trained Super Saloni darted to the front and opened-up a nice looking lead over her eight opponents, Romans Run was seen being niggled to retain her sixth spot. Suraj produced her on the wide outside, and whipped her repeatedly to just about gain the second spot ahead of All Clear and Youre A Star. Super Saloni continued her good work under John’s guidance and went on to score a comfortable victory.

Darius Byramji’s Blizzard Of Oz started as the shortest priced favourite of the afternoon in the upper version of this race.  This well bred four year old had got relegated to the lowest category , and his good track work was enough reason for the connections to support him with confidence. Imran Chisty took a good jump with the favourite and settled him in second spot behind a hard ridden Angel Queen. The latter held sway till the two furlong pole before getting tired. It was hereabouts that Chisty tried to assume command of the situation. He must have been quite surprised by the response her got from his mount. The son of Ace shifted out under pressure and allowed top-weighted Sweet Angel to go ahead of him. Any amount of whipping made no difference to  Blizzard Of Oz, as he just about managed to retain his runner-up berth ahead of a late finishing Affirmator and a tired Angel Queen. Apprentice Arshad Alam partnered Tharun Thimmaiah’s Sweet Angel to a fairly easy victory.

The day’s proceedings ended on a relatively abrupt note when the Stewards of the Club decided to declare the final race of the day  “Null And Void”. A number of three year olds had accepted to participate in this seven furlong handicap for horses in Class IV. Absolute Red, Himavari, Stimulate, Manta Ray and Arziki had won their maiden races, and were therefore seen heading the scales. On the basis of the amount of weight he was receiving from the others, Prithviraj’s Ancient Title had fairly good support with the bookmakers. However, the favourite continued to be Absolute Red. This Irfan Ghatala trainee had run and won against much better opponents, and it was felt that he had the ability to put it across his rivals today. Once Ancient Title went tearing to the front, Ahsan Qureshi was content to keep Absolute Red in second place. Stimulate, and Manta Ray followed them at regular intervals as the runners entered the straight. It was at this juncture that Qureshi made his move. Even though Absolute Red was showing a tendency to stick to the inner rails, the jockey managed to bring him out and challenge the leader. The two raced alongside for some time before Absolute Red moved marginally ahead of Ancient Title. Without asserting a clear advantage, Absolute Red moved inwards and hampered the path of Ancient Title. The latter crashed into the false rails, met with a severe accident and parted company with apprentice Kiran Rai. A helpless Arshad Alam was unable to take evasive action astride Attractive Bay, and he too went for a toss. Some other jockeys were seen pulling at their mounts as they wished to stay clear of trouble. The result boards confirmed that the favourite Absolute Red had won this race from Stimulate and Manta Ray.

The yellow cone was immediately hoisted and a Stewards Enquiry was ordered into the running of this race. What happened inside the Stewards Room was not known to the racing patrons, as the Club chose to refrain from relaying the proceedings on close circuit TV monitors. None of the jockeys involved in this incident were called inside the room. Based on the  evidence available on video, the Stewards decided to declare the race “ Null And Void”. It is learnt that in their unanimous opinion, the horses that ran in this race were not allowed to finish in the best possible order. While two of them finished riderless, there were others who were pulled up in the final stages of this race. Since this is the first time such a decision has been taken, it will be interesting to see how similar events are handled in future.