A compact card of eight events was held at the Bangalore races on Monday. The BTC Stewards Trophy, a sprint handicap for horses in Class I, was accorded the pride of place as the day’s feature. The twelve runners that had accepted to run in this race included a number of horses that had won in lower categories this season and steadily climbed the ladder. The ones that had been  languishing at this level over a longish period of time weren’t expected to perform any different today. As  the runners were tightly handicapped, it was easy to conclude that we were in for a thriller. Since Port Blair had been running well with a huge burden on his back in class II, trainer Attaolahi  had seemingly done well to give him a good chance to win this event. With the lowest weight assigned to him, Port Blair looked better than his eleven opponents. Those who consider weights and relative timings while making a pick, shared a similar opinion. He was accordingly installed as a top favourite ahead of Ethophian and Absolute Majority. On the other hand, Ganapathy trained Light Of Success was friendless in the betting rings. Even though she was known to possess initial speed, her second behind Jersey Shore wasn’t much of an effort. It was felt that she had reached a level at which it would take her time to score the third victory this winter. She surprised one and all by running the fastest race of her career and bagging the day’s feature.

With a number of horses trying to rush to the front, the initial stages of this race lacked a clear leader. But once Light Of Success appeared on the wide outside and sailed clear of those in front of her, the field of twelve settled down to serious business. The four year old filly led by a couple of lengths from Will Star, Cape Ferrat, Iron Marshall and Absolute Majority. Unable to keep pace with those around him, Port Blair dropped back to sixth as the runners skirted the false rails and turned for home. By traveling extremely fast in front, the leader had put everybody under pressure. There were many who expected Light Of Success to slow down in the straight. While Absolute Majority, Port Blair and Ethophian emerged from the back and went in chase, the front-runner refused to allow any of them to get close to her. With Franco DaSilva waving his whip at her, Light Of Success increased the tempo and ran away from Absolute Majority ,Port Blair and Ethophian. A mere look at the clock confirmed that this was a very special effort. Light Of Success had clocked less than a tenth of a second outside the course record at Bangalore. A smiling Ganapathy proudly led-in the winner.

The rest of the day’s card was dominated by trainer Narayan Gowda and jockey Dashrath Singh. The pair combined effectively to land a number of “gambles” during the afternoon. While Thunder had good credentials to bag the last race of the afternoon, their other  two winners  took everybody by surprise. The trainer is either a magician or a pure genius. Otherwise, if someone was to nominate Prom Queen and Active Grey as winners before their races, he or she had to “clairvoyant”.  Those in the “know” were quick to pounce on these opportunities and  were rewarded for their decisions. Prom Queen had run seven times this season. Her runs were so pathetic, that forget winning today’s race, it was difficult to visualize her figuring on the frame. The betting in this mile event was restricted to a pair of five year olds named Deep Blue Sea and King Of Heroes. The pair had run against each other a few weeks ago, and based on that result, were closely matched today. Dashrath Singh took Prom Queen to the front and the pair led comfortably from Deep Blue Sea and King Of Heroes. The order remained the same as the three of them led the eight horse field into the straight. While Suraj astride Deep Blue Sea and Arshad Alam on King Of Heroes began to whip their mounts at the bend , Prom Queen traveled comfortably under Dashrath. The youngster looked back repeatedly in the straight before easing his mount near the winning post. Prom Queen won comfortably from Deep Blue Sea and King Of Heroes. Just like everybody else at the course, the authorities at The Bangalore Turf Club were surprised by this reversal of form. They were quick to order an enquiry into the improved performance of Prom Queen.

A similar thing happened in a seven furlong handicap for horses five years old and over in class III. Narayana Gowda’s Active Grey was appearing in this race after some very poor efforts this season. In the most recent of her six starts this winter, she had ended almost twenty lengths behind the winner. But once money began to flow onto her, there was sudden action in the betting rings. While the odds against fancied runners like Firelight, Wrekin and Ballantoy began to rise suddenly, there was much support for the long-priced Active Grey as the runners entered the starting gates. Ballantoy, Carducci , Wrekin and Firelight raced in close order till the final bend. All this while, Dashrath was content to hold Actice Grey in fifth spot and was waiting for an opportune moment to make his final bid. He did so at the two furlong marker. Active Grey picked up speed thereafter and sauntered past a group of helpless opponents. She won very easily from Wrekin and Ballantoy.

The third winner for them came in the last race of the afternoon. It was a another seven furlong race, but this time for those in the lowest class. Thunder started as a favourite, but once money came pouring on to Youre A Star, the odds against Thunder rose alarmingly. Dashrath pushed Thunder to the front and led comfortable from Beautiful Life. Youre A star got knocked around in mid division and the big made horse lost position in the back-stretch. He was unable to recover from these disturbances and was seen plodding for rest of the way. The scene in front was quite exciting. In the hands of apprentice Vishwanath, Beautiful Life went past Thunder in the final furlong and looked good to win this race. But with Dashrath Singh getting a renewed response from Thunder, the Narayan Gowda trainee rallied along the inside rails and beat Beautiful Life into second place. Mystic Lavenders and mountain Storm came late on the scene to take the last two places on the result boards.

A start-to-finish effort by Warren Singh’s Always Remembering was the other shocking result on Monday afternoon. Santa Ana , Vigorous and Prazsky were the leading contenders in this race. Each one of them was known to relish a sprint and the three of them had  good riders to guide their fortunes. Carrying the bottom weight, Always Remembering went to the front. The 50/1 outsider raced comfortably under Arshad Alam and was the first into the straight. On straightening for home, he spurted clear of the pack  and opened-up a nice looking lead into the final furlong. While Prazsky and Vigorous got tired thereafter, it was left to Santa Ana and Cadogan to go in chase. Santa Ana rallied well to get close to Always Remembering , but she was unable to beat him  in this race. Cadogan continued to travel at the same pace and was able to save place money for his supporters.

The other races in the day’s card were the two divisions of The Ardent Knight Cup. It was a 1400 metres event for maiden three year olds. The upper version saw Arjun Mangalorkar’s Big Ticket taking on a group of eight opponents. Big Ticket was the best performed and most experienced runner in this bunch. Additionally, he had run a very close second to Star Of Destiny over an identical trip in his previous start. With Imran Chisty in the saddle, the chestnut colt was backed to the exclusion of his rivals.  To The Future and Vivid Impression raced prominently till the bend and were the first two into the straight.  The latter overtook the former in the last furlong and enjoyed a very slender lead at that stage. But once Big Ticket made his move on the wide outside, the race was more or less over. Coming with giant strides, Big Ticket overtook the front-runners and skipped clear for a very easy victory. To The Future came with a re-run towards the inner rails to beat Vivid Impression into third position.

The lower division of this race was a wide open affair. None of the horses had done much in their earlier starts, and one had to go purely by their looks in the paddock. Mystic Music, Doolin, Shivalik Eyes and Lucia had the best jockeys in the saddle, and that was the order in which they appeared on the betting charts. With New Emperor taking a brilliant jump from a wide draw and going to the front, the other nine took time to discover  their rhythm. Shivalik Eyes moved into second ahead of Mystic Music and Lucia. The others were seen struggling at the back. Even though New Emperor began to shorten his strides near the distance post, Shivalik Eyes took time to get past him. Just as Ryan Marshall succeeded in collaring the leader, there was a “new arrival” on the scene. In the hands of Suraj Narredu, Lucia came with a very strong run and sped past the others. She won by a widening margin from Shivalik Eyes and a tired New Emperor. Lucia is a nice type and Hidayat Khan can hope to do well with her summer. To the disappointment of his numerous backers, Mystic Music ran lethargically to  end a tame fourth.