Pesi Shroff’s Maisha put up a wonderful performance while galloping away with The Fillies Championship Stakes (Grade I) at the Bangalore races on Sunday. The got-abroad filly came with a flourish from the back to floor her fourteen opponents. With Ashish in the saddle, Maisha tackled the mile with absolute ease and confirmed the fact that her second behind Be Safe a few weeks ago was a truly significant effort. For the rider, it was an equally important occasion as this was his first ever Classic victory. A chance ride on this talented filly had allowed him to fulfill a long cherished dream. There were a number of highly regarded fillies that had accepted to run in this race. Maisha’s stable-mate Tiger Tops was the first choice of the punters. The filly had won both her starts at Mahalakshmi. In her first start over a sprint, Tiger Tops had shocked the favourite on the post. Shroff felt that Tiger Tops would be more effective over a galloping course, and therefore, chose The Juvenile Fillies Championship as her next target. She tackled the mile that day with absolute ease and made every post a winning one. She arrived at Bangalore with an impeccable reputation. Those who had seen her racing at Mumbai felt that she was arguably the best three year old filly in the country.  The stable tested her in a mock race before targeting her at the first Classic of the Summer Season. The stable’s first rider Zervan chose to ride her in this race. By performing dolefully, Tiger Tops tarnished her reputation. She ran a very poor race and finished off the frame. The other fancied runner in the race was Malesh Narredu’s Godspeed. She too had done nothing wrong and was a winner of both her starts in Western India. After arriving at Bangalore, this filly had reportedly thrived in local conditions. She had been doing some great work on the local track and was learnt to be in fine condition. Narredu’s supporters claimed that whoever wins this race must beat Godspeed before doing so. The local challenge was headed by Darius Byramji’s Alexandra Mills. While there were no doubts about her “staying” abilities, it was difficult to assess her chances against the Mumbai challengers. Her fine looks in the parade ring indicated her readiness to strike. An air of expectation filled the atmosphere as the runners began to enter the starting gates.

A mild mishap at the start saw Fortaleza parting company with her rider. Luckily for all concerned, she did not interfere with any of the runners. West Side Story went rocketing into the lead and set a decent pace ahead of Alameda, Obelinna Princess and Maisha. While Alexandra Mills and Tiger Tops followed them in close order, Godspeed was seen trying her best to stay in touch with the leaders.  The field was closely huddled together as they took the rising ground near the half way mark and made their way towards the straight.  Once the front runners got tired, it was time for the big guns to fire.  A mere look at those prominent at that stage was enough to realize that Tiger Tops was totally exhausted. She had steadily dropped out of contention. There were only three of them who were moving strongly at that stage. The first one to move to the front was Alexandra Mills. After hitting the front with her, Imran Chisty nudged her steadily towards the finishing line. Suraj Narredu and Godspeed had begun to gallop on the wide outside. Despite Suraj’s best efforts, the filly was unable to go anywhere close to Alexandra Mills. She ran out of steam and ducked towards the inner rails. At almost the same juncture, Maisha was popped the question. She gave a fitting reply to Ashish’s call and wove her way through the inner portion of the track. She devoured ground with each successive stride and waltzed away to a very easy victory. In the final stages, it seemed as though she was the only one who was actually galloping in the race. Alexandra Mills ended a  good second ahead of Godspeed and a late rushing Culebra. The others in this race clearly failed to “stay” a mile. Taking this result into consideration, and drawing a line through Maisha, it is easy to deduce that the rest of the Summer Classics are at the mercy of Be Safe. He is sure to start as a very short-priced favourite in The Colts Championship Stakes as well as in The Kingfisher Derby 2014.

A couple of races after his victory astride Maisha, jockey DK Ashish tasted further success when top-weighted Double O Seven responded to his stick and galloped away with a class IV event. It was a scurry for horses rated 20-45.  Local hopefuls Shinnecock Hills, Cash My Way, Cattleya and Kentucky Rose were opposed by a pair of outstation challengers. Malesh Narredu’s Double O Seven and the Deshmukh trained Rapidest were appearing after winning amongst maidens at their respective centres.  Initially the two of them headed the betting charts, but once money began to flow in the direction of Shinnecock Hills, the scene got altered. You could suddenly back anything at fours and over in this race. The speedy Cattleya and Kentucky Rose set the pace ahead of Shinnecock Hills and Cash My Way. While Double O Seven stayed in mid group, Rapidest graced the rear. The race came to a boil in the straight. It was interesting to see four of them racing abreast near the two furlong marker. By this time, Shinnecock Hills had overtaken Ketucky Rose and Cattleya, and was shaping like a winner. But Ashish had other ideas. He brought Double O Seven through the middle and joined the fray. The youngster produced an astounding gallop in the final furlong to win by a widening margin from the three of them. This brave horse is sure to make a mark on his return to Pune . As regards Rapidest, his performance was truly pathetic. He ran no sort of a race and ended in the ruck.

Jockey Trevor kept his score board ticking by steering favourite Invincible Prince to a popular victory. The Padmanabhan trainee had been performing consistently over the past six months. During this period, he had won twice and saved place money for his backers on quite a few occasions. His recent second over an identical trip of seven furlongs behind Arrogant Approach had been extremely suggestive. The trainer chose to replace an apprentice with Trevor on Sunday. The VT Velu Memorial Cup was a handicap for horses rated 60 and above.  With the withdrawal of Pursuit Of Fame, only ten of them faced the starter. No-hopers Open Page, Lad Star and Diamonite did the bulk of the early running and brought the field into view. Trevor kept Invincible Prince out of trouble by traveling wide near the final bend. He brought him with a smooth run in the straight and sped past the leaders. By the time they had reached the furlong marker, Invincible Prince had opened-up a winning lead over the others. A hard ridden Alcazaba made a futile bid to catch him, but once Zervan realized that he was fighting a losing cause, he settled for the second spot. Next Move made a nice bid on the wide outside and managed to beat Lad Star into fourth place. The winner is sure to make a mark in Class I on promotion.

The victory of My Lakshmi in the concluding race of the day, helped trainer Padmanabhan and jockey Suraj Narredu score personal “doubles” on Sunday. The filly was running after a gap of over seven months, and this was her first start in 2014. As a three year old, she had run some good races against top class opponents. Many of them were currently rated in the highest category. Her recent track trials had confirmed that she was in fine nick.  Since she was facing a modest set today, My Lakshmi became a strong choice of the punters. She not only justified their confidence, but did it in style. Allowing The First Bullet to take a long lead in the back-stretch, Suraj nursed My Lakshmi in second spot and stayed ahead of Mystic Music and Turf Tactics. With the leader coming to a crawl in the straight, the stage was set for My Laksmi’s arrival. She came with a fluent burst of acceleration and moved ahead of the others. Srinath brought Mystic Music with a determined challenge down the middle and tried to engage My Lakshmi in a duel. But the filly proved to be too strong for the colt. She sped away to register a fine victory over Mystic Music and a late rallying Turf Tactics.  The form that My Lakshmi demonstrated today should be enough for her to win another race on promotion. Mystic Music, who was unlucky to clash with the winner, should also win against similar opponents before the end of this season.

Suraj had won The Madras Engineer Group Trophy with Smoking Bell earlier in the afternoon. Through sheer perseverance and hard riding, he helped the Hidayat Khan trained filly to beat Azzurro near the winning post. Darius Byramji’s Ontime was the first choice of the punters. A second placed effort on debut in winter, was considered to be good enough to lift this trophy. Ontime had been impressive in his morning trials, and the track reporters were almost unanimous in their opinion about him. However, Ontime took down a lot of money while performing lethargically in this event. Starry Moment and Lethal Soldier cut the early pace, and showed the way to Switch, Azzurro and Ontime. Smoking Bell was seen moving steadily in sixth, and Suraj was apparently biding his time before essaying his challenge. The race came to a boil in the straight. With those in front getting extremely tired, it was Azzurro and Ontime who made their moves at an identical juncture. While Azzurro responded to his rider’s call, Ontime wilted under pressure. Azzurro’s dominance towards the inner rails was short-lived, as he was soon joined by Smoking Bell. Both Trevor and Suraj went for their whips and fought a stirring duel for rest of the way. A better moving Smoking Bell finally managed to get the better of Azzurro at the finish. Ontime performed tamely to end a fair third while Hidden Soldier plodded along to take the final slot on the result boards.

The Justice P Medappa Memorial Cup, a class III handicap to be run over 1400 metres, had attracted a good bunch of nine acceptors. A few three year olds were a part of this group. On the basis of an outstanding performance on debut, Arjun Mangalorkar’s Merion cornered huge support in the betting rings. The local handicapper had allotted him a rating of 54. Even though this is quite unusual, there were many who supported him with confidence. Salina, who had finished a good second Mystic Music on the opening day of the season, was running on promotion. Saddled with a much lighter impost as compared to that day, she carried the confidence of her connections. It was felt, that should Merion fail in his mission, Salina would retire as an easy winner of this trophy. Not many expected to see what actually happened on the track. Santa Ana set a good pace and showed the way to Salina and Merion. Natural View and Real Steel raced a few lengths behind the leading trio, as the runners turned for home. Srinath chose this moment to make his final charge with Merion. He put the chestnut under pressure and asked the colt to quicken. But Merion was in no mood to gallop. He came alongside Santa Ana and began to plod alongside the filly. Salina made a feeble effort near the two furlong marker, but she too wilted under pressure. It was at this juncture that we saw a horse improving on the wide outside. It was Darius Byramji’s Real Steel. In the hands of Irvan Singh, the five year old gained ground with each stride and managed to beat Santa Ana near the winning post. Merion ended close behind the first two finishers. There are a number of old-timers who feel that three year olds who have won only once in their careers, will generally find it tough to win a handicap in class III. Merion’s failure was an example of their strong convictions.

The day had begun with a sprint for maiden three year olds. Hyderabad based Vijay Vaibhav and Mumbai challenger Fast Lady were being opposed by some local hopefuls led by the Padmanabhan trained Jingle Bells. While Vijay Vaibhav was running for the first time in his career, Fast Lady had run unplaced in a couple of starts at Mahalakshmi. With Suraj in the saddle, the odds against Jingle Bells continued to contract while those on the other two rose alarmingly, as we approached race time. Srinath took a good jump with Fast Lady and urged her to lead by a couple of lengths from Jingle Bells and Vijay Vaibhav. The other six were literally outpaced from the word “go”. They traveled in the same order till the top of the straight. It was hereabouts that Fast Lady displayed further acceleration and stole a march over the others. While Jingle Bells got tired in the final furlong, it was Vijay Vaibhav who moved well on the wide outside. He responded to PS Chouhan’s whip and started to bridge the gap. With Fast Lady slowing down perceptibly in the final stages of the race, it was difficult to predict the winner. The timely arrival of the winning post saved the day for Fast Lady. She just about survived Vijay Vaibhav’s onslaught and scored by a whisker. Jingle Bells managed to retain third ahead of a fast finishing Flyingangel. Since this was a debut run for Vijay Vaibhav, it is sure to help his cause. After today’s experience, he looks like a ready-made winner in his next start. It was heartening to note the fact that the Imtiaz Sait trained winner had finally overcome her problems. She had taken down a lot of money while flopping as a favourite in an earlier start at Mumbai.

The only other race in the day’s card was annexed by Dominic’s Grand Applause. Even though the four year old was running after a gap of over six months, there was much support for him. He had been tested in a mock race a few weeks ago and subjected to steady preparation thereafter. His win over a similar trip of 1100 metres amongst a group of maidens last summer had been quite impressive, and it was felt that should Grand Applause be able to reproduce that form, he would be too strong for his present opponents. Second-in-demand Liege Lord was running over a trip that was clearly unsuited to his style of running. Considering his good work on the training track, Liege Lord cornered fair support with the bookmakers. However, the scene unfurled on expected lines. PS Chouhan brushed Grand Applause into an early lead and showed the way to Game Dancer and Anmol Hira. While Liege Lord lost precious ground at the start, the others headed by Aero Star were a few lengths behind the leaders. The order remained the same as they came into the straight. Only a couple of things altered thereafter. For starters, Grand Applause quickened further and outpaced his rivals. Secondly, Aero Star came with raking strides in the final stages, and sauntered into second place ahead of the tired pair of Game Dancer and Anmol Hira. Liege Lord made up late ground to finish alongside the other runners. He should be supported the day he is campaigned over a galloping course.