Four year-old Star Assembly displayed immense reserves of speed and stamina while winning The Governor's Gold Cup on Friday at Mysore. He made a successful transition from handicap races to "Terms" company while winning the day's feature. It is often heard that the progeny of Alnasr Alwasheek are late bloomers. By winning three of his last four starts, Star Assembly has matured over a period of time.

Our readers may recall that the connections of this big-made horse had spent a lot of money while enabling him to come in as a final entry in The Derby. He was a trifle immature in that race, and had been unable to handle the opposition. The manner, in which he won his last two starts, showed that he was getting better and better. Since both of them were achieved over staying trips, trainer Ganapathy was confident that his charge would run prominently in this prestigious race.

The terms of this race saw eight top-class runners competing at more or less level weights, with Oban enjoying a sex allowance of one and a half kilos. Highly rated horse like Splendid Surprise and Tomsk were meeting the others at level terms. Being a mile and a quarter event, one had to be careful while picking the winner. Tomsk's late rushing second to Sprint Star over a mile was still fresh in our memory. The extra couple of furlongs and the absence of regular partner John, were the two factors that lessened his chances.

The stable had sought the services of Harish astride Tomsk today. On the other hand, Star Assembly was coming into this race with the best form. There were no doubts about his ability to tackle this trip, and furthermore, the horse had been working regularly on the training track. What he lacked in Class, was more than made up by his form and stamina. The two of them were fancied ahead of the others and started as joint favourites in the betting rings. The early pace in the race was quite modest. Corbett led from the start and showed the way to Blink and Splendid Surprise.

Star Assembly was seen cantering in fourth and was always ahead of the others, as they tackled the first half of this race. It became a little more serious thereafter. Star Assembly made his move on the wide outside and skirted the leaders. With Imran Khan continuing to urge him, he devoured ground on the wide outside and led into the straight. The rider corrected the drift by shifting his whip to the left hand. Tomsk and Raptor Force started improving from the rear, but it was obvious that their riders had mistimed their respective challenges. Star Assembly reached the wire ahead of Tomsk and Raptor Force. The last-named was definitely the most impressive runner in this race. It may not be long before we see him winning a handicap event in a similar set of horses.

Trainer Lokanath Gowda has been heading the trainers tally from the very beginning of this season. He increased his slender lead over Ganapathy by scoring a fine treble on Friday. With only two more race days left, it is almost certain that he will win the first championship of his career. Lokanath had many runners in a long card of nine events today. Three year-olds Endurance and Methodical were appearing in the two divisions of a class III sprint.

Both of them had won their previous starts, and were making a debut in this Class. Endurance is known to be a late finisher. He chased the leading pack before Sreekanth showed him daylight. Endurance (Mischevious Music – Trillenniium) gathered momentum and went past a hapless Mr Magic and Lancashire. Moves Goodenough was the big disappointment in this race. She ran in snatches while finishing off the frame. Lokanath decided to use the services of in-form apprentice Nausad Alam astride Methodical (Royal Gladiator – Tal). The speedy filly knows only one way to run, and that is to go to the front. By removing four kilos off her back, he felt that she would be slightly more comfortable.

This decision turned out to be absolutely perfect. Methodical darted out of the gates and won from start to finish. She was chased for most of the time by the top-weighted Smart Ways. Despite Imran Khan's frantic efforts, Smart Ways was unable to reach the winner. The winning margin of half a length tells the complete story. The third leg of the treble happened to be Redshift (Burden Of Proof – Chantenay). The five year-old carried the bottom weight to a surprising victory.

Sreekanth drove him relentlessly from the rear to get the measure of Swiss Queen and Turf Raider near the winning post. This race saw the eclipse of the strongly supported Lester. The Puttanna-trainee was backed at every price and had started as an even money favourite. He ran listlessly to finish a poor fourth. The Smt Maliniraje Prasad Memorial Cup, a sprint handicap for horse in class II was the added attraction in the day's card. The two divisions of this race were won in contrasting styles.

Vikram Appachu's Nermai (Juniper – Irresistible You) came from mid-division and skipped away from Place Her Well and Sunny Baba. He won by a widening margin from the two of them. The well-fancied pair of Join The Party and Classical Dancer ran pathetically to finish in the ruck. Join The Party has been a huge failure in Mysore. Trainer Bipin has fancied him on more than one occasion and the horse has let him down repeatedly. It may be prudent to leave him alone from a betting perspective in future. The lower division saw a battle royale between Sweet Surrender and Six Shooter. The hugely fancied Noble Breeze was a costly failure in this race. Noble Breeze was under pressure while leading till the home bend.

The filly stopped like a pricked balloon and disappeared from the scene. Apprentice N Rajesh brought Sweet Surrender (Valid Concept – Coming Home) with a flourish on the wide outside and went clear in the final furlong. With another apprentice boy in the saddle, Six Shooter went in chase. The two of them skipped away from the rest, and with both Rajesh and Kumar pushing vigorously, were alongside at the wire. Nityanand's Sweet Surrender got the nod from the judge.

Six Shooter showed that he is back in form, and he is another one for your notebook. A successful coup was landed by the Bipin stable today. The only other race during the afternoon saw some frenzied betting on a horse trained by him called Holiday Date (Concordial – Sparkling Cyanide). It was difficult to understand such enthusiasm, as there was nothing to recommend his chances. The seven year-old had failed to touch the board in his last few starts. Moreover, the presence of jockey Md Kareem was a further dampener. This jockey wins an odd race every year.

However, the connections knew more than the general public. They backed him down from 8/1 to almost even money. Holiday Date looked like a totally transformed horse today. He led from the start and pulverized his opposition. He ended more than three lengths clear of Kickingking and Alchasaye.