A short card of six events was held at the Bangalore Turf Club on Thursday. This was perhaps the first time that such a thing had happened during a summer season at this centre. With most of the outstation horses having returned to their respective bases and local trainers failing to enter more than a handful of runners, it was a poor looking card that was framed for the afternoon. The Tippu Sultan Cup, a mile handicap for horses in class I, happened to be the day’s feature.  A group of eight had accepted to face the starter. On all known form, Dominic trained Czar Of Romance looked outstanding amongst the present lot of horses. The four year old had been campaigned in graded events over the past one year . Even though he had been unsuccessful in his efforts of winning a race, his last two efforts on the local track were extremely suggestive. After a slightly sluggish start, he had finished powerfully to end a close second behind Agostini in the Bangalore Derby. In his only start this season, he had done well by ending a respectable fourth behind highly regarded horses like Supreme Star, Machiavellianism and Agostini in The Karnataka Mile Championship Cup (Grade II). It was abundantly clear that Czar Of Romance had only to repeat the said performance to win the day’s feature. He was reverting to handicap racing on Thursday. Top weighted Super Storm was seen conceding a few kilos to Czar Of Romance. Super Storm had moved to Rajesh Narredu’s yard about a month ago. By entrusting him to apprentice Yash Narredu, the trainer had taken a few kilos off his back. After winning the Indian Derby in February 2013, Super Storm was still searching for his next victory. He had come close to winning a race on a few occasions, but each time, he was beaten in the final furlong. There were no such problems today. Yash Narredu took him   on a start-to-finish mission and succeeded in making every post a winning one. With his performance today, Super Storm presented Rajesh Narredu with the first winner of his career.

A huge groan from the crowds greeted the start of this race. While seven of them took a good jump,  on-money favourite Czar of Romance refused to come out of the gates. He began to gallop only after the others had gone a few lengths ahead of him. PS Chouhan gave him a couple of cracks with his whip, bridged the gap and brought him alongside the front-runners. Super Storm set a good pace and showed the way to Montezuma, Im Different and Arabian Warrior. Czar Of Romance joined them in front as the runners skirted the false rails and turned for home. While Super Storm hugged the rails and moved strongly towards the finishing line, the others around him began to tire. Within the next few seconds, Montezuma, Arabian Warrior and Im Different disappeared from the scene. Czar Of Romance, who held the second spot till the distance post, was also under pressure. This enabled a late finishing Charlatan to come from the back and beat the favourite into third place. Yash Narredu rode a neat race on the winner. The youngster used his hands and heels to push Super Storm smoothly past the winning post.

It was another important day in the career of this apprentice. Yash completed riding twenty winners on Thursday, thereby, reducing his allowance from three to two kilos. For someone who tasted success for the first time in his career at the beginning of this season, this was a great achievement.  Padmanabhan trained Priceless Ace was his next winner of the afternoon. This short priced horse had won a race beating Stimulate at the end of May. Since Stimulate had performed brilliantly thereafter, Priceless Ace was expected to do well today. He was accordingly installed as the shortest priced runner of the day. Exactly two months after his earlier triumph, Priceless Ace replicated that performance with another exciting victory on Thursday. Yash decided to move ahead with Priceless Ace and the pair showed the way to Hidden Hero, Seven Of Hearts and All Proof.  The others led by One Of A Kind and Cheddar Face stayed in touch with the leaders. Priceless Ace was only marginally ahead at the bend. His narrow advantage looked extremely fragile as the runners entered the straight. However, those around him were equally tired. Priceless Ace dug deep into his reserves of stamina and scrambled home to win narrowly from Seven Of Hearts, All Proof and Abba. 

Padmanabhan shared the limelight with Yash Narredu on Thursady, as he too had won an earlier race with Bering Sea. It was a seven furlong handicap for older horses rated in class III. Last outing winner Ancient Title looked good to win this race. The manner in which he had won over a sprint in his previous outing had shown that the extra yardage in today’s race would not be a problem. Even though there was stray support for Royal Rein and Castle Stuart, most of the punters stuck with Neil Darashah’s Ancient Title. TS Jodha took a good jump astride the favourite and tucked him nicely behind Bering Sea, Noble Reward and Castle Stuart, as the twelve runners tackled the back-stretch and moved towards the final bend. The order remained exactly the same in the straight. With Sandesh making free use of his whip. Bering Sea continued to dominate the proceedings. Ancient Title made frantic efforts in the final furlong, but he failed to collar the leader. Royal Rein came with a good looking run on the wide outside, but the small made horse was unable to bridge the gap. Bering Sea lasted out to win in a close finish from Noble Reward, Ancient Title and Royal Rein. The three placed horses ended within a length of each other.

Trainer Padmanabhan’s efforts to score a third point with Equine Love in the last race of the day was thwarted by Prithviraj’s Eternal Desire. It was a sprint for maiden three year olds. While a more experienced Eternal Desire had a couple of placed efforts in her bag, Equine Love was running for the second time in her career. The connections of Eternal Desire were supremely confident about their ward. The filly had reportedly done some outstanding work on the outer sand. A mere look at her in the parade ring was enough to realize that she was in perfect condition. Even though Gnaneshwar was carrying an overweight on her, Eternal Desire received one-sided support in the betting rings to start as an odds-on choice of the punters. Sandesh adopted front-running tactics on Equine Love and pushed her to go ahead of Eternal Desire. The others led by Zulfiqar were many lengths behind the leading duo, as the runners moved towards the final bend. Equine Love’s two length lead began to diminish in the straight. Eternal Desire came with a smooth run towards the centre of the track and overtook the leader. Being ridden hands-n-heels thereafter, Eternal Desire won on tight reins from Equine Love and Zulfiqar.  The other maidens in this race performed poorly to finish way behind the three of them.

A couple of “gambles” were landed in the other races held during the afternoon. Prasanna Kumar’s James Bond reportedly opened at 7’s and over in morning trade. He received strong support throughout the day to start as a firm favourite in a class IV handicap. There were a number of three year olds that had accepted to start in this seven furlong race.  By virtue of his four unplaced efforts in the last six months, James Bond was seen getting weight from all of them. Christopher took a good jump with him from an extreme draw and moved steadily on the wide outside.  Since Vencedora and Jingle Bells were noticed being pushed in front, the rider of James Bond took it easy. His mount had settled nicely into his rhythm and was within striking distance of the leaders, as the ten of them turned for home. It was hereabouts that Christopher pressed the accelerator. James Bond lengthened his strides, overtook the ones in front of him and strode powerfully towards the winning post.  Those who had backed him were jubilant as they cheered him past the finishing line. Jingle Bells, Helping Hand and Turf Tactics occupied the other slots on the result boards. After doing most of the running, Vencedora came to a crawl in the final furlong. She is obviously better suited over a shorter trip.

The only other race in the card was the day’s opener. It was a mile handicap for those in the lowest category. Having failed in his mission to figure on the boards in his last ten starts, Lokanath’s Brownie was committed to vacate his stables by the end of this season. This was his last opportunity to run on the local track. The trainer had worked hard to get him fit for today’s race and the yard was quite confident about his ability to score against the present opposition. In the absence of an outstanding contender, Fleet Street and Whimsical were installed at the top of the betting charts.  Brownie received late support to start as a “fancied” runner in this race. Ryan Marshall did well to take a quick start with Brownie. Allowing Youre A Star, Nations Glory and Roman’s Run to go ahead, he tucked his mount in fourth position for most part of their journey. Not wanting to get into traffic problems, Ryan chose a wide path at the bend. He brought Brownie with a flourish and spurted past the leaders. The others were seen battling for the minor berths thereafter. Brownie asserted his superiority by powering away to win easily from Fleet Street, Nations Glory and Youre A Star.