Rain played spoilsport but not before two classy performers paraded their skills in resplendent style to the delight of the railbirds  on the third day's winter races on Friday. Despite the fact that Nuray failed in her mission to display her true potential in summer, the good looking filly from Neil Darashah's yard  garnered the maximum support in the upper division of the Hemavathi Cup and the talented daughter of Noverre out of Hawafiz  cantered home, her pilot Arshad Alam  guiding her home without raising a sweat. The filly  did pose a few problems on the way to the starting gates, going in circles and then hitting the new railing, but the moment she jumped out of the gates she looked in total control and  all Arshad needed to do was to show her the way before her supporters shouted show me the money to the bookmakers. It is good to see Nuray back at her best and on the strength of this performance the Neil ward is certain to make her presence felt against higher rated rivals in the weeks ahead. 

Nimfea, who had gone of the boil after recording a solitary victory in summer impressed most while Super Force who surprisingly was fancied by her connections to upset the applecart of Nuray lacked the class and potential needed to break ice in this set. 

Recording a hat-trick proved as easy as sweeping autumn leaves from the garden path for the Vijay Mallya owned Coldstream. The highly rated colt (English Channel-Eloktraine) who had served notice of his potential chalking up two straight wins in summer when he was under the care of the legendary trainer Jaggy Dhariwal looked a picture of fitness at the parade ring before he provided young Trevor Patel an arm-chair ride to success. Trainer Arjun Manglorakr must consider himself lucky that this classy performer has joined his yard, maybe it is a just reward from the Mallya camp for his  Derby success on Spreadeagle. Now that he has both the `Eagle' and Coldstream in his stables, it is a double-barrel gun Arjun will be carrying in the 2000 Guinaes next month. Red Red Rose from B Puttanna's yard had a fair share of supporters in this event but the filly lost all her chances the moment she failed to gain a favourable position in the race. Emperor Cruise who smashed his rivals in his last essay at Mysore found that it was a different cup of tea out in Bengaluru, finishing third behind Red Red Rose in the Dariya Daulat Cup, the plum event run over a sprint. 

After Somerset Rose shocked the followers of form in the opening event, the Chintamani Plate, most punters who had suffered big losses in the opening week-end  chose to play it safe, waiting to punt big on Nuray and follow it up with Coldstream, but the Prithviraj camp  who had decided to go nap on Eternal Desire in the lower division of the Hemavathi Cup were laughing all the way to the bank, the moment Kiran Rai eased his grip on the Prithvi ward. The winner is in rousing form and it will pay to again follow him when next saddled. Temujin, it is clear will take time  while Rustic Sunrise  after this lung-opener will be fit and ready to stake his claim in his next effort. 

The big money pouring in on the topweighted Secret Prayer in the lower division of the Bidar Plate defied logic. The favourite after finishing a none-too-impressive second behind Rich Revival in the opener last week was asked to better his effort in seven days. The public choice did try but he met a tartar in Why Should I who dropped the biggest bombshell snuffing out the challenge of Secret Prayer in the hands of Prabhakaran. Trainer Dominic made it clear that he was not happy leading in the winner. The experienced pro spoke his mind and  a shocked Prabhakaran  failed to understand what he did wrong. Faustina who lost a couple of lengths at the start before her rider S K Paswan wildly swung her out and then was found wanting, failing to provide the filly the galloping room towards the end is none for the notebook. The Sandhu ward is in best of health and will make amends in her next start. 

After the Darius Byramji-trained Frankness opted out of the Belgaum Plate, Yellowzone was installed the overwhelming favourite. But the public choice, who it must be mentioned was not piloted in copybook fashion by T S Jodha  lacked the gas in the tank to match strides with the in-form Smile Stone who fresh from his Mysore success posted his second straight victory in style. Well is Smile Stone poised to record a hat-trick is a difficult question to answer simply because it is always a roller- coaster ride with Sharath Kumar's horses. Bering Sea was out to get a run under her belly and she will benefit most from this exercise and so too Capitalize who is quietly being prepared for a good gamble.

For the second successive week, no opportunity was provided to the juveniles. While it is easy to understand that the race went void with only three entries last week, the BTC on Friday chose to again call it void despite the fact that seven juveniles were entered in the race. That fact that BTC always wants eight runners to conduct a event is not fair. They are only selfishly looking at their own collections from the event rather than supporting the owners who have made big investments in the game. It is the duty of the men in charge to promote and support the game. And to do that they need to adopt a more flexible approach rather than stick to the rigid guidelines in their effort to get their cash registers ringing.