Racing favoured the followers of money at Mysore on Wednesday, with six firm favourites obliging in a card of eight races. Trainers S.Santosh Kumar and M.Bobby had a fruitful day with a double each while Hyderabad based jockey Nitin Singh joined his local counterpart Irvan Singh in piloting a double.

The 5 year old bay gelding Starstruck (New Famous-Treasured / Yeravada Stud) won the higher division of the Victory Zone Cup, which featured the day’s card. Starstruck was more of a ‘fixed deposit’ for the connections, having won just twice from its 40 starts. The connections seemed to have had a touch on him, being sent off at 6-1 and the gelding galloped with intent to enable the connections to reap good returns. Moving well to race a close second behind the leader Precept, Starstruck grabbed the lead quickly on entering the home stretch and stretched out easily. The favourite Kentucky Rose was ridden out hard but found the winner too hot to touch and ended up second. Bold Nature and Lake Emerald filled the judge’s frame in that order. The Scientist was withdrawn after being very troublesome near the gates.

M.Bobby trained Mahiki (Senure-Torque / Manjri Stud) who had lost out to Lagoona in its last start, made amends in the lower division. Teri Adah was withdrawn near the starting gates and the field was reduced to eleven runners. Born For Passion set off to lead them with Mahiki tracking close behind. On entering the straight Mahiki surged ahead easily and kicken on gamely with Anonymous toiling hard in second. Ohiyesa finished third in front of Getafix. Born For Passion who led till the top of the straight returned last with a bleeding nose.

Manjri Stud bred Glorious Light (Arabian Gulf-Strasbourg) who is improving with every run completed a hat-trick in the Lalbagh Plate. The 3 year old filly, youngest among the nine runners was sent off as the favourite at 10-8 ‘on’. Racing easily close to the fence, Glorious Light took charge passing the 400 metres board and kept going till the winning post. Inside the last 100 metres the filly started to lug out of the straight course but jockey Keanen Steyn did well to correct and drive her to the post. La Piperi was in chase all the way up the last 300 metres. Guapo and Lad Lady finished third and fourth respectively.

Zoe (European-Sacred Dreams / ARABESQUE STUD FARM) which had shifted to trainer T.Natraj’s stables from Western India was strongly fancied to win the higher division of the Shillong Plate. The 5 year old managed to just about hold on to the lead by a neck at the wire and those who had their money on the favourite should not only thank their stars but also the rider of the runner-up Flirting King for his apathetic effort in the closing stages. Coffee Time rallied on along the rails to finish third while Indian put in a late bid to get to the frame.

Ranjeet Shinde trained Its My Party (Mischevious Music-Shift Over / Pratap Stud) justified the favouritism in the lower division. Racing a close third behind London Eye and Speedy Amigo till entering the straight, Its My Party moved around the duo and sped past with 100 metres left from the finish. Speedy Amigo finished second with Windsor Park rallying well to hold the third place ahead of Sivanta.

M.Bobby trained Secret Missile (Crown Jewel-Henna / Noble Stud) who had scored a hat-trick of wins during last winter bounced back to winning ways in the Bijapur Plate. There was a flow of money on Secret Missile towards race time, leading it to be the tote favourite. Travelling fourth till the last 300 metres Secret Missile made a bid to take the path between Artic Rose and Class Is Class inside the last furlong. With Class is Class shifting towards the inside the gap started to close up and jockey Indar Jeet Singh pulled out Secret Missile and the 4 year old responded readily to scuttle away. Class is Class finished second with Speartooth and Rocketeer finishing behind in that order.

Charming Night (Charmo-Bottle of Whiskey / Blood Horse Stud Farm) from the stables of Bipin V Salvi was no match for the rest of the field while scoring her maiden win in the Nagarjunasagar Plate. Stepping ahead to take the lead on top of the straight Charming Night drew away under Arshad Alam to win by a widening margin. As Always and Queens Colour finished second and third respectively with a ‘neck’ separating them while Counter Point rallied late to finish an impressive fourth. Go Man Go and Royal Prodigy were non-starters in the race.

S.Santosh Rao trained Rocket Ronnie (Mull of Kintyre-Confluence / Nanoli Stud) won the Common Grounds Plate, the first race of the day by over six lengths. Rushing towards the inside from an outward draw, Rocket Ronnie set off in the lead with Supreme Strength giving company from the outside. Once into the straight Rocket Ronnie stretched out effortlessly and the rider gave a confident look behind almost 300 metres from the winning post. Keep Secret finished second in front of Supreme Strength. The well backed Touch of Romance burst its blood vessel and ended up a poor fourth.