After losing out to Power Of Time in his last essay, the Narayan Gowda-trained Mickey Mouse proved too good for his 10 rivals in the Shravanabelagola Cup.  The favourite confidently piloted by apprentice jockey Chetan Kalay  assumed command at the distance post and  without unduly extending himself  cruised home to the delight of his supporters. The top weighted Royal Salute did have a fair share of his supporters, but this time out, jockey Imran Khan who has struck a good partnership with the horses owned by the Rai brothers failed to pull out a rabbit from the hat and had to rest content with the second spot ahead of Talisker.

The plum event, the F K Irani memorial Trophy produced a pulse-pounding finish, the public choice Pentagram piloted by leading Mumbai pro Zervan and the Nithyanand schooled Treasure Mountain flashing past the post locked together before the magic eye nodded in favour of the Nithyanand ward.  Jersey Shore caught the eye while finishing fastest at end and this Puttanna ward now is ready to make his presence felt in the months ahead.

Nithyanand who led in Treasure Mountain earlier struck through the lesser fancied  Cadogan piloted by Deepak Patel who got this chance ride after Mani opted out. Deepak, it must be mentioned produced a satisfactory effort, settling down nice and easy before he got busy on  Cadogan  approaching the distance post and the winner produced a good winning gallop to peg back the public rage I Smile who was ineptly piloted by H Rathod. The jockey instead of making capital use of the good initial speed of his mount chose to race in fourth position before he  swung wide at the top of the straight  and then streaked ahead but I Smile again found one better running out of gas in the final 100 metres.

The first two races floored the followers of form, Be Inspired from trainer Hidayath Khan’s yard romping home in the hands of Suraj Narredu.  The winner despite looking a picture of fitness at the parade ring  and the fact that leading pro was guiding his fortunes was available at (10/1) in the betting ring, Passion Flora from Narayan Gowda’s yard garnering maximum support before taking  good money down the drain.  Masked Marvel finished second and his turn will come in the weeks ahead.

The Mudabidri Plate was an open affair, before the Sharath camp fancied New Victor. The Sirajuddin schooled Windamare also came into betting along with Star Of Destiny and the Warren Singh schooled Vito who was being touted as a long priced gamble. Well none of the four above mentioned horses finished in the money.  In fact much to the dismay of racing buffs it was the unfancied other horse from Sharath Kumar’s yard Emancipation who charged home ahead of another outsider Honourable Express. 

The upper division of the Tumkur Plate was claimed by the favourite Assiduous from Suleiman’s yard. The favourite was strongly fancied on the sole count that he had matched strides with higher rated horses and in this mediocre set his winning chances were outstanding.  The moment Trevor shook him up in straight he shot ahead and won in a common canter. The blow-hot, blow-colt Seven Of Hearts finished second while Maddox did well to gain the third spot.

The Satish Narredu schooled King Glorieux opened firm favourite in the upper division of the Star Of Windsor Plate but soon the MAM camp went bang bang on Simply Clever who had produced a stunning gallop in his last essay  to score in the hands of Pradeep. Now with Trevor partnering the Arvind ward many wise men made no secret of their opinion that Simply Clever was a roof top bet and so it proved to be, Trevor raising no sweat to help Arvind add one more to his kitty. Arvind who to his credit has eight winners, it must be mentioned has done exceeding well to silence his critics who were of the opinion that he will struggle at this premier centre.

In the concluding event, the lower division of the Tumkur Plate, Carducci from Puttanna’s yard who brought off a successful coup in his last start again garnered maximum support. But the favourite after tracking the winner Strombolite for most part of the sprint trip retired, Little Love and Yellowzone producing late dash to finish behind Strombolite.  All credit to young Azhar Ali who turned out the winner in fine condition and that proved decisive at end.