After  the big accident on Friday, most punters who were on oxygen made a speedy recovery, five well-backed favourites including Angel Dust who emerged the most impressive winner, nailing bold colours to the mast in the nine-event card on Saturday.

On the strength of her performance in her last essay,  second behind Authoritarian and ahead of the highest rated filly Eternal Flame who later chalked out four straight victories including a hat-trick in Mumbai,  Angel Dust was a sitter in the upper division of the Southern Empire Trophy  run over a distance of seven furlongs. The filly on  this line should have only opened on-money favourite but  thanks to the many track reporters who  were floored by  the performances of Saladin on the trial track, the Padmanabhan ward garnered solid support despite the fact that his retained jockey Zervan had opted out and S G Prasad was roped in to partner Saladin.  Angel  Dust  now was freely available at !6/10, double the price, the filly commanded and the talented daughter of Win Legend  cantered home in the hands of Suraj Narredu.  The ten to one shot Southern Surprise did well to finish a creditable second  ahead of Good Prospect while Saladin and Ravelnation failed to make the board. Saladin, it is learnt burst a blood vessel and this  is bad news from the stable point of view who  had high hopes on this rangy horse.

Leading trainer S Ganapathy pulled off a big gamble on Light Of Magic in the lower division of the event. The winner  who was quoted at (2/1) in the morning was backed down to (65/100)  and the moment Sandesh took a big break before the final curve the followers of the Ganapathy ward were running to cash the cards . Amazing Charm finished second and it will not be long before this Suleiman ward sheds her maiden status.  Light Of Magic who was sent out spot on for this event  has scope for improvement and it will pay to follow her again if campaigned over a sprint.

The second in demand at the season, Ungoogleable who has joined Gregory Sandhu’s yard  after failing to earn his cornbill in Darius Byramji’s yard proved too good for his 11 rivals in the Karnataka State Police Cup run over a sprint. Imran Chisty  pushed the winner ahead soon after the start and never let the initiative slip, Ungoogleable romping home in emphatic fashion. The favourite Little Love it appeared was in no mood to gallop while Vigorous found the winner too hot to handle.

The two Prasanna Kumar winners Colossal Moments and Strengthandwonder who were backed down strongly delighted the railbirds. The former won the upper division of the Prince Khartoum Trophy comfortably in the hands of Ashish while Strengthandwonder thanks to the power packed effort of Imran Khan prevailed in a blanket finish, edging out Better Than Ever by the shortest of margins.  Imran was later pulled up for the excessive use of the whip on the winner, but it must be mentioned that it was Imran’s saddle artistry on Strengthandwonder which made the difference in the pulse-pounding finish.

Earlier the upper division of the Astounding Plate was claimed by the lesser fancied Miracles Of Life who produced a winning gallop in the final furlong to edge out Sakchi close home. Sakchi and Temujin garnered the maximum support in this event and following Miracles Of Life’s victory another `Jodi’ went out of the window to the delight of the bookies who took many green bags home on Friday.

The Amit Caddy schooled Pacific Blue who was judiciously prepared  had the best credentials in the third division of the Astounding Plate but since the odds drifted out badly on the Amit ward many followers of form chose to  go with the well fancied Southern Sky from Arvind Ganapathy’s yard. The favourite despite Sandesh making every effort performed like a dud while Pacific Blue made every post a winning one at the nourishing odds of (5/1).

The Darius Byramji schooled Multi App who had consistently produced heartwarming performances on the trial track  was fancied strongly in the lower division of the Prince Khartoum Plate and the bred in the purple filly justified the confidence of her supporters romping home without really raising a sweat.  

The opening event produced a shock victory, Jeyem’s Spirit piloted by Imran edging out rankoutsider All That’s Nice while the bet till you sweat approach of many Luc Divine supporters only left them sweating at end,  the on-money favourite  failing to make the frame despite being favourably placed at the top of the straight.