In a couple of my articles early winter, I had mentioned that a couple of young trainers in Bangalore are up and ready to change the pecking order at this premier centre and  the most promising of them all, Sulaiman Attaollahi did it. His maiden championship success is a slap in the face of couple of his critics who made no secret of their opinion that he was just an early bird, fit only to pick up the worms.

Sulaiman led in 20 winners including the Champion Horse Angel Dust, winner of the Kingfisher Derby and in the final week, the unassuming lad provided the icing on the URBB cake, leading in five winners including Agostini who beat the best horse on the circuit, Quasar in the Governor’s Cup, the final plum of the season run over a distance of 2400 metres. Well, it is learnt that the Horse Of The Season, Quasar burst a blood vessel in this event and that prevented the champion from signing off on an unbeaten note. But one cannot take away the credit from the winter Derby winner Agostini, who produced a gutsy effort in the hands of the in-form pro Trevor Patel, setting his own pace before powering home in the gruelling journey. The connections of Quasar, it is needless to mention will be disappointed but in any sport, injuries and hard luck is part and parcel of the game.

Well after the success of Agostini and before the bubbly flowed at the Blue bar at night, Zeyn Mirza  and his team celebrating the Derby success, Trevor and Sulaiman struck through the eight to one shot Cherie Amour in the upper division of the Leading Bookmaker Cup before the stewards of the club chose to bring the curtain down on the season, the final two races cancelled due to heavy and slippery underfoot conditions following a sharp shower after the fifth race. It was a right decision taking into account that horses were seen struggling to gain a firm grip of the surface which the authorities declared was unfit for racing.

Earlier, trainer Irfan Ghatala set the ball rolling, the lesser fancied Brunaldo from his yard winning the opening event, the lower division of the Leading Bookmaker Cup in the hands of Anjar Alam. The Prithviraj schooled Raziel and Jersey Wonder from Puttanna’s yard were the two most fancied contestants in this event  but neither looked capable enough to enter the winners’ circle.

On the strength of his impressive third behind Meherani in her last essay, the Neil Darashah-trained Criquette garnered maximum support in the lower division of the Leading Tipster Cup and the public choice readily justified the confidence of her supporters, producing a winning gallop at the distance post to the delight of the young Darashah camp. The upper division of the event, it appeared was also going the favourite way before the six to one shot Sea Dove from trainer Inayathullah’s yard piloted by apprentice Sunil Samson in a never-say-die bid upset the applecart of the public choice Sheer Luck at the shadow of the winning post. Samson earlier piloted Meherani to a shock victory in the third division of the Champion Trainer Cup run over a sprint. The Britto ward who was struggling to gain a favourable position early on in the race displayed good turn of foot in the final furlong  to romp home an easy winner at end. Noble Sapphire finished second ahead of All That’s Nice while the  favourite Ole from Darius Byramji’s yard raced like a dud.

The Amit Caddy camp fancied Heisenberg very sweetly in the first division of the Champion Trainer Cup. His followers in the camp were positive that the favourite would win from any position. Heisenberg in the hands of Ramu just did that. He needed to cover good ground in the straight after a lethargic start and he did that swiftly before cantering home in resplendent style. Youre Ashwashakthi caught the eye while finishing second and is one for the notebook.

The Arjun Manglorkar-trained Ayrton  gained the topbilling in the Leading Owner Cup but the most fancied contestant failed to earn his cornbill, a trifle unlucky, encountering rough passage, Adriphos, Sunil Sampson astride  almost going down in front of him. Nevertheless Anthony Raj made a fist of it at end but the effort was just not good enough to stop the ten to one shot Diamond Quest from bringing the smile back on the face of Prithviraj. Incidentally it was the maiden success of apprentice jockey P P Dhebe.

The Satish Narredu-trained Sands Of Time was one another convincing winner. Fresh from his success in his last essay, Sands Of Time enjoyed good support and the champion jockey Suraj Narredu produced a copybook effort to the delight of the followers of form. Helios finished a game second ahead of Power And Strength and it will pay to follow this Narayan Gowda ward early on in the Mysore season.