After a couple of close calls which did not go in his favour, Arjun Manglorkar is back in business. A fine treble on Friday put him firmly on top of the leader board. And the man who in his yard has the required ammunition to emerge on top appears to have a good chance to do it this season.

Arjun opened his account through the favourite Tree Lounge in the opening event, the Kakanakote Plate. The winner piloted in copybook fashion by the in-form pro S John pegged backs the effort of his arch rival Oye Como Va comfortably.

Astride the top fancy Merion in t he upper division of the Ruia Stud Plate, John really didn’t need to raise sweat, guiding home the public choice to the delight of the followers of form. Merion on the strength of his last effort, short head second behind Satellite looked outstanding among the 11 runners and was expected to run on-money favourite.  But thanks to a couple of old hats in the game and track reporters who were not satisfied with his latest performances on the trial track, the bookies chose to ignore the book of form and offered (14/10)  on the favourite which proved to be money for jam for the supporters of Merion.

Earlier, Arjun who was also `sweet’ on Castle Key in the Royal Calcutta Turf Club Cup,  was delighted by the performance of the Dr Vijay Mallya owned winner who made every post a winning one in the hands of leading pro Trevor Patel. The task of the winner was made simple by the hot favourite Dubai One who after gaining a challenging position shifted out alarmingly and eventually finished a tame third behind I’ve Got Clout.  

The Ganapathy camp brought off a good gamble on the youngster Spirited Regent in the December Plate.  The winner opened at (12/1) in the betting ring, most railbirds ignoring his chances simply because of the fact that A R Pradeep was listed to guide his fortunes. But the right connections and insiders were aware of the potential of the forward and fit Spirites Regent and backed him down to (7/1) and despite Pradeep  racing him all the way wide, the talented son of Arazan out of Messalina from the Poonawalla Stud Farm  gained the day snuffing out  the challenge of the favourite Adulation close home.  Sang Royal who did the early running before packing up is one for the notebook taking into account that the filly appears to be a goodtype.

The top weighted Alexandrite from Prasanna Kumar’s yard proved too good in the Kudremukh Plate run over a distance of seven furlongs. The two lesser fancied runners, Vicious Circle and Top Smiles garnered good support in this event. The former finished a game second behind the winner while Top Smiles performed like a dud. Alexandrite is in rousing form and is tipped to provide an encore.

Following the withdrawal of the top choice Areca Wonder who bolted out  of the gates before coming under the starter‘s flag, New Crown had it easy. Suraj Narredu pushed the Darius Byramji ward ahead the moment the 11 contestants came under the starter’s flag and the race was over even before the field entered the straight. Alvarez finished second ahead of Topaz while Rare And Bold took the fourth spot.

The lower division of the Ruia Stud Plate produced a thrilling finish, two lesser fancied runners, Connemara and  last start winner Cool Baby locked in a `dead heat’.  Chouhan partnering Connemara in this whipless event lodged an objection protesting that Carlos Henrique on Cool Baby had used his hands to punch the `Baby’ and that this is not allowed in a whipless race. The objection was valid and held merit taking into account that the professional had violated the rules. The stipes and stewards strangely chose to ignore the violation and overruled the protest.  Most knowledgeable were of the view that the decision was bad and Cool Baby should have been disqualified simply because the rider was not playing by the rules and in fact violating it for his gains.

The concluding event, the Vidurashwatha Plate produced a shock result, the ten to one shot Rubi Rey, a last start winner defying the heavy penalty for his victory to win again comfortably. Rankoutsider I Smile finished second ahead of the second in demand at the betting ring Brown Panther who was provided a questionable ride by jockey Sai Vamshi.