It was good to see leading trainer S Padmanabhan back in the winners’ circle after a less than satisfactory summer season. The pro recorded a back to back double through the four to one shot Brabus and the highly talented Sun Moon And Stars from the Kunigal Stud Farm who was rated highly last winter before she suffered a major setback in training and needed to go under the vet’s knife before she made a smashing comeback winning the lower division of the G Krishnappa Memorial Cup in a common canter. 

The Scottish pro David Allan who partnered the Burden Of Proof out of Bobcat Greeley filly owned by S Pathy confidenjtly nursed the filly all through the sprint  trip before he asked her for an effort  approaching the distance post  and the talented daughter of Burden Of Proof stormed through to put the issue beyond doubt in the final furlong. Now that Sun Moon And Stars is clean and healthy, the filly has great scope of improvement and her progress is certain to evoke interest.

After his easy third in his last effort in the hands of Indrajeet, Brabus had produced a couple of eye catching performances on the trial track and on the strength of this and with David Allan to guide his fortunes, the Padmanabhan ward  was the top fancy. But in this event, the Amber Regent Plate, money came pouring in on the Sandhu schooled Holy Empire who after failing to break level from the gates was  not sighted. 

David after being knocked out in his effort to gain a favourable position early on in the nine-furlong event chose to sprint wide and head the field, aware of the fact that Brabus was keen and  racing well and the moment he quickened at the top of the straight it was clear that he would  be hard to down. Stormont  finished a game second ahead of Saptajit who caught the eye.

In the upper division of the G Krishnappa Memorial Cup, trhe on-money favourite Garuda who like Sun Moon And Stars is another who has the required potential to make the big league made every post a winning one without Imran Khan really needing to raise sweat. Areca Wonder it is clear has lost a little bit of spark and was relegated to the third spot by China One who has improved most. Garuda is in rousing form and is set to provide an encore.

The local mainhope Azzurro and the Hyderabad hero Dare To Dream  were expected to dominate the finish of the Chief Minister’s Trophy with Auriga too in the mix. But the Hyderabad challenger made it a one horse affair 300 metres home, producing an astounding gallop to gallop to fame. Imran Chisty produced a classy effort on the winner.  The top pro employed the wait and watch tactics to near-perfection all through the backstretch before he setalight Dare To Dream to put the issue beyond doubt  at the distance post. Azzurro did well to gain the runner-spot ahead of Auriga.

Earlier Irfan Ghatala pulled off a good gamble on Be Inspired in the lower division of the Kitty Bank Plate run over a distance of seven furlongs. The connections fancied  the winner sweetly despite the fact that the good looking chestnut was making an appearance after  a six-month lay-off. The topweighted James Bond was the top famncy but the moment Be Inspired challenged the favourite, the  public choice stopped in his tracks and only finished second ahead of Allez Royale. Be Inspired  is at his best and is certain to add a couple more  this season.

The upper division of the event was claimed by the hot favourite Summer Dawn from Amit Caddy’s yard who proved too good  for his 10 rivals. Ahsan Qureshi who brought off a successful gamble on Be Inspired, made an attempt to make every post a winning one on Charming Grey before Summer Dawn breezed through to score. Sagrada struggled to take the third spot but it must be mentioned that this Rashid Byramji  ward will do a lot better if he is asked to negotiate a mile long trip.

The opening event was claimed by the Suraj piloted Icepick Willie from Satish Narredu’s yard  while the Neil Darashah schooled Luc Divine spoilt the party of Woodbridge in the upper division of the BARI Plate run over a sprint.