It was a disaster from the punters point of view. A solitary joint favourite La Dona from trainer Darius Byramji’s yard obliged the followers of form in the eight-event card which saw three well backed even-money favourites from S Padmanabhan’s yard  bite the dust and a couple from Narayan Gowda’s stable who failed to hit the board.

Add to this the Sulaiman Attaollahi schooled Sea Fairey who had the best credentials in the F K Irani Memorial Trophy was ignored in the betting ring simply because the rumour doing the rounds was that the bred in the purple filly who had remained unbeaten from her three starts was under a cloud and not fit enough to maintain her winning streak.

Well the price on the star performer drifted alarmingly from even-money to (3/1), most big bettors changing trains, choosing to support Russian Link, but Sulaiman and Trevor it was who pulled the chain of the favourite train, Sea Fairey producing a winning gallop in the final furlong to edge out Russian Link while sending out a  message that all the talk making rounds was only false and the truth is that all was well with the talented filly. The connections of Sea Fairey delighted with her performance promised that the daughter of Multidimensional will be the one to watch in summer. They reckon that the best is yet to come from her and she is only getting better and better and that’s a good sign for the Vijay Mallya camp.

In the Ardent Knight Cup for juveniles, Captain Morgan opened the favourite despite his none too impressive debut.  The Darius Byramji supporters quickly went bang bang on La Dona who had finished third behind Justice Angel in her first attempt. The fact that Love For Life who had finished second ahead of her had failed to shed her maiden status against mediocre rivals on Saturday  threw a fear in the ranks but the moment Suraj Narredu pushed her ahead and allowed her to dictate the pace, it was clear that she will prove hard to down and to the delight of her supporters she romped home in effortless style. Captain Morgan did produce an improved effort but that paled in front of the walk in the park exercise of another daughter of Multidimensional from the Usha Stud farm.

The 15 to one shot Everest from Neil Darashah’s yard recorded a shock victory in the upper division of the Icebreaker Plate run over a sprint. The winner needed to win the race again in the stewards room following a protest lodged by John, rider of second placed Conquistador against Prabhakaran that the winner had shifted out and taken his ground. Suraj astride Candice who finished third objected against John. Both the objections didn’t merit attention and the stewards rightly chose to overrule the two protests. While the first three added pep to the finish, the favourite Secret Dimension from Narayan Gowda’s yard was never in sight and this cost his followers dear.

The opening event saw the Sharath Kumar schooled Repsol upset the applecart of the favourite Pure Esteem from Suraj Narredu’s yard. The winner was piloted in copybook fashion by leading pro S John.

The Britto-trained Meherani who had caught the eye while finishing a suggestive third in her last essay was surprisingly ignored in the betting ring, money pouring in on another Narayan Gowda ward Bazinga who from his six starts this season had only managed to place twice. Trevor drove the Britto ward hard to gain the day ahead of the topweighted Talentburst while Bazinga failed to make the frame.

The three Padmanabhan wards, Brabus, King Of The Court and Spanish Moon enjoyed top billing in the last three events but none could get into the winners’ circle and this hit the railbirds hard.

Brabus on the strength of his facile victory in his last essay garnered the maximum support in the Karwar Plate but the public choice after showing the way for most part of the nine furlongs trip went out of gas in the final furlong and finished a tame third. The second in demand at the betting ring Swiss Eagle from Arjun Manglorkar’s yard retired a deserving winner in the hands of John while Chetan Kalay astride Hapticstar caught David Allan napping at the post to gain the second spot.

In the Manasa Sarovara Plate, King Of The Court on the strength of his impressive second behind Be Inspired in his last effort was rightly installed the favourite. But the public choice despite David packing punch failed to match strides with the old at tooth nine-year-old Magnitude Star who registered his second straight success. All credit to the wily trainer Sharath Kumar who has done well to keep Magnitude Star striking at an age when most others would have readily retired the `old man’.

In the Thungabhadra Plate run over a sprint, it was Spanish Moon from Padmanabhan’s yard who was backed down to even money in the whipless exercise. The favourable after being favourably placed at the top of the straight streaked ahead at the distance post only to lose out to the seven to one shot Rich Revival who after gracing the wrong end of the field for most part of the journey produced a sparkling gallop to record an encore. Rich Revival is in top form and is set to complete a hat-trick of wins if his connections judiciously place him in the higher class.