After the two talented fillies Aster Rose and Siobhan produced heartwarming performances on the opening day of the summer season, the Gregory Sandhu-trained Lochness joined the party recording her third straight victory in resplendent style. The talented daughter of Arabian Gulf out of Romantic Heights who had remained unbeaten from her two starts in winter detonated seasoned performers which included Gabino and Honour in the lower division of the Dr. T Thimmaiah Memorial Cup and it is needless to mention that the Sandhu camp is delighted with the improvement and progress of Lochness.

The filly in line for a hat-trick was strongly fancied by the railbirds and the winner made it a no contest with a furlong left to go while clocking a smart time of 1:25.48 seconds and more importantly confirming that she will only get better over extended trips. The Mumbai-based pro Zervan back after registering a classic double in Nilgiris on the Neil Darashah schooled Battalion never really needed to pack a punch on the winner owned by the Aggarwal brothers, Rajan and Gautham, Lochness making it easy as easy as sweeping autumn leaves from the garden path.

The upper division of the event was claimed by another public fancy Flamboyance also owned by the Aggarwals. But the bred in the purple winner had to stretch every sinew to peg back the gallant effort of Bonfire who after awkwardly jumping out of the gates and losing a couple of lengths at the start produced a game performance to go down narrowly at end. Now that Flamboyance has broken ice it will pay to follow this Darius Byramji again when next saddled.

Cameron, (Admiralofthefleet-Camarioca/Kunigal Stud) the best looking horse in the paddock parade won the second plum of the season in the hands of Suraj Narredu. The winner opened the favourite in the Jayachamaraja Wadiyar Cup run over a distance of seven furlongs before stablemate Booker Jones back after a fair campaign in Mumbai and the Hyderabad challenger Machiavellianism garnered good support, Booker Jones ending up the firm favourite at (5/2) while Cameron shifted out and was easily available at (4/1).

Mickey Mouse set a good pace before Suraj pushed Cameron ahead negotiating the final curve and the moment Cameron hit the front he quickened well and kept going and it was clear past the distance post that Booker Jones needed a pair of roller skates to match strides with the winner. Satellite, the other stablemate of Cameron in the race finished third, making it a most satisfying 1-2-3 result for Suleiman. Machiavellianism was never really in the race and this old at tooth performer from the Deshmukh camp will find it hard to get amongst the winners this season.

Neil Darashah again led a winner on debut, the on-money favourite Proserpine romping home in style in the Sir Bruce Plate. The winner had impressed most in the morning trials and on the strength of his consistently eye catching efforts on the trial track was tipped as a `moral certainty’ by the old hats in the game and Proserpine justified the ranking of the pundits providing Suraj Narredu an arm-chair ride to success.  Well for those posing a question who is better of the two, Namid or Proserpine, my vote will go in favour of Namid on the sole count that he beat much better horses than what Proserpine faced in his first test.

Another Neil winner, Times Time opened the favourite in the Allaire Plate run over a distance of seven furlongs before the supporters of Karthik Ganapathy went bang-bang in the betting ring.  And very soon Snow Crystal was the overwhelming favourite in the dozen horse field. The French saddle artiste David Breux in his maiden appearance at this centre did really well to jump out quick and hit the front and travel nice and easy all through the seven furlongs trip before he surrendered the lead to Times Time at the top of the straight and at this point it was clear that the snow had melted and good money was only flowing down the drain. Opening Act too beat Snow Crystal to gain the runner-up berth and on the strength of this performance is set to shed her maiden status in the weeks ahead.

The five to one shot Saffron Intense from Narayan Gowda’s yard was one other impressive winner. Competing in the opening event, the Happy Valley Plate run over a distance of 1400M, Saffron Intense was gracing the wrong end of the field even after the field had negotiated the final curve but the moment Rajesh Kumar reminded the rather lethargic Saffron Intense the task ahead, she produced an astounding gallop to cover acres of ground and retire home an easy winner. The favourite Astral Spirit finished second ahead of Reformer. Saffron Intense is in rousing form and it will come as a big surprise if this Narayan Gowda ward fails to record an encore.

Another Narayan Gowda ward Soviet Union shocked the followers of form in the upper division of the M N Prakash Memorial Trophy snuffing out the challenge of the lesser fancied Ambelside at the shadow of the winning post. The favourite Mariko, who is a speedy customer surprisingly chose to track the front runners and finished a tame third. Little Man did all the early running before he blew up like a pricked balloon at the top of the straight and Vencedora was never really in the hunt.

The lower division of the event was claimed by the Prithviraj-trained Knighthood who made every post a winning one in the hands of jockey Arshad Alam.

The topweighted Better Than Ever from Amit Caddy’s yard won the Aureole Plate in the hands of Ramu edging out the belated effort of Celestial Storm. The favourite Arziki and the favourite Active Grey failed to make a favourable impression, the latter encountering rough passage midway through the sprint trip.