It was a brilliant finish to the Maharaja’s Cup (Gr.III) at Mysore, what every handicapper would dream of. Five horses in a blanket finish for the plum and the overwhelming favourite Aster Rose (Multidimensional-Lei / Usha Stud) surviving that scare much to the relief of her supporters.

Aster Rose was travelling third last till rounding the final bend and jockey Suraj Narredu started to move the filly away from the bunch from the wide outside. With a furlong left when it looked that Aster Rose would take over smoothly, came the local challenger Savannah Sound with a determined effort. Jockey Dashrath Singh, a known hard rider gave his best to keep the 7 year old going and fought every stride with Aster Rose. As the winning post neared Star Nijinsky, Salazar and Airco also converged in a flash and all the five went past the wire almost in a line. The filly Aster Rose had stuck her neck out at the finish. Savannah Sound, Star Nijinsky, Airco and Salazar finished in that order behind the winner with all five finishing in just over half a length.

Silver Ikon (Green Coast-Premier Thrill / AB Stud) owned and trained by B. Prithviraj scored yet another victory in an impressive fashion in the Air Force Trophy. The gelding shot off to the front from the innermost draw, brought the field into view on the straight and left them cold behind while registering a 7 ½ lengths victory. “It’s a very ordinary bred horse” said the rider P.P. Dhebe, “but always a pleasure to ride him”, he added. Gelignite did well to follow the winner all the way up the straight and finish second. Taqdeer Ka Badshah and Anvill Star filled the frame in that order.

In another close finish involving three horses Vishal Yadav trained Dare The Don (Varenar-Balance De Power / Equue Stud) pulled it off to be the biggest upset for the day in the Udhagamandalam Trophy. Dare The Don a winner once in summer was completely neglected in the betting for the sprint event. Jumping out smartly from an outward draw Dare The Don moved quickly towards the inner rails to get to the front. Greek Goddess chased the leader till the last 200 metres and lost steam. Be Bold then began to pick up speed and was up with a challenge. As the two got engaged in a duel nearing the winning post Poet came flying from way behind but could only finish second behind Dare The Don. Be Bold was third in the same picture frame. Greek Goddess finished fourth.

Pratap Kamath trained Kir Royale (Curule-Royal Assault / Lumbini Stud) that had finished a suggestive second in its last run won the Kumaradhara Plate by the shortest possible margin. The gelding took off on a start to finish bid and came in first on the home stretch. When asked to quicken by Janardhan Paswan Kir Royale started to drift out of the straight course. Pikachu began to move up strongly from the outside and both of them went past the winning post locked together close to the sand track. The magic eye gave the verdict in favour of Kir Royale who had held on by a ‘nose’. Amazing and Zagato finished third and fourth respectively. Admiral Act and The Disciple were non-starters in the race.

Another contender that went on a start to finish bid and scored was Azhar Ali trained Wind Striker (Pinson-Shades Of Beauty / Privately bred) in the Paddock Plate. Leading right from the word ‘go’, Wind Striker came under pressure from Reference who rushed from the shortest way and Buscadero who came covering ground from the wide outside but held on gamely by three parts of a length. Reference was second and another three parts of a length adrift was Buscadero in third.

Dheeraj Venkataswamy trained Summer Star (Chevalier-Anodyne / Ruia Stud) had run into money in the last two runs at Bangalore and the 6 years old mare justified the favouritism in the division I of the Eclipse Plate. Racing a handy fourth till rounding for home Summer Star improved gradually and was chasing Noble Splendour on the straight. The two fought for a brief while and Summer Star travelled the better to wrap it off. Nyssa and As Always finished third and fourth respectively. Air Of Distinction was withdrawn near the starting gates.      

Kishan Thomas trained Reverberating (Arabian Gulf-Another Time / Manjri Stud) that had remained winless from 27 starts was backed down to be the favourite in the lower division. The 5 years old registered a fine win to justify the support. Into the straight Ultimate Glory was the first to grab the lead from Universal Law. Reverberating started to pick up momentum from behind and with a fast gallop went ahead and pulled away. Moonlight Love finished third in front of Universal Law.