Top gun Y S Srinath stole the limelight recording a fine treble, including booting home the Irfan Ghatala-trained Salazaar in the Governor’s Cup, the plum event run over a distance of 2000M on Thursday.

Despite losing a couple of lengths at the start, Srinath nursed Salazaar nice and easy all through the backstretch as the public choice Kangra hit the front and set the pace. The favourite in the hands of leading Mumbai-based pro Sandesh established a winning lead the moment the nine contestants negotiated the final curve before Srinath setalight Salazaar on the rails and the winner slowly, yet surely covered good ground before pegging back Kangra close home. The Mumbai hopeful B Fifty Two who tracked Kangra for most part of the trip finished third ahead of Captain Morgan.

Next astride the overwhelming favourite Halfsies from trainer Darius Byramji’s yard, Srinath had it easy tailing the front runner Kruger Park till the race came on a boil and the moment he reminded the topweight of the task ahead in the final furlong, Halfsies produced a winning gallop to romp home a deserving winner. Durer did well to nose out Al Dorado for the second spot while the second in demand at the betting ring, Dallas was not in the hunt.

In line for a treble, Srinath on the on-money favourite Diamond Rays played the waiting allowing four to five rivals to sprint ahead before he pushed the Sriram Komandur to assume command and put the issue beyond doubt in the final furlong. Kodiac Queen shocked most gaining the runner-up berth ahead of Ice Dancer while Dream Star who was not unduly extended came home fourth. Diamond Rays is back at his best and it will pay to keep an eye on this Sriram ward in the forthcoming Bangalore winter season.

Irfan Ghata, who proudly led in Salazaar bagged the honours among the trainers recording a double, the on-money favourite Iris justifying her top billing in the Smt. Maliniraje Prasad Memorial Trophy. The public rage after a slow getaway from the gates was finding it hard to gain a favourable position all through the six furlongs trip before her pilot Anjar Alam cleverly pushed her through a yawning gap on the rails and that was enough for Iris to charge home ahead of Royal Serenity and Tigris. The winner, who completed a hat-trick of wins is only getting better and should be followed till she is beaten.

The opening three events didn’t go kindly for the punters, the 20 to one shot Indian Legend from trainer M R Singh’s yard in the hands od Sai Kiran winning the opener, the lower division of the Nugu Dam Plate. The Warren Singh schooled Extremelydangerous was fancied most in this event but all that the favourite did was take a lot of good money down the drain failing to even finish in the frame. Oro Plate gained the runner-ujp berth ahead of Secret Prayer while Aqua Blessing who too had her fair share of supporters finished a poor fourth. The below par effort of Aqua Blessing is too bad to be true and is best left ignored.

The Bobby-trained Contributor opened the favourite in the second event, the Kasargod Plate. Soon money came pouring on the S M Jhonson-trained All In and the price on Contributor shockingly drifted to (5/1). But it was Contributor who emerged the winner after creating big confusion among the punters who first chose to pin their hopes on the topweight before switching to All In simply because the change in odds at the betting ring on the winner put the brakes on the followers of form. At the end it was the well backed All In who failed to figure in the frame and this cost the punters dear. Lord IIsley finished second ahead of Reckless and Tax Free followed in to complete the frame.

On the strength of her impressive victory at this centre in winter, Dixieland from trainer Ranjeet’s yard was strongly fancied to score in the Original Vel B Ashok Kumar Memorial Trophy but the public choice flattered to deceive, losing out to the ten to one shot Chandini at the shadow of the winning post. Credit should be given to jockey Irvan Singh, who in a never-say-die bid kept punching the Rakesh ward in chase of Dixieland before snatching the verdict at end. Bonito finished a suggestive third and is one for the note book.