On the strength of her impressive showing in the 1000 Guineas, close third behind the winner Oomph and the runner-up New Creation, the Neil Darashah-trained Blue Moon garnered the maximum support in the third classic of the season, the Bangalore Oaks.The favourite after travelling nice and easy for most part of the exacting 2400 metres journey behind the two leaders, Play Safe from Arvind Ganapathy's yard and the Mumbai challenger Hammersmith from the stables of Pesi Shroff, it was clear lacked the stamina and speed to make a race of it in the straight. Mea Culpa had the required gas in the tank and the bred in the purple filly from Arjun Manglorkar's yard superbly piloted by Neeraj Rawal stormed through to emerge the top lady in the campus. Play Safe did well to keep going and gained the runner-up berth ahead of another nohoper Superb Success while Hammersmith finished fourth. It is clear from the performance of the fillies in the Oaks that none including the winner is in the real classic league and it will be the colts who will dominate in the blue riband of the season, the Catalyst Properties Bangalore winter Derby on Republic Day. 

While Arjun Manglorkar, it is needless to mention will be most pleased adding another classic to his list, the smile is back on the face of Arvind Ganapathy who was all smiles with the performance of Play Safe after leading in Balter,who made a impressive winning debut in the January Plate for juveniles run over a sprint.

With the benefit of a good run under their belt, Cuban from Neil Darashah's yard and Jersey Legend from the stables of Prasanna Kumar topped the betting board in the opening event while Balter was offered at (9/2). The winner despite failing to gain a favourable position early on in the race produced a winning gallop in the hands of Scottish pro David Allan to romp home in style. Jersey Legend finished second ahead of Constanza, who in her attempt to make every post a winning one didn't have the legs to maintain pace in the final furlong. Balter appears a goodtype of youngster and more will be heard of this Dean's Kitten progeny in the months ahead. 

The Dominic-trained Habanero was the top fancy in the lower division of the Cordon Bleu Plate run over a sprint. Trevor took the public choice to the front soon after the 10 runners came under the starter's flag and held the advantage a couple of metres from home before the ten to one shot Agnar from Pradeep Annaiah's yard piloted by Tauseef  

stunned the favourite at the shadow of the winning post. Bold Move, who too had his fair share of followers finished a creditable third ahead of Odyssey who raced in patches. 

The upper division of the event was claimed by the favourite Amazonite from Irfan Ghatala's yard who snuffed out the challenge of  Streak Ahead in the final furlong. The Sharath Kumar-trained Happy Dancing was backed heavily to score, but after being prominent till the heads turned for home, the Sharath ward failed to make a race of it and eventually finished in the ruck. 

It was surprising to see Glorious Days from Inayathullah's stable cornering big support in the Murdeshwar Plate and it came as no surprise when the top fancy failed to make the frame in the hands of Pradeep Chouhan. The grey Premier Premises partnered by Arshad Alam provided Appu a reason to smile pegging back Kruger Park while Scorching finished third ahead of Country's Pearl. 

The Satish Narredu-trained Siyouni looked head and shoulders above the rest in the upper division of the K T B Menon Memorial Trophy run over a sprint and the six-year-old mare proved her mettle providing top pro Suraj Narredu an arm-chair ride to success. Reczai caught the eye while finishing a game second and it will not be long before this Sharath Kumar ward earns her cornbill this season. Wild Wild Angels too covered a lot of ground in the `run in' home to finish third and it will pay to keep an eye on this Dheeraj ward. The lower division of the event was won by the topweighted Rosebrook from Dominic's yard in a thriller from the favourite Interesting. 

Trevor Patel took Tutankhamun to the front nice and easy in the New Year Cup run over a distance of seven furlongs and the five to one shot never let the initiative slip powering home in fine style. The on-money favourite Mauritania from Padmanabhan's yard piloted by David Allan tracked the winner all through the backstretch before finding Tutankhamun too hot to handle on this day. Subah Ka tara did well to finish third ahead of Star Carnation while Iris after chalking out four straight wins found the going tough in this quality field.