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SOUTHERN RULER WINS MYSORE DERBY IN RESPLENDENT STYLE

By Ikram Khan | 20 Oct 2019 | MYSORE


Trainer S Ganapathy leading Southern Ruler (YS Srinath Up), winner of The AVR Group and Catalyst Properties Mysore Derby (Gr.1)

It was good to see S Ganapathy back in the classic circle after four tough years. The former champion who had made a habit of winning classics after he took over the reins from Jim Foley for the legendary owner Dr. M A M Ramaswamy was struggling to lead in winners leave alone classics which had gone out of his reach. Under pressure, Ganapathy was unable to arrest the slide. The big gun, it appeared was caught in a whirlpool and many old hats in the game including the pros in the racing circles went vocal advocating that the man should hang up his boots. But Ganapathy decided to stick it out knowing that all it takes is one good horse to put him back on the high road and Southern Ruler proved him right on Sunday, winning the blue riband of the season, the AVR Group and Catalyst Properties Mysore Derby in resplendent style.

Ganapathy was over the moon and so too his younger son Arvind Ganapathy. The two in the line of fire, it must be mentioned stuck it out, bravely combating the many adversities and the Super Sunday at Mysore belonged to them. Southern Ruler produced a sublime effort which floored all the pundits and the Indian ace Srinath was at his best, confidently guiding home Southern Ruler who has changed the classic big picture. "It really was a long wait and I'm happy to be back in the classic circle. I knew Southern Ruler had the required potential to succeed in classics and he justified my confidence in style today," said Ganapathy lauding the efforts of the Mysore Race Club (MRC) who had left no stone unturned in successfully staging the blue riband before they play hosts to the Champion Of Champion event, the Indian Turf Invitation Cup on the first Sunday of March next year.

The MRC headed by the new chairman N.Nithyanand Rao and the very experienced campaigner Ananthraj Urs had a task on hand. They knew that this was a big trial before the Invitation Cup weekend. They chalked out a definite plan and bar a couple of small hiccups did an excellent job. The sponsors, AVR Group spearheaded by Venkatesh Reddy and head honcho of Catalyst Properties, Anjan Rangaraj played stellar roles to help MRC raise the bar  "MRC is a good club to be associated with. Me and Venkatesh love to promote and sponsor big-ticket sports events and we did our bit to put MRC on par with the best," said Anjan pointing out that the best horse on the day won the mega event in spectacular style.

Cosmic Ray started the overwhelming favourite in the big event on the strength of her impressive victory in record time in the Mysore 1000 Guineas. The fact that the Sulaiman Attaollahi schooled top filly was not seen in the morning workouts for a couple of weeks after her success in the fillies classic didn't bother her supporters who were convinced that the Sulaiman ward piloted by Suraj Narredu was head and shoulders above her six rivals. But that was not to be. The public choice after streaking ahead at the top of the straight went `phut' like a pricked balloon the moment Srinath brought Southern Ruler in contention. While Southern Ruler sailed past Cosmic Ray to wear the Derby sash, the top fancy failed to even make the four-horse frame. Mysore main hope Square The Circle gained the runner-up berth in the hands of jockey Imran Khan and his trainer Sajid deserves a pat on his back for keeping Mysore on the big classic picture. Alexander Burnes from Neil Darashah's yard too produced a much-improved effort to gain the third spot and going into the Bangalore winter, Mumbai and the Chennai season, the classic equations have changed after Well Connected and Impavid lost out at Malakpet and a new star has emerged in Mysore.

The principal added attraction, the Bangalore Turf Club Trophy was claimed by the lesser fancied Courage in a thriller from Diamond Rays.  The Arjun Manglorkar ward piloted by S John who came into his own this season edged out Diamond Rays close home. The topweighted Master Of Universe too was strongly tipped to score by the Bipin camp but the Mysore hopeful against a couple of good sprinters from Bangalore found the going tough. The favourite Aeolus from Darius Byramji's yard came home third and appeared to need this run. Aeolus with this good hard run under his belt will be a different proposition in the Bangalore winter season. This Darius ward and Prevalent Force who is back at his best are the two horses who will pick up a couple of plums in winter.

On a day when most favourites chose to play truant, Magnum Opus from trainer Bobby's yard was the only public choice who bucked the trend, winning the RWITC Trophy in the hands of Sai Kiran. Happy Dancing from trainer Samar Singh's yard dropped the biggest bombshell on D-day. Samar earlier led in the five to one-shot Dallas in the opening event to return home most satisfied.