Trainer Pradeep Annaiah had never had it so good. And he is enjoying every moment of it this winter. A dozen winners and a couple more in the bank clearly puts Pradeep on the highest achiever list this season and he deserves it.

On Thursday the pro recorded a grand treble through the two favourites Velocidad and Psychic Warrior and the rankoutsider Morrane Gabriella. Velocidad after a good number of attempts to enter the winners’ circle lately finally got over the line in the Bull Temple Plate run over a distance of 2000 metres nosing out last start winner Roma Victor in a thriller. Srinath astride the winner and Trevor Patel guiding the fortunes of Roma Victor were locked in a grim battle in the last 100 metres and flashed past the post locked together before the `magic eye’ nodded in favour of the Pradeep ward.

The Neil Darashah-trained Mohican and Whizzo from the stables of Azhar Ali were fancied most in the Hurricane Stud Plate run over a distance of seven furlongs. But it was Morrane Gabriella who came out tops in the hands of jockey Pradeep much to the chagrin of the followers of form who were of the view that the two fancied contestants were head and shoulders above the rest. Whizzo after heading the dozen horse field when the race came on a boil drifted out under pressure and interfered with the progress of Poseidon piloted by Darshan and this helped Morrane Gabriella reach the post first ahead of the unlucky Poseidon and Whizzo. Mohican after being favourably placed in the race surprisingly dropped out and this effort of the Neil Darashah ward should be taken with a pinch of salt.

On the strength of his impressive effort in his last essay, second behind Cuban Pete, Psychic Warrior was fancied most in the lower division of the Shivanasamudra Trophy run over a sprint and the public choice justified the confidence of his supporters galloping home in emphatic fashion. Colonel Harty who was also strongly fancied by the Narayan Gowda camp tracked the winner all through the trip but never could get up to score. Alberetta did well to take the third spot ahead of Spanish Beauty who was never in the hunt.

The plum event, the Stayers Trial Stakes, a mile-and-half exercise was won in resplendent style by the Sulaiman Attaollahi schooled Ambrosio who made every post a winning one in this energy sapping trip. Secretive Force from Darius Byramji’s yard who opened the joint favourite with Ambrosio before the winner closed the firm favourite finished last, 20 lengths behind the winner. It is clear that not all was well with Secretive Force and he is best left ignored till he recovers from this horrible journey.

Trainer Neil Devaney won the first two events through Sainthood and  Hunters Moon. The former piloted by Trevor Patel, who emerged the most successful jockey registering a treble, was quietly fancied by the insiders and the right connections and the filly edged out Casey close home to the delight of her followers. The favourite High Priestess from Padmanabhan’s yard flopped badly and only managed to make the board.

In line for a treble, Trevor on the Dominic schooled Songkran produced his best to win the Jog Falls Plate in a blanket finish from lesser fancied Amazonite and Charmaine. The favourite Hafnium piloted by John struggled to gain a favourable position early on in the race and eventually finished a poor fourth. Amazonite could well have won had leading apprentice jockey Shamaz Shareef had been more forceful at end. But it was not Shareef’s day, earlier messing up on Whizzo.

The Narayan Gowda schooled Depth Charge dropped a bombshell in the upper division of the Shivanasamudra Trophy, showing a clean pair of heels to his eight rivals including the overwhelming favourite Akita Pro from Irfan Ghatala’s yard who had to rest content with the runner-up berth. Side Winder did well to save place money while Fair Warning and Miniver Rose performed below par.