Two days before the Invitation Cup week-end races at Mysuru, punters were looking to pick up a few winners which would help take care of their passage and shelter before they grabbed a seat to witness the two-day action at the Mysore Race Club. But that didn’t happen and as a result many railbirds have chosen to stay back in Bengaluru after losing out big on a day only a solitary favourite Crack Of Dawn from trainer Padmanabhan’s yard  came through in the eight-event card on Thursday. Not a single payment. Disaster and wiped out were the words one got to hear as the favourites one after the other bit the dust and the punters returned home with a big hole in their pocket. 

Dontbreaktherules from Azhar Ali’s yard started the ball rolling and before Crack Of Dawn stopped the outsiders’ waltz in the penultimate event, the followers of form were stunned and floored. In the opening event, the Flashing Star Plate, Kishan Thomas-trained Hawking was backed to the exclusion of his 11 rivals. The strongly fancied contestant piloted by John much to the chagrin of his supporters flopped failing to even save money in place. The topweighted Dontbreaktherules partnered by Arshad Alam emerged the winner. Reverence gained the runner-up berth ahead of Elite Agent while Hawking could only fill the frame. 

Next it was Industrialist who dropped a bombshell in the lower division of the Nethravathi Plate. The winner from Dheeraj’s yard piloted by apprentice Naveen Kumar shocked the railbirds galloping home to register his maiden win after his two listless earlier efforts this season. Red Indian finished second ahead of Turf Prospector while the public choice Anakin from Pradeep Annaiah’s yard was not sighted on the board. 

After the two shocks a sucker punch sent the punters reeling in the Juvenile event. Baltimore from Arjun Manglorkar’s yard romping home in the hands of Imran Chisty. The winner bred at the Kunigal Stud farm appeared a trifle soft, but the gutsy daughter of Air Support out of Chase The Sun made her three owners including Vivek Rao proud making a impressive winning debut. Shanaey from Prithviraj’s yard and Bellator from the stables of Sulaiman Attaollahi were fancied most but all they did was chase the shadows of Baltimore who looks a goodtype. Shanaey finished ahead of Bellator to gain the runner-up berth while Cherokee Moon finished fourth. 

Arjun and the owner Vivek Rao struck again through another long shot Spanish Beauty later in the Narasimharaja Trophy, the plum event run over a sprint. On the strength of his impressive victory in his last essay Prasanna Kumar-trained Knotty Oak was fancied to record his second straight win. The public choice piloted by John struggled to gain pole position at the start and surprisingly produced a below par effort to the disappointment of his long-list of supporters. Spanish Beauty who had gone off the boil after promising much early in her career produced a heartwarming gallop to the delight of Arjun to resume her winning ways pegging back the belated effort of Blue Moon who after gracing the wrong end of the field for most part of the journey powered home to edge out Regal Music by the shortest of margins to grab the second spot. 

In the Malaprabha Plate run over a distance of 2000 metres, the Padmanabhan schooled Crack Of Dawn and Aferpi garnered the maximum support. Cavaliere too did have a fair share of his supporters despite the fact that he failed to justify favouritism, finishing second behind Knotty Oak in his last essay over a distance of seven furlongs. The two top fancied runners Crack Of Dawn and Aferpi were locked in a ding-dong battle all through the straight before David Allan cracked the whip on the public choice to gain the day close home. Show Girl did well to finish third while it was clear that the mile-and-quarter trip was beyond the compass of Cavaliere. 

The upper division of the Gaganachukki Plate saw the Dominic-trained grey Silver Swift enter the winners’ circle. The winner was powerfully piloted by Imran Khan who next struck on the six to one shot Le Marc in the upper division of the Netravati Plate to record a double. King Creole was the top fancy in this event while the Kishan Thomas camp after the big loss on Hawking were hoping that Hafnium would provide relief. Hafnium partnered by Trevor finished a tame third while King Creole struggled to keep pace all through the seven furlongs trip and eventually finished in the ruck. 

All eyes were on the Prithviraj schooled Mr Humble in the lower division of the Gaganchukki Plate. He was the firm favourite quoted at (12/10) in the morning but soon after the 11 runners came into the paddock, the price on Mr Humble drifted out alarmingly and the Prithviraj ward was available at (9/2). The steep rise in the price on Mr Humble led to confusion and soon money came pouring on the Imtiaz Khan-trained Desert Combat. The topweight after raising hopes at the distance post lacked the gas in the tank and only managed to take a lot of good money down the drain while Mr Humble ridden by the Delhi-based apprentice Sameer Qureshi powered home ahead of Augustina.