Despite being out of action for over a month due to a clipping injury to his left hind leg which he suffered during his previous appearance, Starwalt (Chinese Whisper – Dutch Auction) from LVR Deshmukh’s yard maintained the winning form he struck this season and produced a sparkling performance to register a hat-trick in the Mysore Race Club Trophy on Monday. Jockey P Ajeeth Kumar astride Starwalt played a waiting game as N R I Blue made the initial running and was chased by Isra and Ok Boss. The last named tackled the leader and flattered briefly before Starwalt was set alight by Ajeeth. Starwalt brushed aside Salisbury, who too had made his move at the same juncture, and stole a march over his rivals to record a comfortable win. Deshmukh truly deserves credit for keeping Starwalt fighting fit after nursing the injury.

At the start of the day’s proceedings, Ajeeth had registered a fluent start-to-finish victory aboard another Deshmukh ward Amalfitana. The filly, who had disappointed in her three previous outings, hit the front and took her rivals by surprise when establishing a long lead half-way through the nine-furlong journey. Amalfitana (Varenar – Darkyila) then held sway and her lead proved to be unassailable in the end as Ajeeth used his whip only to keep her focussed on the task lying ahead. Arrowtown warmed up late to take the second berth way ahead of Akash and New Hustle. There was good support for New Hustle and Sweet Melody in the betting ring but the duo failed to justify the wagering they attracted. 

Had Wandring Warrior not succumbed to the onslaught of Juramento in the following race, the first four events would have all been claimed by horses who made a start to finish bid. Backed to the exclusion of his nine opponents, Akshay Kumar ridden juvenile Juramento (Oath – Starynessey) caused anxiety among the punters when he was still four-five lengths in arrear of Wandring Warrior and only a furlong left for home. Just when it looked like he was fighting a lost battle, RH Sequeira trained Juramento unleashed a sizzling run and came with raking strides to floor Wandring Warrior in the last half furlong. The margin of victory may flatter the winner but Juramento had accomplished the encore by conceding seven kilos to the runner up. Unmatched ran on to be third while Exponent finished a tame fourth.

G Shashikanth schooled N R I Secret (David Livingstone – Secret Whisper) succeeded in showing a clean pair of heels to his rivals over the five and half furlong scurry. N R I Secret with G Naresh in saddle humiliated both Wind Sprite and Avancia en route her maiden victory. Runner up Wind Sprite was in chase throughout but was going nowhere despite Akshay’s desperate attempts to catch the winner. The other two fancied runners Avancia and Precious Gift were also outpaced.

The friendless Team Player (Decado – Aariya) jumped out smartly from the gates and was never headed as he made every post of the mile journey a winning one. Afroz Khan allowed Team Player to do the front-running while the fancied runners expected him to fall back after travelling some distance. Much to their chagrin, K Satheesh trained Team Player was in no mood to give up. Encouraged by Team Player’s response, Afroz kept him going to frustrate runner up Pinatubo's efforts to collar him. Queen Blossom ended a close third ahead on Explosive. Top-weighted Miss Marvellous was entrusted with the public’s purse but failed to deliver.

MF Ali Khan nurtured bay filly Dyanoosh (Declaration Of War – Bunga Bunga) had her rider, Ajeeth, on cloud nine as she put in a spirited run to overwhelm Flamingo Fame, who grabbed the lead from Blazing Jupiter who had the upper hand briefly after Malibu faded out in the straight. Favourite Crimson Rose was hemmed up towards the inner rails till Akshay switched lanes in the home stretch to join Dyanoosh and throw a challenge at Flamingo Fame. However, Dyanoosh accelerated well and wrest the initiative from Flamingo Fame to achieve an encore. The Sequeira saddled Crimson Rose ended a close third ahead of Malibu and Blazing Jupiter.

Above The Law who came in for spirited support in the betting was unlucky not to have won the last race of the day. The Hambone, who headed the field from the gates with Sopranos on his haunches, veered out violently shortly after entering straight and took Above The Law along with him towards the left. The field was thus left open for Sopranos (Western Aristocrat – So Charm) to take charge and Akshay seized the opportunity and went sailing into the lead. Md Ismail ridden Above The Law bumped into The Hambone once again as he renewed his bid and yet devoured good ground but found the winning post coming to the rescue of Sequeira groomed Sopranos. Lifes Living ran a fair third ahead of Alina.