It was a good to see a couple of small trainers extract their pound of flesh from the big cats on the eve of the Independence Day. Aravind Ganapathy struck it rich through the long shot Joon, the 15 to one shot piloted by  apprentice jockey Koshi Kumar beating the two top fancies Storm Shadow from champion trainer Prasanna Kumar’s yard and the Irfan Ghatala-trained Stravinsky in the Tudor Jet Stakes run over a mile. Storm Shadow,  a facile last start winner piloted by Akshay Kumar surprisingly finished down the field, while Stravinsky partnered by Suraj Narredu  only managed to follow the smart winner home.
 
Back in the concluding event, the Flirting Vision Plate run over a sprint, Aravind sent out Star Admiral, who had opted out of an event a couple of weeks ago sustaining an injury in the saddling enclosure.  The second favourite piloted by the promising Vivek started throwing a tantrum the moment he walked out of the paddock and all the way to the starting gates before he calmed down minutes before the start.

Debonair and Spirit Dancer hit the front soon after the field of 10 contestants came under the starter’s flag before the strongly supported public choice Capri Girl from M R Singh’s yard piloted by Sai Kiran seized the initiative and looked set to score before Vivek astride Star Admiral  packed punch on the Aravind ward and Star Admiral readily produced an astounding gallop to snatch the verdict from the `Girl’ at the shadow of the winning post. Mega Success was seen finishing on well at end and this Inayathullah trainee, who saved money in place is tipped to score when saddled next.

MR Singh first led in True Punch, a solidly backed favourite in the opening event, the Littleover Plate run over a sprint. The on-money favourite partnered by Kiran Rai hit the front  and called the shots for most part of the sprint trip before gallantly pegging back the belated effort  of Napolean. Cascais finished third ahead of Complete Package who will find it hard to shed his maiden status in maiden juveniles company.
 
After True Punch’s victory, MR Singh struck gold through Tigerking, who won the Mahalakshmi Plate by a whopping 14 lengths from Sand Castles. The winner was sweetly fancied by the insiders and the right connections who made big investments on the run-away winner, who it was clear didn’t belong to the lowest class. All said and done it was a good gamble and credit to the trainer and the jockey Koshi Kumar who recorded a double, earlier helping Aravind post a double. Sand Castles gained the runner-up berth ahead of the favourite Quick Witted, while Estafania from Arjun Manglorkar’s stable who is racing each week hoping to earn his cornbill failed to even make the board.
 
In a thrilling finish, the second favourite Amreli edged out the public choice Czar to reign supreme in the Karnataka Sub-Area Cup, the plum event run over a sprint. Leading pro Sandesh produced his best on the winner to edge out Antony Raj in a pulsating contest in the final few strides. Auspicious Queen from Narayan Gowda’s yard came in for good support at end, but the filly found the sprint trip a trifle sharo to her liking and finished a creditable third suggesting she is back into her own and is ready to enter the winners’ circle the moment her think-tank fields her over a mile long trip.
 
The principal added attraction, the Dr.KM Srinivasa Gowda Memorial Trophy also produced a classic finish, the top weighted Never Give In and Bourbonaire in line for a hat-trick flashing past the post locked together before the `magic eye’ nodded in favour of the Arjun-trained Never Give In. Light The World from the stables of Vijay Singh finished a suggestive third ahead of the strongly supported Dominic’s charge Jersey King, who performed like a dud. Knotty One back after a long lay-off ,  understandably was not pushed and it will pay to  keep an eye on this Prasanna trainee.
 
Advantageously placed in at the scales, Sassy from Sulaiman Attaollahi’s yard proved too good in the Mamma’s Mink Plate run over a mile. Akshay Kumar pushed the winner ahead after the field of eight runners settled down and Sassy never let the initiative slip cantering home nice and easy to score from Star Concept and Aldila. The favourite Irish Rockstar from Darius Byramji’s yard, who never runs two races alike again disappointed her followers failing to make an impression and was out for the count even before the race came on a boil.