Trainer B Rajender Reddy’s six-year-old bay gelding Vincent Van Gogh (Multidimensional – Irises) comprehensively annihilated his seven rivals in the seven-furlong race for the Mysore Race Club Cup at RCTC on Wednesday. He stopped the clock at 1min 23.38 sec which was less than a second from the record set by Siege Courageous during Invitation Cup day last year. Had the false rails not been there, we may well have seen a new record – despite the fact that low-weight jockey Vishal Bunde failed to maintain a straight course after the turning for home. Following speedy Sea Lion till just after the 600m marker, Vincent Van Gogh took over the running thereafter to win as he liked.

The Narredus – trainer Rajesh and jockey Suraj – combined fruitfully to notch up a lucrative double with Good Deeds and Dance Along. Five-year-old mare Good Deeds (Roderic O’Connor – Remembrance Of You) completed a well-deserved hat-trick when she bagged the mile-and-half race for the JSK1 High Odds Plate start-to-finish with Suraj controlling the pace to a nicety. Runner-up No Worry was always in touch and will be worth following over the longer trips in the near future.

Following runaway Blue Chip till the turning for home where he went miles wide, Suraj Narredu on Dance Along took the shortest route home to win the seven-furlong race for The Mauritius Belle Handicap. Five-year-old mare Dance Along (Sanus Per Aquam – Dancer’s Fan) won impressively enough to suggest she may well win again. The one for the notebook is Blue Chip who will soon see the winning post.

The afternoon commenced with leading trainer Aashay Doctor-trained four-year-old filly Annette (Kingda Ka – Oyster Reef) being piloted to a start-to-finish triumph by Yash Narredu in the mile race for the Network Handicap. Seven-year-old Toussaint moved with an impressive run in the straight to finish a creditable second The change of riding tactic and a pair of blinkers worked wonders for the winning filly Annette as she was reluctant to collar the front-runners in her earlier races.

The sprint for The JSK1 Gaming Trophy was pocketed by Rutherford Alford-trained seven-year-old Thousand Words (Arabian Gulf – Ekhabinskya) who made it a start-to-finish affair in the hands of Imran Chisty. The favourite Outlander ran a lacklustre race while eleven-year-old Gazino edged out Liban for the runner-up berth. Top-weight Liban was impressive in defeat and may well win in the highest class as he has shown incredible improvement and consistency this season.

Neil Darashah’s three-year-old bay filly Kerry Gold (Phoenix Tower – Kerania) won the JSK1 Gaming Trophy start to finish in the hands of jockey Trevor. The favourite Simran’s Star could only finish third while the one for the notebook is the runner-up Keitaro who should see the winning post soon.