It's time the stewards and the managing committee members of the Bangalore Turf Club (BTC) crack the whip and ensure that the summer season generates maximum interest among the racing buffs. Non-competitive small cards no longer attract the railbirds and the club too fails to generate the expected revenue. It's no secret that the club is facing a financial crisis and it is clear that no serious attempt is made to get the cash registers ringing. The mandarins of the club, appeared happy and satisfied framing a lop-sided six-event cards on the two days this week-end, not understanding or realising that they need to do better. No more can the elected administrators of the game escape from the responsibility of offering good, clean and competitive racing. The perennial excuses, summer heat, insufficient rains and lack of entries from trainers are no more accepted. "Paisa Vasool' is what the racing buffs are looking for and certainly not the poor six-event cards dished out to them. 

Most of the operators at the tote windows were snoozing and you can't blame them simply because there was no activity or rush to secure the tickets. The dull card, particularly on Sunday failed to generate betting interest at the tote and bookmakers too confirmed that the betting volumes in the ring were much smaller. 

The fact is that the management committee understands the issue, but is not able to plug the leak which is now starting to expose the intent and efficiency required to successfully address the issue. Stricter guidelines and meaningful penalties will help get the habitual offenders (trainers) back on line. And to do that one needs to be brave and bold, but sadly in this scenario, forget one being bold and brave, no one here is really ready to bell the cat. 

Now to write and narrate what happened: what went right and what went wrong in racing on Sunday. The feature event, the Mother's Day trophy produced a shock result, the 20 to one long shot, Aquastic from trainer Sulaiman Attaollahi's yard galloping home nice and easy in the hands of Yash Narredu, much to the chagrin of the followers of form, who punted big on the public rage Sunshine from Irfan Ghatala's yard. The winner established control approaching the distance post and hung on gamely to peg back the half-money favourite piloted by leading pro Suraj Narredu. Maana from the stables of Darius Byramji was seen finishing on purposefully at end in this 1500 metres trip, gaining the third place and it will not be long before this Darius trainee earns her winning bracket, preferably over an extended trip. 

Sulaiman next struck through the well-fancied Efficacy in the Capricorn Stud Plate run over a distance of 1300 metres. A picture of fitness at the parade ring, Efficacy hit the front soon after the creditable field of seven runners came under the starter's flag and never let the initiative slip, sprinting home in emphatic fashion. Stablemate Lux Aeterna partnered by top pro Trevor Patel followed the winner home ahead of the second in demand at the betting ring, Promiseofthefuture, who it was clear found the trip too hot for his liking. 

Leading pro Antony Raj astride the Prasanna Kumar schooled Prince Of Wales produced a power-packed performance to gain the day in the concluding event, the upper division of the Razeen Plate run over a distance of seven furlongs. The eight to one shot after cruising past the on-money favourite Valiant Stream was locked in a ding-dong battle with another lesser fancied contestant Glorious Strides piloted by RN Darshan before gaining the verdict in the final few strides. Valiant Stream finished a tame third ahead of El Rey, who performed below par. 
The lower division of the event proved to be a walk in the park for the on-money favourite Refined Aggression from Prasanna Kumar's yard. The winner, back after a year long lay-off outclassed his seven rivals without really being extended  and on the strength of this performance should be supported till he is beatan, knowing that will not happen in a hurry. Second in demand at the betting ring, Agrador, who had consistently produced a couple of good efforts in the morning trials failed to reproduce the efforts on the trial track and finished a poor third behind the runner-up Dr.Ash. 

The fact that he is a `bleeder' didn't stop many supporters of Senor Cherie from trainer Faraz Arshad's camp from placing their bets at nourishing odds (4/1) in the Agumbe Plate run over a sprint and the `Senor' put the `Cherry' on the cake romping home with all blood vessels healthy and intact to the delight of his followers, who fancied him strongly on the brilliant mock race he won by more than 15 lengths on April 18. The brave hearts were duly rewarded. The top weighted True Punch gained the runner-up berth ahead of the sweetly fancied Felisa from Irfan Ghatala's yard. The advantageously placed in at the scales, Basilica too had her fair share of followers, but she failed to match strides with the top four and eventually failed to even save money in place.

The Narayan Gowda camp pulled off a successful gamble on Makoto in the opening event, the Royal Challenge Plate run over a distance of 1500 metres. Backed down from (13/4) to (6/4)  in the betting ring, Makoto confidently piloted by Rajesh Kumar made every post a winning one, easily pegging back the challenge of the favourite Agape, who found the winner too hot to handle.