Form is temporary and class is permanent is the accepted sports line. In horse racing, it is the other way around. And it proved right again. The in-form Alfonsine in line for a hat-trick, pitted against top quality performers including the stylish Mysore Derby winner Miracle Star produced his best in the hands of Ashhad Asbar to register a superb hat-trick. The sublime effort from the worthy winner, who only last week joined new trainer John's string after his two earlier wins under the care of Pradeep Annaiah, catapulted the Arun Kumar owned top gun into the big league. And an immensely pleased Arun Kumar posing proudly with the star performer revealed that Alfonsine, now in line for the `Horse Of The Season' crown should be supported till he is beaten, taking into account that Alfonshine has won all his three starts a furlong from home. 

"He was in fine shape after his two earlier emphatic victories, and I was confident that he would make his presence felt against some of the top performers in the field and he went one better and just blew the field off," said Arun adding that the best is yet to come from the shooting star on the horizon. 

To the credit of Ashhad Asbar, it must be mentioned that he simply outwitted many leading saddle artistes, hitting the front before negotiating the final curve, aware that his mount had the required turn of foot to floor his rivals. The strategy caught Suraj astride the favourite Miracle Star, Antony Raj guiding the fortunes of Mayne Magic and Yash Narredu partnering King's Gambit napping and before they could get their act together, the bird had flown and it was all over bar the shouting. Mayne Magic finished on purposefully at end to grab the runner-up berth ahead of Miracle Star, who was fairly and squarely beaten by a horse in rousing form.

The Sulaiman Attaollahi-trained Shutterfly and Royal Legacy from the stables of James McKeown opened joint favourites at (5/2) in the principal added attraction, the D Kumar Siddanna Memorial Cup, before money came pouring in on the James ward, smashed down to (2/1) in the betting ring, while the price on the Sulaiman ward drifted to (7/2). Edison was one other, fancied quietly and sweetly by the Michael Eswer camp, but the Michael trainee failed to match strides with the first two and finished a tame fourth. 

Leading saddle artiste Sandesh guiding the fortunes of Shutterfly, pushed the good looking filly to the front after the first furlong and stayed right there till the very end, convincingly pegging back the public choice Royal Legacy, who was ridden flat-out by leading pro Suraj Narredu. Seize The Grey from Joseph Awale's yard despite looking a trifle gross at the paddock finished a creditable third and it will not be long before this grey sheds his maiden status. The stewards conducted an enquiry after the race following the awkward jump at the start by Waves Of Wonder partnered by Rayan Ahmed. The decision makers convinced that the horse had reared up after the flag was down, rightly chose not to alter the placings declared by the judge.  

Alfonsine apart, Bright Thunder from Darius Byramji's yard was the most impressive winner, bolting in nice and easy under dark clouds and a spell of rain to the delight of the railbirds, who had made big investments on this talented colt knowing that he was head and shoulders above his 11 rivals in the Prabalo Plate run over a sprint. Windcleaver followed the run-away winner home ahead of Inicio, who was fancied strongly by the John camp in place and the advantageously placed in at the scales contestant finished third, edging out Brave Heart at the post to the joy of his supporters.

A sharp shower and the menacing dark clouds delayed the start of the concluding event, the upper division of the Borsalino Plate run over a distance of seven furlongs and the ten to one long shot Glorious Strides powerfully piloted by Neeraj Rawal again got the better of the favourite Eagle Eye in a thrilling finish. It may be recalled that the two in their last head-to-head clash on June 7 had dominated the finish over an identical trip and Glorious Strides and Neeraj Rawal had come up trumps in a close finish and again this time out the same combination beat the favourite in identical fashion a `head' separating the two at the wire. 

The lower division of the event was claimed by another in-form performer Prince Of Wales who like Alfonsine registered a fine hat-trick. The Prasanna Kumar ward on the strength of his two earlier winning efforts was backed to the exclusion of his 10 rivals and the `Prince' without really breaking  sweat cruised home, much to the appreciation of the followers of form and the many track reporters, who tipped him strongly to complete a hat-trick of wins. The Irfan Ghatala schooled Alamgir finished on strongly to finish second ahead of Exceed, who was seen finishing on well at end after sluggishly jumping out of the gates.

Irfan earlier struck through the two well supported winners Black Irish and Stella Maris. The former edged out the lesser fancied Asterion from the stables of Karthik Ganapathy in a thriller in the opening event and the on-money favourite Stella Maris piloted by the best apprentice on view, Pavan, charged home in time to snuff out the challenge of rank outsider Honeypot  in the Paddiwick Plate run over a mile. Honeypot's stablemate Art Of Romance, who was tipped to upset the applecart of Stella Maris raced in patches and it was clear half-way home that this Narayan Gowda ward was not seriously in the hunt.