Leading trainer Jaggi Dhariwal saddled a fine treble at the Bangalore races on Friday and continued his march towards claiming the professional honours at the end of the ongoing Winter Season. A lean patch of almost five weeks, during which he had allowed Irfan Ghatala to make up a lot of ground, came to an end this afternoon. For a stable which was clocking nearly ten points every month, February was forgettable. His fans were beginning to feel the heat, and many amongst them were confused with this scenario. However, the victories of Practicallyperfect, Capote and Hamsafar enabled him to surge clear of the chasing pack. Many horses belonging to his yard have been noticed putting in some good work on the training track, and it would be fair to assume that the stable shall score a few more times before the end of this season. One single factor that has stood out during this period has been the condition of his runners. They look wonderful in the paddock and run on expected lines. With a talented string of horses under his charge, Dhariwal is bound to continue dominating the racing scene at this centre.

An ordinary card of eight events was conducted in hard going on Friday. The Nilgiri's Trophy, a seven-furlong handicap for horses five years old and over in Class II, was accorded the pride of place as the day's feature. The top-weighted pair of Bucephalas and Joriki headed the betting boards. There was a lot of hype around the former, and this led to a rush of money in the rings. However this turned out to be totally misplaced, as Bucephalas ran like a dud and finished in the ruck. He seems to have lost his zest for racing and needs some rest before getting back into some sort of rhythm. Caprioska got straight down to business and led then into the straight. The fancied pair tried to stay in touch with the leader before getting exhausted. Byramji's Caspian Sea (Mr Mellon-Sea Of Love) raced prominently on the rails, and took the shortest way around the home turn. He wore down Caprioska near the distance post and skipped away to establish a winning lead at that stage. Apprentice Rajesh Kumar made full use of his allowance and rode a neat race on him. Even though Captain's Lover emerged from the pack, it was a bit too late. Caspian Sea hung onto his lead and finished ahead of Captain's Lover, Spark Of Isis and a tired Joriki.

Like mentioned earlier, the rest of the day belonged to Dhariwal. The Ardent Knight Trophy, a maiden's event over 1,100 metres, was split into two divisions. Dhariwal's Capote and Practicallyperfect were the public choices in these two races. Capote (Diffident-Caprese) had finished second to Magnitude in an earlier start, and had subsequently been gelded. He was given another outing before re-appearing on Friday. The fact that Magnitude had won the Governor's Trophy in the interim, enahnced Capote's chances today. He was fancied marginally ahead of Affirmative and Intrigue. With Intrigue setting a fast pace, and Affirmative going in chase, Ruzzan decided to wait with Capote. He saved ground by keeping him on the rails, and brought him out only in the final furlong. Capote devoured ground to sail past Affirmative and win easier than the official verdict. Intrigue managed to hang onto the third spot ahead of a late-finishing Mountain Storm. The last-named will be a different proposition in her next start.

Practicallyperfect (Sunday Doubt-Sterling Prospect) made use of her initial speed to win the day's opener. With the withdrawal of on-money favourite Cinnamon Rush on veterinary grounds, there was hardly any opposition to this Dhariwal trainee. Mark Gallagher was alert from an inside draw and this enabled the light-framed filly to dominate the proceedings. Lightning Express chased her into the straight but that was all she could do. Practicallyperfect lengthened her strides and ran away from Bourbon Rock and Living Legend. Bourbon Rock was impressive on debut. He jumped sideways, trailed the pack into the straight and made his move only in the final stages of the race. His fluent strides allowed him to beat all except the winner. Bourbon Rock will be too good to miss hereafter.

The last leg of the treble was achieved through Hamsafar (Inner City-Nafazaka). This tiny filly had run on numerous occasions but was still a maiden. She was placed second in her previous outing, but the punters chose to ignore that performance and allowed her to start as a 50/1 outsider. They chose to support Sun Forever and Plaka in this race. With Plaka losing a lot of ground at the start, and Sun Forever struggling to keep pace with the leaders, it was evident that there was going to be an upset in this race. In the hands of apprentice Vaibhav, Hamsafar improved from her third slot and made a charge towards the winning post. She proved to be much too strong for a hard-ridden Smart Exotic today. The rest of the field headed by Indian Royalty struggled at the back. For the records, firm favourite Sun Forever literally came to a trot in the straight and finished at the tail end of this twelve-horse field. She must be left alone from a betting perspective in the near future.

A class III handicap over seven furlongs was also divided into two groups. A real exciting finish was witnessed in the upper division of this race. Mahesh-trained The Senator garnered a lot of support and started as an even-money favourite. He was another fancied runner to bite the dust today. The moment Suraj asked him for an effort in the straight, the horse folded up under pressure and stopped in his tracks. With the other fancied runner in this race, Spark of Solitaire, refusing to come out of the gates, it was left to Vituoso and Lester (Glory Of Dancer-Santella Katie) to fight out the finish. Under some strong driving, Lester responded gamely to Jagadeesh's handling and managed to get the better of Virtuoso near the winning post. The lower division was won in effortless fashion by Satish Narredu's Simply Phenomenal (Burden Of Proof-Scaglietti). Suraj eased him into an early lead and the five-year-old kicked away from Prashastha and Cash Is King.

The day ended with a superb performance from the Prassanna Kumar-trained Valahak (Royal Gladiator-Liquid Gold). This horse had impressed all concerned with a superlative effort in an earlier outing. He was never off the bit while cantering away to an easy victory in the lower class. Even though he had been penalized a full class by the handicapper, racegoers were happy to support him at even money in this race. His supporters were a confused lot when they saw the odds against this horse expanding. Some steady support for Swift Star and Moves Goodenough saw the odds against Valahak doubling at race time. John chose to ride Valahak differently today. He held him in check and allowed Moves Goodenough to lead into the straight. Valahak was shown daylight in the straight and put under pressure. He responded gamely and managed to go past the leader. Swift Star rallied late from the rear to finish a close third. Valahak is in prime form and is definitely headed for the highest class.