Till a couple of months ago, the name Ladjadj Stephane meant little to most Indian racegoers. The unheralded Frenchman landed in the country at the invitation of trainer Amit Caddy. The stable retained his services for the Bangalore Summer Season, and the young man was quick to become a popular figure at the race course. It took him a while before scoring his first point on local soil, but once he crossed the said landmark, there's hardly been a week when Stephane has failed to enter the winner's enclosure.

He was fortunate to land additional assignments with the powerful stables of Bipin Salvi in Mysore and Narendra Lagad at Pune. The talented jockey has ridden in excess of 25 winners at the three centres, which incidentally happens to be more than any other jockey in this said period of time. His ability to work out a race with his trainer prior to executing the plan on a race track has been his greatest asset.

A fine balance in the saddle, an unruffled mind in difficult situations and a powerful finish in the straight, are some of his professional trademarks. Punters have started backing his fancied runners with a lot of confidence. The news that Amit Caddy has decided to engage him on a more permanent basis is definitely good for Indian racing, as there is an acute shortage of local riding talent at most centres across the country.

In the absence of retained rider Imran Khan, the Ganapathy stable chose to entrust their ward Magnanimity to Stephane on Saturday. The five year-old was entered in The SM Ramakrishna Rao Memorial Cup, a sprint race for horses in Class I. Magnanimity had failed in his last two efforts to pick up his first race in the highest Class. He had been pushed back into second place by Firezone and Advantage Logan in those races.

In a modest set of eight acceptors, Magnanimity had a great chance to score today. The favourite in this race happened to be Darius Byramji's Lady Duff. The small-made filly was carrying a heavy load on her back, and considering her recent form, it was difficult to support her with confidence. The last time she had clashed with Magnanimity was exactly a month ago, and the latter had finished ahead of her on that day.

There was a strong case for Magnanimity to win today, and the late support that he received in the betting ring was indicative of his form and fitness. The other one to merit attention was Irfan Ghatala's Soberano. He had run a couple of forward races this season, and was looking nice in the paddock. Imran Chisty took a good jump with Lady Duff and settled into an early lead ahead of Another Destiny, Soberano and Jersey Pride.

Stephane and Magnanimity were content to race in mid-group ahead of Stone of Destiny and the others. Chisty chose to surrender the lead to those behind him and allowed Lady Duff to fall back on the rails, as the runners tackled the first half of this race. The front group started to tighten as the field straightened for home. Jersey Pride on the rails, Lady Duff in the centre and Soberano on her outside, were almost abreast at this stage.

The one that was making a smooth move from behind was Magnanimity. Stephane gave him a lot of galloping space on the wide outside and drove him vigorously. The horse lengthened his strides and sailed past a bunch of helpless opponents. Jersey Pride managed to retain the second place ahead of Soberano and a late finishing Stone Of Destiny. Lady Duff ran her poorest race in recent times to finish off the board.

With so much racing across the country, it has become difficult for Imran Khan to travel on a daily basis. It is learnt that trainer Ganapathy has decided to use the services of Stephane on a regular basis. He completed a double with Magnanimity, as he had won the earlier race on Amit Caddy's Time Flies. The well-fancied Best Time lost a lot of ground at the start and presented this race on a platter to Time Flies. Stephane held him up in the backstretch before releasing the brakes. The horse flew on the inside rails and sailed past Leon Cavallo to register an easy victory. A hard-ridden Sweet Timer managed to save place money for his connections.

The other professional to corner glory on Saturday afternoon was jockey S John. He rode a fine treble by steering a set of well fancied runners for three different stables. He started with Sharat Kumar's Powergrid. After numerous starts in recent months, Powergrid won his first race with the present trainer. He made steady progress in the straight to collar Southern Pearl and Chesterford Touch near the winning post.

The horse looks like a late bloomer as he has been running some consistent races this season. He is capable of winning another race over a slightly longer trip. Arjun Mangalorkar's Ailsa had been a disappointing failure this season. His couple of front-running efforts had fizzled out in the straight. The trainer decided to change the tactics today, and asked John to ride him for eventual speed. Ailsa was being opposed by Recharged and Gazaki.

There was sustained support for all three runners, as each one of them had been showing out on the training track. Gazaki and Recharged led into the straight, but had no answers to the sparkling acceleration of Ailsa. John brought him from way off the pace, and had little difficulty in speeding past the pair of them. Now that Ailsa has discovered his winning form, it may not be difficult for him to pick up another race in the near future.

Five year-old maiden Youre Stunning gave John his third win for today. The Pradeep Annaiah-trained horse was a raging hot favourite in the last race of the day. He had been a failure in so many starts that one wondered why the connections were continuing to persist with him. Their efforts finally bore fruit on Saturday, when Youre Stunning justified his odds-on favouritism by romping home to an easy victory.

John allowed Suraj Narredu to show the way with Sprawling Elegance till the home turn, before asking the grey to quicken. Youre Stunning responded immediately and thundered past the leader. He won by a widening margin from Way To Fantasy and a tired Sprawling Elegance. The day started with a fluent maiden victory for Padmanabhan's Duchess Of York.

The well-bred filly (Burden Of Proof-Lyrical Bid) wasn't unduly pressed while lengthening her strides and sailing past The Darling Boy and Wild Nexus. The last-named is a good type and must be followed hereafter. The odds on the favourite began to expand as we neared racing time, but that was only a false alarm. The filly won like an odds-on favourite and her fairly fast timing confirmed that she is poised to win again. Harish rode an extremely confident race on this winner. The only other race in the day's card saw the eclipse of Kingdomofdreams.

This Darius-trainee has been fancied on many occasions, but has been unable to justify the confidence of his master. It was no different today. Under the able guidance of Imran Chisty, Kingdomofdreams came with gigantic strides in the final furlong but failed to collar a runaway Nox. This JS Pillay-trainee succeeded in making every post a winning one, and scoring in a three-way finish from the favourite and Amar Prem. Harish had the satisfaction of completing a double for the afternoon by enabling Nox to score this thrilling victory.