Irfan Ghatala's Advantage Logan showed a sparkling turn of foot while annexing The Karnataka Sub-Area Cup at the Bangalore races on Saturday. In the hands of apprentice Selvaraj, the four year-old filly came through a tightly packed field and staved off a feeble challenge from Ganapathy's Magnanimity. For a filly who had won her maiden start less than six months ago, this performance was a truly commendable.

After winning four races in the Winter Season, Advantage Logan found herself being handicapped at the top of Class I. With the handicapper rating her at 99, she was set to concede weight to most of her rivals. Even though she was appearing for the first time this season, her stable was quietly confident of her chances. Advantage Logan had been well prepared and was being campaigned over a trip suited to her style of running.

She had apparently overcome her bad habit of creating problems at the starting gates, and her regular work partner was declared to guide her today. In an open betting affair, wherein one could back any runner at 5's and over, Advantage Logan was a relative outsider. Some spirited betting on Atlantus and Magnanimity saw these two runners being installed at the top of the betting boards. Bottom-weighted Caprioska shot into a comfortable lead over a strongly urged Spot On and Magnanimity as the field traversed the first half of this race. Advantage Logan was tucked away in fourth place, while the fancied Atlantus was struggling to keep pace with the leaders.

With Spot On shooting her bolt near the final bend, it was left to Magnanimity to go in chase of Caprioska. Not many noticed Advantage Logan's move at this stage. She began her march through the middle with a minimal effort from her rider. The ease with which she overtook the leaders was a signal for her supporters to begin cheering. Advantage Logan coasted away to a fluent victory over a hard-ridden Magnanimity and a tired Caprioska.

Lock and Load made up a lot of ground to finish a close fourth. The winner is likely to graduate to graded company hereafter, as it may be pointless to force this compact looking filly into carrying back-breaking weights in handicap events. The rest of the afternoon belonged to Imran Chisty. He was seen at his best while scoring astride a couple of rank outsiders in a tricky card of eight events framed for the day. Faraz Arshad's Sunny's Secret was his first winner. A winner in his first start, this strong horse had suffered a setback in training.

It was felt that he may not have progressed sufficiently to win today's gruelling trip of nine furlongs. Ownermate Rezoom was a strong favourite ahead of Ballibay and Modern Art. With Ballibay losing all her chances at the starting gates, the supporters of Rezoom expected their choice to score a comfortable victory. However, it was not to be. Modern Art made all the running and continued to hold her advantage till the last fifty metres of this race.

Rezoom was finding it difficult to make progress, and was seen shifting out under pressure. Imran Chisty and Sunny's Secret made their move through the middle and managed to nail Modern Art near the winning post. Rezoom and Camorra finished close behind to fill the rest of the frame. Sriram Komandur's Mystere gave Imran his second victory. He took Mystere on a start to finish mission, and managed to lead into the straight.

The favourite Amazer, who was racing close behind Mystere, responded to Prakash urgings in the final furlong and overtook the leader. Imran refused to give up and his horse was good enough to fight back. Mystere dug deeper into his reserves, and came up with a second run to stun the betting public. The 20/1 rank outsider scored comfortably over Amazer and Cash Is King.

The last-named was a bit unlucky to get caught in a traffic jam on the rails, but for which, he may have finished much closer to the winner. The third and final success astride Chronicle was an armchair ride to victory. The well-bred Chronicle made mince meat of his opponents by winning on the bridle. This Tarun Thimmaih-trainee is capable of repeating on promotion, and must be backed till beaten.

Champion jockey Suraj Narredu had only two rides for the day. Irfan's Sun Salvador and Satish Narredu's Deep Blue Sky were firm favourites, and he scored with both of them. Sun Salvador was making his maiden appearance on a race track. He was aiming to lift The High Commision Trophy, and was opposed by a bunch of ordinary performers.

The well-bred Cool Mover looked like his closest rival, but a report that she was still to fully recover from a knee chip operation, was enough to send the punters into a frenzy. They went nap on Sun Salvador and backed him with confidence. The colt looked fit in the paddock and ran according to their expectations. Suraj eased him to the front and led into the straight.

He allowed Ailsa to come closer near the distance post before making his final charge. Sun Salvador responded gamely and galloped away from Matias and Ailsa. Cool Mover managed to end a poor fourth. The win astride Deep Blue Sky was achieved in rare circumstances and was much tougher. This on-money favourite was noticed to have lost his shoe near the starting gates. Before removing the other one, they had to inform the trainer.

Satish Narredu rushed along with his farrier to the starting gates. They put the shoe back in place and the runners took off to a delayed start. C Alford and Yamas led from the start and looked like the winners of this race. Deep Blue Sky was under pressure at the bend and was unable to gain on the leader. Suraj refused to give up and kept moving on his horse.

In a sudden turn of events, Deep Blue Sky got up on the last possible stride to nail Yamas on the post. Souther King came from the last position to take the third spot. The four year-old looks ready to pick up a race in his own age group. The only other race for maiden three year-olds happened to be the last race of the day. Having finished second in his previous start, Attaolahi's Count Royal received all-round support to start as a firm favourite today.

Recharged and Partagas were expected to be his closest challengers. The three fancied runners were at the helm of affairs for most of the way. Recharged, Count Royal and Partagas raced in close order, as the runners took the rising ground and turned for home. In a rare coincidence, all three of them ran out of gas at more or less the same time.

This allowed Kilimanjaro and Sky Marshal to join the fray. Ranjeet Singh took Padmanabhan's Kilimanjaro into a narrow lead in the final furlong, and managed to stave off a strong challenge from Sky Marshal. Partagas ended a fair third. Count Royal and Recharged were totally off colour, and it may be a good idea to forget about them from a betting perspective for the rest of this season.