Suraj Narredu began the defence of his "Champion Jockey" title by putting up a brilliant performance on the second day of the opening weekend of the Bangalore Summer Season. Out of his five rides in a nine-event-card on Sunday, the young man won three, lost another by a nose and finished a close third on the fifth runner. The much sought after jockey has been riding freelance for the last few seasons and his popularity can be gauged from the fact that he has ridden for most trainers at this centre.

His ability to understand a horse by studying the past performances and evaluating his present condition by working him on the training track, help Suraj in giving invaluable feedback to the trainers. He selects his mounts with a lot of caution, as he realizes that a lot of public money rides on them. Sometimes he gets lucky by picking the right horse in a big race, wherein most of the fancied runners from the bigger stables are ridden by their retained riders.

Sunday's Juvenile Million (grade II) was one such race and Irfan Ghatala's Sun Kingdom was the beneficiary. Suraj rode him with calm and composure, and gave the horse his best chance to win the first plum of the season. Sun Kingdom did the rest, and by doing so, served notice of his "Classic Potential". The line-up for this event was truly impressive.

By virtue of having won the Winter Million, Ganapathy's Awarding topped the scales. Pesi Shroff's got-abroad filly Sunset Boulevard was re-appearing after a smashing debut at Mahalakshmi. Even though she had won a five-furlong sprint on debut, the stable felt that the present trip of seven furlongs was well within her compass. She had been working brilliantly since her arrival at Bangalore, and most track reporters felt that she would be difficult to beat.

The extra two kilos being carried by Prakash was not a worry. Prithviraj's Foreign Exchange was the other one to have impressed while winning his first start. Despite looking gross in the paddock, and evidently short of work, this horse had finished like a train to win by a widening margin. Soon after that run, a princely sum in excess of Rupees Ten Million was offered for this horse. The connections had declined it gracefully.

The bookmakers started the betting for this "Million" by offering Sunset Boulevard and Foreign Exchange as joint favourites, both being quoted at 16/10. However, with loads of money flowing in the direction of Pesi's ward, Sunset Boulevard started as an odds-on favourite. For reasons best known to bookmakers, the odds against Foreign Exchange drifted to 4/1. Awarding was available at 7's while you could write your own card on the others. Sunset Boulevard darted out of the gates and set a nice pace ahead of Awarding and Vijay Monarch.

Moon Star, Cavalry Charge and Sun Kingdom followed at regular intervals, while Foreign Exchange was seen being niggled to improve his position on the wide outside. The order remained more or less the same, as they began taking the final turn and straightening for home. Foreign Exchange was the first horse beaten in this race. He started sending distress signals near the bend, and ducked inside under pressure.

The next one to feel the heat was the leader. Sunset Boulevard refused to lengthen her strides and it was apparent that someone from the back was going to nail her. Racing well into the final furlong, Awarding came menacingly and headed the favourite. Imran Khan pulled out all stops on Awarding and rode her vigorously. Both Prakash and Imran Khan were oblivious of what was happening at the back.

Suraj Narredu had been happily biding his time. He produced Sun Kingdom on the wide outside and asked him for an effort. A couple of cracks of the whalebone saw this horse getting into his strides. Suraj put away the whip and decided to guide him with hands and heels. Sun Kingdom increased his momentum and powered away from Awarding. Sunset Boulevard faded out to end a tame third. In a post race interview with indiarace, Suraj felt that Sun Kingdom is peaking at the right time and will be well suited over a metric mile. For trainer Irfan Ghatala, this is another star in the making.

Another powerhouse finish saw two top-class "Burden Of Proof" fillies fighting every inch of ground in a seven-furlong race for horses in Class III. Both Siachen and Eagle Claws had won their maiden races in identical fashion. They were being opposed by Batista. The last-named had finished close to the winner in the Poonawalla Multimillion at Mumbai. A real cracker of a race was on the cards. Batista led till the bend and had no answers when challenged by the two fillies.

Srinath was the first to make his move. He brought Siachen on the wide outside and headed Eagle Claws briefly. Suraj was alert to this threat. He put his filly under pressure and pulled out his stick. The two of them raced abreast till the last stride. Eagle Claws retained her advantage on the rails, and lasted out to keep her neck in front.

Both Suraj and Srinath treated the railbirds to some brilliant riding. The one kilo that Siachen conceded to Eagle Claws was perhaps the deciding factor. It will be interesting to see how they shape up against each other in The Fillies Trial Stakes on the 13th of June. Suraj's third winner was the easiest of the day. Riding Neil Darashah's Aztec Gold in the lower division of a maidens event, he had the privilege of looking back repeatedly.

Aztec Gold made every post a winning one, and strode away from a hard-ridden Nessie and Plaka. Despite sporting heavy bandages, Plaka was supported to the exclusion of her rivals. The presence of jockey Prakash astride this filly was perhaps the reason for this bravado. She was hard pressed to retain her third spot today, and it may be a good idea to ignore her from a betting perspective. The upper division of this event was annexed by Puttanna's Valahak.

Here too, the Prakash ridden La Clique was backed with confidence. Valahak came with giant strides in the final stages to sail past the helpless favourite. Lokanath-trained One For The Money was the runner that impressed in this race. He finished well from the rear to run a close third. He can be earmarked for an early success. Prakash's misery continued till the end of the day.

After failing with Sunset Boulevard, Plaka, La Clique and Batista, he reported sick. He wanted permission to be allowed to rest. The authorities refused permission and forced him to fulfil his final riding engagement on Dhariwal's Cruising. The Western India champion mounted the filly and reached the gates. She had been backed all morning and was one of the shortest priced runners in the day’s card. Cruising was drawn the widest of all, and after a tardy start, was forced to travel wide for most of the way.

Irfan Ghatala's Bhagirathi overtook the leading pair of Blushing Beam and Amar Prem, and charged for home. Jockey Paswan was seen making free use of the whip, and the filly was responding wonderfully. By the time Prakash extricated Cruising from a traffic problem and made his move, Bhagirathi had gone clear. Cruising made a valiant effort to narrow the gap, but failed by half a length at the wire.

Top-weighted Stone Of Destiny came from the tail end of the pack to finish third. The other notable performance in the day's card came from the Ganapathy stable. Imran Khan rode Ordained One and String Along to sensational victories. Ordained One had to fight every inch of ground with Rezoom before prevailing by a nose. The half money favourite was lucky to benefit from the bobbing of heads.

On the other hand, rank outsider String Along led from the start and stunned a quality field by posting a bloodless victory. The winning margin of five lengths and a smart timing tell the whole story. String Along is definitely capable of scoring on promotion. Runner-up Con Artiste looked dry in the paddock, while third placed Crown Empress showed improvement over her last season performance. The day's proceedings ended with a smart victory for Arjun Mangalorkar's Immense. This Gaswar progeny was the third favourite behind Tempus Fugit and Ballibay.

Imran Chisty realized the hazards of the early jostling in this race, and kept clear of trouble. In fact, he took Immense to the front and led into the straight. Ballibay pursued him till the distance post before failing under pressure. Favourite Tempus Fugit made up some of the leeway but found Immense travelling better than him. The winner was a couple of lengths clear of Tempus Fugit at the wire. Ballibay ran a disappointing race to finish a tired third. Much was expected of this expensive filly, but she seems to have gone sour. She must be given time to regain her zest for racing.