The Harvins Bangalore 2000 Guineas race held on Saturday, attracted a small field of seven runners. Trainer Ganapathy had pitted two of his recent winners in Class I--Confident Victory and Badge of Gold against the public favourite and Padmanabhan-trained Southern Charge. Much was expected last year from Southern Charge, but because of his wayward habits during the summer season his trainer gave him a long break. He was brought back to racing a couple of weeks ago, and in his first reappearance won a race in class I. His style of winning that day was not too impressive, and therefore, the bookmakers were ready to take bets on him at 7/4 in the 2000 Guineas. All seven contenders were well turned out and most of them had their supporters in the betting ring. The favourite was looking fairly relaxed. On taking off, Tony Farina and Southern Charge found themselves in the lead with Prakash making a desperate effort to go to the front with Confident Victory. Royal Ambassador lost all his chances when he was left at the gates. Confident Victory led most of the way and was first into the straight. The favourite was making steady progress on his outside and was catching up with each stride. Srinath was trying to push Badge of Gold through the middle, while Colgan-ridden Vanquish was devouring ground on the wide outside. It was bound to be a great finish and so it was. Southern Charge took over at the 100-metre marker and was well ridden to hold Vanquish at bay. Confident Victory and Badge of Gold stayed on to fill the frame. Dr Poonawalla and Padmanabhan led in a very popular winner. Capt Jamshed Appoo, a sporting part owner of the winner, was missed at the ceremonies and is reported to be recovering from a recent illness. We congratulate him for this victory and wish him a speedy recovery. Southern Charge is improving with each run and his supporters are excited about his future prospects. The "Black Sunday" syndrome seems to be following jockey Prakash and his supporters. Ever since that infamous day, Prakash has ridden many favourites and has failed on each one of them barring Personified. For the record, Personified was available on that occasion at 25/100 and was unbackable. Prakash's fans have huge holes at their pockets and are now looking for divine intervention. He started today's proceedings with his mount Fantastic Quest being backed down to 70/100. The pair of them tried to steal the race from start to finish and were a few lengths clear at the distance post. However, jockey Colgan was unperturbed on a well-bred Inspiring Trust (Razeen-Almaden), and had to only relax his hold on the filly to sail past Prakash and Fantastic Quest. Speedy Flair Queen was a fair third. Another mount of his, which took loads of money down the drain, was Storm Regent in the RCTC Trophy for horses in the highest class. This horse had good credentials and had run a decent mock race a couple of weeks ago based on which it was backed by all and sundry. In the race itself, Storm Regent took off in mid-bunch and steadily retired to the back when the race took a serious turn. The front-running Exclusive Gesture was tackled by Dare Don, before Lionheart came with a spirited run and beat the two of them. Ryan Marshall rode Welcome Back to a very comfortable victory in a class III race over seven furlongs. Prakash was astride the morning favourite Mystified but was displaced at the top of the betting boards by the eventual winner of this race. Ryan allowed Remarkable Stride to lead her into the last 400 metres before pushing her hands and heels to win from Lord of Illusion. Mystified was a curious third. Much money was wagered on Flaming Lamborgini who ran a disappointing fourth. Amit Caddy's two year-old Join The Party was an easy winner of the other youngsters race framed in the day’s card. Sitting in an early second position, he sped away from his helpless rivals and Vivek had the luxury of looking back at them in the final stages of the race. Srinath punched Spirited Player into second place ahead of Rare and Precious. Another horse seen to advantage in the day’s card was Irfan Ghatala-trained Cannavaro. This horse was making his maiden appearance on a racetrack and left a wonderful impression on all the knowledgeable patrons. While Adorabella led the frontrunners, Cannavaro was settled in mid bunch and was seen racing well within himself. He was shown daylight in the straight and in a trice was a distance clear of the rest. He has the makings of a top class horse and should be followed in his future engagements. There was much money on True Confidence, who got entangled and briefly sat down in the starting gates .Her jockey took evasive action and jumped off his mount. However, the stipes, starter and the senior veterinary doctor available at the starting gates did not think it necessary to pull out the horse for a routine examination. They ordered the jockey to remount and started the race. True Confidence finished dead last in a field of 11 runners. Samrat Ashok, Rapido Gonsales and Awesome Beauty were easy winners in the other races of the day. Trainers Byramji and Irfan Ghatala shared the day’s honours, both saddling a brace of winners.