Mysore Race Club got a shot in the arm, in their fight against certain political outfits and the local administration, with regard to continuity of racing activities at the present race course at Mysore. A vacation division bench of the High Court of Karnataka dismissed a public interest litigation filed by an M.L.A. of a neighbouring town and a local N.G.O. The division bench, headed by Justice Ram Mohan Reddy, termed the petition as not ‘public interest’ but ‘politically motivated’, having no locus standi. The Executive Engineer of the Public Works Department had on December 7, 2010, served a notice to M.R.C. at the instance of the Deputy Commissioner of Mysore, to stop its activities.

The Honourable Chief Minister of the state had on the 10 instant stayed the notice in question and had allowed M.R.C. to carry on its activities till further orders. The Honourable High Court, while dismissing the petition observed that the C.M. had rightly stayed the operation of the notice, as it was illegal. The bench further questioned as to “what power and jurisdiction has this Executive Engineer got? Is he an estate officer?” The Mysore Race Club, standing over 139 acres, is one of the most picturesque race courses in the world with the majestic Chamundi Hills forming the back drop.

The ‘greens’ of a full-fledged Golf Course adds splendour to this heritage landmark. Wednesday’s races got underway with the racing fraternity observing a minute’s silence bereaving the untimely death of Jockey A.R. Mani. It may be recalled that Mani had a massive fall from his mount in the concluding race on Wednesday last. The jockeys paid their condolence to their colleague by wearing a black arm band. Zareer Darashah-trained Ohiyesa (Ontario-I Fear Tothing) won The Sweet Memories Cup, the feature of the ten-race card, at Mysore, on Wednesday. Ohiyesa went into the race as the public rage, at returns less than evens.

Ohiyesa entered the straight, with plenty in hand and surged ahead to take charge, opening a gap of over five lengths. Passing the distance post, jockey Valdir De Souza looked back and finding himself well in front, put his hands down. Guided Missile, who was travelling in the last position till the top of the straight, picked up momentum and came up menacingly towards Ohiyesa. Realizing the danger, De Souza started to ride out in a hurry and turned out to be lucky as the winning post came to his rescue. The overconfidence of the rider in judging the race would have cost him dearly and Ohiyesa being the firm favourite a loss would not have gone well with the racing patrons.

Valdir De Souza had earlier in the day ridden Darashah-trained Authoritative (Ikhtyar-Millywakay) to a popular victory in the lower division of The Planter’s Plate. As an ‘odds-on’ favourite, Authoritative raced behind Unique Star, Worth A Diamond and Aaj Tak till the final bend and improved to take charge inside the final 400 metres. Aaj Tak chased the winner in the last 100 metres to take the second spot while Unique Star finished a faraway third. It was a close finish in the higher division, between River Rule and Party Tonite. Jugnu was racing in front, midway up the straight, with Party Tonite in second.

River Rule was showing all eagerness to gallop on the straight but apprentice S.R. Santosh Kumar looked to be very casual in his approach and let the filly accelerate in the final 50 metres when Party Tonite had surged ahead. The two went past the winning post locked together and the photo finish went in favour of River Rule (Royal Kingdom-House On The Hill). The apprentice should thank his stars to have got the photo finish in his favour, lest he would have had to pack his bag on a long holiday. The Stewards have opened an enquiry into the running and riding of both River Rule and Party Tonite.

C.V.G.K. Kishore’s Alejandros (Tejano-Ace Venture) finally won a race after several failed attempts. Analika was on a start-to-finish mission when Alejandros joined and steered clear, in the higher division of The Mangalagangothri Plate. Amazon got the better of Analika by a ‘head’ to take the second spot. Pratap Kamath’s Hero’s Dominance (Bee’s Prospector-Curio) won the lower division of The Mangalagangothri Plate, the opening race of the afternoon. Creeping up on the far side with Actor and Passage of Time in front, Hero’s Dominance with R. Ravi on the saddle surged to take charge and win. Golden Nymph appeared late on the scene to take the second spot ahead of Actor. Satin Slipper received strong support during race time, with the quote closing at 12/10, but she had to bite the dust finishing second behind Ahira (Serious Spender-Chaventre) even with the best efforts of Imran Chisty, in the lower division of The Avalanche Plate.

Ahira, who made it start-to-finish gave trainer Pratap Kamath and jockey R. Ravi a good double. Trainer Vikram Appachu had a back-to-back double, romping home with Marianella and Hampton Court. Marianella (Hymn-Able Princess) hit the front soon after jumping out and kept Mister Trooper at bay towards the closing stages of the race, in the higher division of The Kandla Plate. Jericho came with a sustained run to finish third. Hampton Court (San Francisco-Golden Collection) beat Happiness and All For Cash to lift the Brig. C.D. Mohan Memorial Plate. Moving from a third position, Hampton Court surged ahead of the early leader Happiness to win. All For Cash went for a rails run inside the final furlong but was badly hampered for run as Happiness closed the gap with an erratic run and that probably cost him the winner’s circle.

Santosh Rao’s A run to Remember (Forest Fair-Chips) slipped in along the inner rails to beat Maratha Conqueror to the second place, in the lower division of The Kandla Plate. Bee For You finished third ahead of Prince of Argyle. Vishal Yadav-trained Arabian Memories (Serious Spender-Insatiable) was ridden by Melvyn Maseyk to a pillar-to-post victory in the higher division of The Avalanche Star Plate, the concluding race of the day. Mr. Magic warmed up late to finish second while Fantabulous Prince covered ground from behind to take the third spot.