The H H Sri Chamaraja Wadiyar Memorial Gold Cup, a handicap sprint for horses in the highest Class featured a well filled card of eight events framed for Thursday's racing at Mysore. Exclusive Grey and Sunny Baba were a pair of four-year-olds who were bidding to repeat their earlier performances on the track. By virtue of having cantered away to effortless victories, both these runners had received stiff penalties and found their ratings cross the magical figure of eighty. They were set to receive chunks of weight from the experienced Diamond Hunter and Rare And Precious. The other runners did not merit attention as they lacked current form and fitness. The Prakash-ridden Exclusive Grey received all round support ahead of Harish's mount Rare And Precious. The two market leaders inspired confidence by their looks in the parade ring. The race was run at a fairly hectic pace. Sunny Baba and Jersey Pride set a fast tempo in front of a bunch of no-hopers, while Aurelian, Exclusive Grey and Diamond Hunter were seen biding their time at the back. Rare And Precious seemed to be running his own race as he stuck to the tail end of the field. The race took an interesting turn near the bend. The front-runners ran out of gas and began to fade from the scene. Aurelian seized the advantage on the rails while Exclusive Grey charged on the outside. In the meantime Diamond Hunter started to gain ground on the leaders. However, none of them were ready for Rare And Precious, who came through the middle of the pack. He accelerated smoothly and under the brilliant guidance of Harish was quick to put his neck in front. It was a matter of retaining the advantage thereafter, and Harish was up to the task. He rode relentlessly and the game horse responded beautifully. They made light of a backbreaking 64 kilos, and managed to win by a neck from a hard ridden Exclusive Grey and Diamond Hunter. Trainer Prithviraj has to be complimented for keeping the winner in good nick. It was a day of well-supported horses landing the spoils. Three quick gambles were landed with Land Of Smiles, Kangaroo Punch and The Last Samurai in the first few races of the afternoon. Girinath's Land Of Smiles had little problem in catching up with a runaway Minchu and retiring an easy winner. Shafiq rode a calm and relaxed race on her. The sparingly raced Kangaroo Punch came with giant strides to go past a hapless Shot Of Gold. Vivek seemed to have immense confidence in his mount, as he sat unconcerned for most of the way. The winner is in great heart and can be expected to score an encore. Sirdar Singh's The Last Samurai was racing over a trip of seven furlongs. It is common knowledge that the horse likes it longer, and this trip was a bit sharp for him. Previous outing winner Star Adventure was a strong favourite all morning, but the odds against this filly began to drift alarmingly. With loads of money being wagered on The Last Samurai, the big made horse reached the gates as an even-money chance to win this race. Suraj Narredu, who has ridden him a couple of times in the past, decided to wait with him till well into the straight. He pulled out his stick near the distance post and asked him to quicken. The Last Samurai asserted his superiority by lengthening his strides and sweeping past the leaders. War Head came with a long stretch run to push The Gain into third place. Suraj completed his double with a hard-fought victory astride his father's Best Time. In a ding-dong battle for supremacy and a finish dominated by the bobbing of heads, Best Time was a nose ahead of an unlucky Mercutio. After missing the action on the first couple of days of this season, Suraj has been riding regularly at Mysore. He has almost caught up with Prakash in terms of the number of winners. Prakash hasn't lost the jockey's championship at this centre for the last many years. With both riders riding successfully, a real battle is possible this year. Trainer Nityanand was the other professional to score twice. Easy and Admiranda were his two winners. Easy scored at the expense of hot favourite Recollection. With Zaios and Recollection racing in front, Gaurav Sapra and Easy graced the third spot for most of the way. Easy devoured ground in the straight to post an easy victory. Recollection, Zaios and Movie Queen filled the rest of the frame. Admiranda was the medium of a nice gamble landed by this stable. The three-year-old filly had run fair races on a couple of occasions when she had participated in maiden company during the Bangalore Summer Season. She was bottom weighted in a mile race for horses in Class IV. Red Stone was a hot favourite in this race. The horse had run a couple of superb races over the same trip and it was a trifle unfortunate that he was still a maiden. It was amusing to see the odds against the favourite rising to even-money. One could not understand the reason for this generosity on the part of the bookmakers. The reasons became apparent soon after the race was over. Shoban Babu rode an indifferent race on Red Stone, and brought him with a flourish at the end to lose by half a length to Admiranda. The jockey made little efforts in the backstretch to improve his position, and the favourite was running last till entering the straight. In all probability, the stipendiary stewards are likely to hold an enquiry into this run. Admiranda, despite losing ground at the start, was lucky to win this race. The only other race in the day's card belonged to Britto's Awesome Beauty. The bay mare was unlucky to lose her last start at Bangalore, on which occasion, she had got caught on the inner rails for most of the way. With no room to gallop, Wayne Smith looked awkward on that day. He chose to ride her again today. He steered her to the front, and without taking any chances, rode her with confidence. Awesome Beauty retired as one of the easiest winners on Thursday afternoon. Super Sonic and Fanaa were able to save place money for their supporters.