Wednesday's racing at Mysore saw an inspired performance from last outing winner Thursday Night in the day’s feature event The Sweet Memories Cup, run over a distance of 1,400 metres. As a three year-old, Thursday Night was highly rated having run very close to Berlioz in one of its outings. After a chequered career with an odd victory here and there, this horse changed hands and was taken over by trainer Dinesh Pujar as a 6 year-old. He seems to have totally transformed him and had brought him out earlier in the season to win by a widening margin, on a day when he was heavily supported in the betting ring. The handicapper gave him a huge penalty for that victory and the horse was put up by more than a class. He was, therefore, neglected in the day’s feature since most experts opined that he was out-handicapped. He was easily backable at 6/1.
Arkwright, Fire Brigade and Midsummer Star were the early frontrunners in this race with Thursday Night, Sandokan and Spark of Glory in close attendance. The moment the race took a serious turn, Ranjeet Singh pushed Thursday Night to the front and had him on a tight leash thereafter, to win by an expanding margin from a hard ridden Spark of Glory. Fancied Forever Grande was lethargic at the start and had to come wide into the straight, despite which it finished an impressive third. He should be supported in his next appearance during the current season. It needs to be seen what the handicapper plans to do with the rating of the winner. Thursday Night is in superb form and may defy the handicapper again.
Darashah and Gnaneshwar combined effectively to lead in two market fancies Gold Grid and Royal Assault on a day when many fancied horses won their respective races. Gold Grid was made to carry the top weight in a 1,400 metres trip for horses in the lowest class. He managed to extricate himself from a bad position and got up in the last few strides to wear down Analika who had made all the running. Urban Legend came with a late finishing effort and ended a fair third. However, it was Royal Assault who was a very impressive winner of her race. This mare had raced without success in far superior company, and today’s performance indicates that she is back to her best. Maratha Conquerer was backed down to favouritism, and was seen running prominently in front with Loremo, Baghzad and Shooting Venus, while Royal Assault was seen gracing the middle of a packed field. On straightening up, the front-runners came under pressure, and Royal Assault took the wide gap in front of her to emerge a very easy winner, in spite of the top weight that she was made to carry. In her present form and condition, it would be prudent to support her again.
A nice little gamble was landed on Kamath-trained Artistic Way, when he was backed down from 4/1 to 14/10. Jagadeesh took this gelding on a start-to-finish mission and lasted out to win from a late finishing Estrella and Super Chieftain. A lot of money was also backed on Fire Alarm but that seemed to have been misplaced. This mare should be left alone during the present season. Artistic Way was in distress after the race and the jockey dismounted soon after passing the winning post.
There was a strong buzz that the favourite in the fourth race was not going to win and, therefore, should be left alone. The bookmakers also seemed to have heard it because in a few moments they took the odds against Royal Emblem from 18/10 to 9/2. All sorts of horses were backed thereafter, and it was Winning Attitude which started as the favourite. Pleaser led the field from Priceless Legacy, Lanzarote and Winning Attitude, while Royal Emblem was happy to be tucked in on the rails in seventh position. The jockey had him nicely hidden behind the front-runners, when all of a sudden there was a huge opening in front of Royal Emblem. One small push from the jockey and Royal Emblem saw himself a few lengths clear of the tiring Pleaser and Priceless Legacy. The bookmakers as well as the punters were pretty confused by this result.
The upper division of this event saw western India import Gypsy's Advise attract a lot of support along with Glint Revelation and Famous for Free. However, it was the speedy Faster Than Light who went to the front and kept the three fancied runners at bay. For the record, it was Glint Revelation who finished second, a short head in front of Famous For Free.
Two inconsequential races for horses in the lowest class were won by Activisto and Red Emblem. Trainers Darashah and Sharat Kumar were joined by Gnaneshwar in sharing the day’s professional honours, each being associated with a double.
