Only four horses had accepted to face the starter in a well-endowed sprint race for three year-olds called The Kempegowda Cup. Logans Run and In The Zone were the pre-race joint favourites, with Pastiche having her own group of supporters. The event was full of drama, first in the bookmakers ring and thereafter on the track. Loads of money came pouring onto Pastiche making him the first favourite just prior to the start of the race. As soon as the loading bugle was sounded, Pastiche unseated jockey Prakash and started to run loose on the racetrack. It took the handlers some time before they caught him and brought him back to the starting gate. There was a murmur at the course as his supporters thought that he was going to be withdrawn. That was not to be, as he was stalled immediately. It was now the turn of Logans Run. He sat down in the gates and got entangled before he was pulled out and withdrawn from the race. As soon as they were despatched, Lord Of Illusion lost ground at the gates, while Pastiche darted away from In the Zone. The order remained the same except that the margin of victory was becoming bigger and bigger with each stride. Lord of Illusion stayed on to be third. Pastiche can train on to be a top-class sprinter. Lots of money was lost on In The Zone, who was totally flat-footed and should be left alone for a while.
The Dariya Daulat Trophy was the other big event in the day’s card. It was supposed to be a match race between Ganapathy's Confident Victory and Padmanabhan's Rhapsidion Snow. The former had apprentice Gaurav Sapra in the saddle while the latter was ridden by the Irishman Daniel Grant. The bookmakers favoured Confident Victory ahead of Rhapsidion Snow. Gaurav Sapra and Confident Victory were the fastest out of the gates and were being chased till the bend by Symbol of Speed. Daniel Grant was sitting close by and biding his time. With 350 metres to go, Rhapsidion Snow swept past Confident Victory and in a trice opened up a gap of more than three lengths.
Just as people were hailing the front-runner and putting down their binoculars, Gaurav Sapra was seen riding at his vigorous best, enabling Confident Victory to gallop resolutely and nail the leader in the last few strides. It was the lack of a recent race run as well as the 11 kg weight advantage enjoyed by the winner that went against the runner up. Rhapsidion snow was a gallant loser and lives to fight another day. It was a popular win for Confident Victory and the young apprentice was lustily cheered by the knowledgeable crowd at Bangalore. It is hoped that this talented youngster keeps progressing and does not blot his copybook in the future.
The third maiden 2 year-olds race of the season was once again won by a horse owned by Dr Ramaswamy and ridden by Prakash. It is difficult to comprehend the reason why the other top stables are not preparing their youngsters and taking on the babies belonging to the turf baron. They are either lacking the raw material or the spirit to compete. Scenic Melody was quoted at unbackable odds because of her breeding and trackwork. She won, as she liked from Pinaakini and Tall Guy. She took time to get into her rhythm, and was stretching out in the end to confirm that she will be well suited over longer trips.
Prithviraj-trained Regal Music landed a big gamble for the connections in a sprint race for horses in class IV. This gelding was a winner of two races last winter and had been steadily brought down in handicap over the last 12 months. Today; it was entrusted to jockey Appu and was accordingly backed down to favouritism. He looked the part in the paddock and gave no anxious moments to his fans while running. With no-hopers Worth a Million and Fast Machine setting the early pace, Appu decided to race alongside Prakash-ridden Global Genius in joint third position. Regal Music responded to Appu's urgings in the straight and sped away from a late finishing My Winning Charm. Global Genius was under the stick while finishing third.
A class III race over a sprint was divided into two divisions. In the top division, Padmanabhan-trained Perfect Tribute was backed down to odds-on favouritism. She justified the confidence of her backers by coming with a long stretch run to overtake the front-running South Star. In the lower set, it was Top Of The Class ridden by Colgan who went to the front and kicked on to stave off the challenge posed by the fancied Sunnyland and favourite Sugar Brown. Colgan had another success when he steered Sontag Etoile for Darius Byramji to an effortless victory.
The day belonged to champion trainer S Ganapathy. He saddled a treble for the day, while his retained jockey Prakash shared the riding honours with Colgan, each riding a double during the afternoon.
