The cheerful faces at the Bangalore Turf Club reflected the mood of the punters, as fancied horses performed creditably and won most of the races in the eight event card framed on Saturday. After a severe drubbing in the last couple of weeks at Mysore and Bangalore, race goers were tending to lose their confidence. It was partially restored as six prime favourites won during the afternoon. Most of them were backable at reasonably good odds.
The Civil Service Trophy, a seven furlong race for maiden three year olds, was the feature event of the day. Enduring Star, Raptor Force, Carte Blanche and Spandau Ballet were the prime contenders for lifting this trophy. On all known form, Enduring Star looked better than the rest. The only thing that confused the racing public was his lethargic run in his previous start. He had been backed down to odds-on favouritism in his only start this season, but had finished ten lengths behind the winner on that occasion. Raptor Force, the other strongly fancied runner in the field, was making his racing debut and had been sharpened in a mock race held a fortnight ago. Enduring Star was looking exceedingly well in the parade ring and was supported strongly. The price on the others began to ease as the horses reached the
starting gates.
The Hyderabad challenger Carte Blanche was pushed to go into an early lead ahead of Enduring Star, Spandau Ballet and Raptor Force while the rest of the field was struggling to keep pace with the frontrunners. It was quite obvious at this stage itself that Enduring Star was travelling the best of the lot. Appu relaxed his hold on the favourite as the heads turned for
home, and, Enduring Star went striding clear of the others. The race was over, bar the shouting. There was a fight for the minor placings with Raptor Force finishing on well to take the second spot ahead of a hard ridden Spandau Ballet and a tiring Carte Blanche. With this victory, Enduring Star confirmed his earlier form, of having run a close second to Star Of Washington and indicated that more shall be heard about him in the future.
The Brig RCR Hill Memorial Trophy was the other trophy race in the card and was split into two divisions. Apprentice Mahesh rode Apertini to an exciting victory in the upper division of this race. He took a good jump and settled his ward behind the front running duo of Easy and Callista, and breezed past them in the final stages of the race. Alchesaye came with a belated run, but it was not good enough to threaten the winner. The lower division was annexed by the Habib Khan trained Crackerjack. Imran Khan allowed My Friend Paul to go ahead before passing him in the straight. He pulled out the stick and goaded Crackerjack to take the lead, and held on to his diminishing margin from a late finishing Ciboney, My Friend Paul, Seize The Night and Powerfuldreams. All five of them finished in close proximity of each other.
Champion jockey B Prakash set the mood for the day when he guided the Manohar trained public choice Musical Paradise to a start to finish victory. He was content to ride her with hands and heels as she lengthened her strides and went away from a fast finishing Opprimo. The rest were no match to these two and will have to improve a lot to win a race in the near
future. Prakash completed a popular double when he rode the last outing winner Regal Ransom to a quick encore and scored effortlessly from a bunch of disinterested opponents. Super Sonic confirmed that she was the best of the rest when she came from behind and occupied the runner-up berth ahead of Vijaysamrat. Regal Ransom clocked a good timing, and considering the fact that she was carrying the top weight, she can be expected to progress further in her career.
The well bred Calming Influence from the stables of Darius Byramji made an impressive debut in another race for maidens. She was facing a bunch of horses that had placed in their previous runs. She ran a bit green today, as she lacked racing experience. Allowing the speedy Standing Ovation to lead her into the straight, Suraj produced her on the outside and asked her to
quicken. Calming Influence ducked-in under pressure. Suraj has to be complimented for being alert while steadying his mount at a crucial stage of the race. He nursed her back into contention, and after a couple of cracks, pushed her to a narrow victory. Telemacchus came with a menacing run to displace the early leader Standing Ovation and took the second place. The winner displayed a lot of class and should be a different proposition in her future starts.
Padmanabhan trained Leagues Apart was the shortest priced runner in the day's card. He had run a good second to All My Colours and considering the fact that he was running against a moderate set of horses of his own age group, he was backed down to 70/100. Wayne Smith was content to bide his time on Leagues Apart as Bennythebull tried to make all the running and led from Allegro and A Run To Remember. The order remained more or less the same
as they took the final bend. The supporters of the favourite were beginning to panic as Wayne pulled out the stick near the bend, and switched his horse to the wide outside. Although Leagues Apart was not galloping freely, he was still good enough to make steady ground and nose out the front running Bennythebull at the winning post. Wayne Smith was quick to dismount thereafter and walked back with Leagues Apart into the unsaddling enclosure.
An announcement, shortly thereafter, confirmed that the horse had returned lame after the race.
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