Dinesh Pujar has transformed Custer into a money spinner for himself, having bought the horse from Darashah only a few months ago. He won a race during the main season at Mysore in autumn, and after another unsuccessful attempt in open company, was very carefully rested to be brought out during the current season. Having won his two starts this season, Custer had gone up in the scales. The stable entrusted this horse to Md Shoaib, a five-kilo apprentice, and asked him to go to the front. Custer loves racing in front and was seen cantering ahead of the favourite Sword Of Power, Ansonia, Matter Of Opinion and a well-fancied Irish Whispers. Expecting Custer to come back at him, jockey PS Chouhan seemed confident on the favourite but turned nervous when that did not happen. He whipped his horse but to no avail, as Custer was seen lasting out to win from a fast-finishing Matter of Opinion and Sword Of Power. Irish Whispers was not up to it and finished off the frame. Armament was not given a good ride and should be noted for a day when the right money comes on this gelding.
The only trophy race in the long card of ten events was the Trigger Cup for horses in the lowest class. It was an open betting event with the well-bred Dramatic Heights being fancied marginally ahead of the rest. Imran Chisty took Smile Again to the front and coaxed him to last out and hold a late finishing Buddy at bay. Well-supported Celerity and the favourite Dramatic Heights were not sighted in this race and should be left alone from a betting point of view.
Trainer Monappa had enlisted the services of jockey Appu for his three fancied runners in the afternoon. They opened the day’s proceedings with a short head victory for the recently acquired Tough Love in a Class B race. They won again with Baghzad, who was installed as the first favourite in a sprint event. This horse had run an eye-catching fourth in his last attempt and with a positive jockey switch today was backed with confidence by all and sundry. Another reason was the failure of the fancied runners in the first five races of the day. Punters were desperate to cover their losses and Appu provided them an opportunity to do so. Appu loves to ride from the front and Baghzad is also known to relish such tactics. They made all the running and won comfortably from a hard-ridden Zooming. Zooming had lost some ground at the start and had to weave his way through a packed field. His run was eye-catching and should he decide to take off level in his next start, Zooming will not miss winning that race. Their attempt at making it three out of three failed when the well-supported Time Is Precious was easily beaten by Darashah's Gold Grid. The winner has improved on his last victory and has the capability to make it three in a row. Gnaneshwar pushed him through the middle and easily overtook the front running Time Is Precious in this mile event. Ranveer came from the tail end of the field and deprived Alybaby of the third place.
Gnaneshwar was associated with another popular victory astride Romantic Design, in a race which saw the ultimate runner-up Estrella losing a lot of ground at the start. Estrella with apprentice Praveen made up ground in the straight but found the winner too good on this day. Sneak Preview was a hard-ridden third. This was Romantic Design's third victory for Pradeep Annaiah.
The easiest winner of the day was the Kamath-trained Artistic Way. This last outing runner-up was allowed to run friendless by the punters, with loads of money coming on Rakesh-trained Mr Majestic. Mr Majestic finally started as an on-money favourite, but was totally flat-footed during the race. He finished a faraway fourth as Artistic Way took over the running in the straight and sped away from Careerist and Miami Gold. Garuda, Exceptional and Classy Babe were the other low rated horses to win in the day’s card.
Trainer Monappa and Appu shared the day’s professional honours with Gnaneshwar who is way ahead in the jockeys tally wherein he has won more than 20% of the races held during the season.
