Ganapathy trained Pastiche was able to complete a quick hat-trick of victories for the season when he easily romped home in the F K Irani Memorial Trophy, the feature event in Saturday's card at Bangalore. Although it was a race for horses in the highest class, the quality of horses entered to take part in this race was very ordinary. Most of them have been racing in class I for a while without figuring on the board, and a few of them were seen parading in the paddock with bandages. Pastiche was the only 4 year old in the field and having won two successive races in his last two starts was installed as the firm favourite. The bookmakers fancied Fantabulous Prince to be his closest challenger but perhaps forgot that he was a winner of only one race in his career. He had reached this class by incurring penalties for running into place money without actually winning a race in more than a year. The rest of the field was available at 10's and over.

Snap Dragon made use of the innermost draw and led into the straight before Prakash smoothly took Pastiche to the front. Fantabulos Prince, who is more suited over a slightly longer trip, was seen being niggled by Appu to keep up with the front runners. Pastiche won comfortably from a hard ridden Fantabulous Prince, while Snap Dragon nosed out Steelium for third place. Steelium was making his reappearnce after a long break, and based on today's run should be able to pick up a race in similar company. Aura took off level for a change, but was found wanting when asked the question by his jockey. She seems to have lost her zest for racing.

The top division of the maidens race saw a fine win for Habib Khan trained Royal Amber. This colt had made a fine impression while running second in his first outing, but was totally neglected in the betting ring as loads of money came pouring onto the fashionably bred Noble View (Razeen-Anagram),that was to be ridden by Prakash. The fact that this was the first run of Noble View and also that it was not running in the colours of Dr Ramaswamy did not deter the punters from wagering on him. Aadesh took Faraz trained Glorious Princess to the front and led Noble View into the straight. While Prakash was making free use of the whip without making much impression on the front runner, Brazilian De Souza pulled Royal Amber on the wide outside and produced a brilliant gallop from his mount to finally go away from the field. Glorious Princess held on to second spot ahead of the favourite. The winner is a nice type and his winning time being marginally higher than Pastiche, indicates that he would turn out to be a good handicapper. The lower division of this event was won by the Prakash ridden half money favourite Valiant bay. He had no real opposition and won by a widening margin from Neel Gagan and Clouseau.

The Kailash Trophy was a sprint for horses in class IV. Adorabella had run three times in her short career. On all three occasions she had found one better and had to play the role of a bridesmaid. Though she opened as a first favourite, Adorabella was displaced on the betting boards by the Prakash ridden Latino Magic. In the race itself, she did not allow Latino Magic to come close to her as she lengthened her strides and went away from a fast finishing Fanaa on whom the apprentice was found wanting. Latino Magic was a heavily whipped third.

The sprint race for class three horses was also split into two divisions. Both the divisions were won by well fancied horses and almost in similar fashion. Lokanath's Classical Dancer was taken into a long lead by Christopher and although a heavily whipped Korporate moved into second place at the top of the straight, the winner was sighted a long way from home. Apprentice ridden Perfect Rhythm was making her first seasonal start, and was found moving late into a faraway third position. She should be suited by this effort and may improve on it in the months ahead. The lower division was won by Easy , and though Gaurav Sapra lost his whip in the straight he had no problem in finishing ahead of a well backed Tina's Triumph.

Sun Zone was the medium of a king size gamble , and the connections were mighty pleased to see Krishnan cantering away on this horse as heads turned for home. This was the first time that this five year old had been asked to perform and should be able to defy the handicapper in his next outing.

The last event of the day saw Prakash blotting his copybook again. He was astride the first favourite Pacific Pride, on whom the odds had started to drift much before the start of the race. In a seven furlong trip, he got into a mess on three different occasions and finally was a fast finishing second. It was amusing to hear seasoned race goers asking each other "what if he was to do this in a classic event?". For the record, Vivek induced a nice turn of foot from Reborn and earned a well deserved victory.