It isn't often that one sees the punters getting the better of the bookmakers during the mini seasons at Mysore. These periods generally see a lot of older horses filling the day's card, and form is known to go haywire. Wednesday afternoon was a rare occasion, as horses with known credentials performed at their best, and fancied runners won with regularity. All six races were won by well-supported horses. Jockey Gnaneshwar and veteran trainer Darashah, who are currently leading their professional tallies for the season, scored a treble and a double respectively. They combined to score with Missiszippi and Ashkan, while Gnaneshwar won the first race of the day with Monappa's Cartouche.

The Grey Gaston Trophy was slotted as the feature event in a small card of six races framed for the day. Bipin's Swift Sword opened as a firm favourite, before money began pouring on to Easy Rider. Both the horses had been entrusted to three Kilo claimers, and were looking well in the paddock. Parveen pushed Easy Rider into a comfortable lead ahead of Swift Sword, while the rest of the runners were finding it difficult to keep pace with them. It was a match race for most of the way, before the scene changed alarmingly. Approaching the furlong post, apprentice Parveen stopped pushing his horse. He was motionless, and this resulted in Swift Sword seizing the advantage. Under the strong urgings of Madhubabu, Swift Sword began to draw away from the rest. Easy Rider maintained his momentum to end second ahead of Zooming and Mayhem. On enquiring at the end of the day, it was learnt that Parveen had dislocated his shoulder during the running of the race, and had been fortunate in not parting company with his horse. The boy was rushed to hospital, and shall be out of action for the next three months.

The lower division of this race was won from start to finish by Santosh Rao's Thunder On. This speedy customer had been steadily brought down in the scales, and was at a handy rating to land the spoils. John was quick to seize the initiative with this even money favourite, and guided him to a facile win over Bridge Too Far. In the hands of Madhubabu, the latter drifted out under pressure to finish a fair second. The apprentice was delighted with the response he received from favourite Golden Flowers in the very next race. This mare had been unable to win a race in the last couple of years. She had been progressively dropped in her ratings. An additional drop in the form of an allowance claimed by her rider helped matters. She was prominent for most of the way, before being asked for effort. Golden Flowers seized the advantage in the final furlong, and despite drifting out, won comfortably from Anoosheek and Golden Kiss. The last named is a stablemate of the winner. She indicated her readiness to strike, and should be fancied in a similar event in the future.

Last outing winner Cartouche is known to relish a longer trip, and was accordingly campaigned over nine furlongs in the day's opener. He was fancied ahead of Mr Sunrise and Final Frontier. Cartouche travelled easily behind Suave and Final Frontier till the final bend. Gnaneshwar put him in top gear thereafter, and the grey responded brilliantly. He quickened nicely and swept past the rest. He was eased up well before the winning post. A tired Final Frontier was able to retain the runner-up berth ahead of Mr Sunrise.

Darashah's Missiszippy was an impressive winner of a maiden's event a couple of weeks ago. The trainer decided to run her in open company and selected a seven furlong race in Class IV. She was handicapped at the top, and was set to concede chunks of weight to her more experienced rivals. Gnaneshwar was asked to guide her fortunes today. The betting public refused to look beyond her while choosing their selection.

The filly was racing well within herself, as she followed Master Prospect into the straight. Missizippy was shown daylight at that stage. The heavy impost of 62 kgs was perhaps a huge burden, as the filly failed to produce the desired acceleration. She led marginally from Mr Magic, Master Prospect and Spark Of Symphony. Missiszippy led under pressure thereafter, and managed to stay in front of Mr Magic till the very end. Her fans were delighted to realize that she had won by a neck. Spark Of Symphony came with big strides from the rear to nose out Master Prospect for third place.

The most impressive winner of the day turned out to be Darashah's Ashkan. This well-bred maiden had lost in the only other start of his career. He had found himself racing on the sand track on that occasion. The winner on that day had bored into him throughout the straight. There were no such problems today. Ashkan and Gnaneshwar toyed with their opponents while winning from end-to-end in an extremely smart timing. This horse is bound to progress from here. Time For All needed this experience, as she ran green for most of the way. She is a big made filly and has a lot of scope for improvement. Bullet Train was expected to finish closer than the official verdict. He ran disappointingly into fourth place behind Definite Believe.