Saturday was a very special day in trainer Dominic's racing career as he watched three of his wards winning during the afternoon. More importantly, he won the day's feature event with Reflection Of Gold, and his youngsters won both divisions of the maidens race framed in the day's card. The stable was running a bad patch during the first couple of months of this season, but in recent weeks, they have won seven races in quick time. He trains a compact string of horses, and today's performances augur well for the future.

The Racing Patrons Trophy, a seven furlong race for horses in Class I, attracted a small field of eight runners. Top weighted Royal Ambassador and Reflection Of Gold were considered to be the frontline contenders in this event. Although Royal Ambassador was set to concede eleven kilos to the filly, the bookmakers were content to open them as joint favourites in morning trade. A huge surge of betting on Reflection Of Gold saw her odds contracting to even-money at race time. Royal Ambassador and Rimpuche had few takers at 5's while the rest were available at 10's and over.

Owner Aditya P Thackersey & Trainer S Dominic leading Rugged Beauty (David Allan), winner of The Mudabidri Plate

The early stages of the race witnessed Einstein showing the way to Stylish Bay, Royal Ambassador and Rimpuche, while the others were spread out in single file. The favourite was seen racing in sixth position as the runners took the rising ground and straightened for home. Einstein refused to give up, and the horses right behind him began to tire and fade away from the scene. It became obvious that someone will have to come from behind to tackle the leader. The scene changed completely in the last furlong of this race. Reflection Of Gold, Fantabulous Prince and Milford made a determined bid to lift this trophy. Reflection Of Gold travelled the best of the lot, and was confidently piloted by Ashok Kumar to keep Fantabulous Prince at bay.  Milford was able to save place money ahead of a tiring Einstein and Royal Ambassador. Racegoers have been dismayed to see the quality of horses
running in the highest class during the current season. Most class I races have had poor fields in terms of quality and quantity. A few races have gone void owing to a paucity of acceptors.

The day's proceedings started with Dominic's Hurricane Bolt landing the lower division of a maidens sprint. Prithviraj's Russian Dancer was backed with supreme confidence, and he started as an on-money favourite in this race. Savvy Concept and Misty Moonlight were quietly fancied by their respective camps. Russian Dancer set a fast pace and brought the field into view. While Misty Moonlight and Hurricane Bolt were in close attendance, Savvy Concept was knocked around at the gates ,and was seen to be gracing the wrong end of the field. The favourite was a couple of lengths clear at the distance post, but began to shorten her strides thereafter. Hurricane Bolt collared Russian Dancer about twenty metres from home, and was lucky to hold onto his slender lead ahead of a late finishing Savvy Concept. Both Harish on the winner and Srinath astride the runner-up excelled in the saddle. The last named is a fine specimen, and based on today's run, needs to be supported in his next start.

The trainer completed his treble with Rugged Beauty. The filly had failed as a hot favourite earlier in the season , and was friendless today. On the other hand, Chinatown was backed with confidence, but that support was obviously misplaced. Suraj Narredu's ward was looking gross in the paddock. He was installed as an on-money choice based on his excellent showing in the morning trials. This Darius trained favourite was the smartest out of the gates, and after doing the front-running, led the field into the straight. He packed up like a pricked balloon thereafter, and faded out of contention. Chinatown was unable to finish in the first three at the end. David Allan was quick to seize this opportunity and coaxed Rugged Beauty to go ahead and win this race. Systematic was gracing the wrong end of the field for most of the way. She finished powerfully after the race was almost over. She covered acres of ground to take the second spot. The very consistent Kripa ended a fair third.

The other interesting feature in the day's card was the appearance of D'artagnan on the race track. This big and rangy three year old was making his racing debut in the seven furlong Ardent Knight Trophy. He is considered by many local track reporters to be the "Best" horse in Bangalore. They feel that he is a champion in the making. D'artignan weighed out at 512 Kgs and stood out in the paddock parade. He won without a fuss as he cantered away from Portobello. The rest of the runners were not even sighted. David Allan has a nice opinion about this horse, and feels that D'artagnan would mature into a top performer over longer distances. The winner is likely to appear next in a juvenile Million Event at the end of the month.

An age group race for older horses was split into two divisions. Both were won by rank outsiders and paid huge dividends at the totalizators. The upper division was won by Miss Pukka. Apprentice Gaurav Sapra was seen at his best while goading this five year old to keep her neck in front till the very end. This was the second win for Miss Pukka in recent times. Dark Horse came with giant strides at the end, but lost in a photo. Royal Hero was a very close third, while the favourite Born Beauty plodded into fourth place. The other one was won by Worth A Million. This speedy horse finally won a race after a gap of more than one year. Most of the runners finished close to each other with Darktan, Aspiring Seven and Word To Word ending in that order.

The last race in the day's card was won by Amit Caddy's Needofthehour. This five year old has faced numerous problems in his racing career, and changed a few stables before landing at Amit Caddy's doorstep. The trainer has done extremely well with him, as this was the second win for Needofthehour in three starts this season. Jockey P S Chouhan rode a copybook race on the winner, as he held him back in second spot before releasing the brakes at the top of the bend. Needofthehour bounded away from the rest and won easily from War Head and Chakravyuha Bhedak. There was huge support for Crackerjack, but that was obviously misplaced. The horse galloped in snatches to finish a poor fourth.