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Trainer Padmanabhan seems to be the only one who has taken the trouble to study the BTC prospectus seriously. He has carefully charted out the programme of the various "Stars" in his stable. After the successful efforts of Celestial Way and Gypsy Magic in the first two weeks, he struck with D'artagnan today. Having realized the sprinting abilities of D'artagnan after his smashing performance in Hyderabad, the trainer selected The Kabini Cup as his next target. Although he was set to carry the top weight in holding conditions, the opposition looked so poor that the horse was a money back favourite in this race. His closest rival appeared to be Chintz, who was receiving ten kilos from him.
Allowing Sugar Ray to lead on sufferance till the bend, David Allan brought D'artagnan alongside the front-runner and overtook him with a measure of comfort. He needed to pull out his stick, as he did not want the big made horse to slow down in these testing conditions. D'artagnan held on to his advantage over Cayenne and a tiring Sugar Ray. Needofthehour came from the tail end of the field to finish a close fourth. The five year-old looked very well in the paddock and will be too good to miss in his own age group. On the other hand, Chintz was slow to take off from the gates and lost all her chances at the start. The winner has shown that he is a fine sprinter and the trainer is expected to pick up many future sprinting "plums" with him.
Trainer Md Khan has a modest string of horses in his yard. Over the years, barring a stray horse which may progress higher, most of them run in the lower classes at this centre. His horses normally run at longer odds and win when least expected. Gracian and Storm Chaser were the two from his stable that scored today. Both won in identical fashion. They hit the front from the beginning and did not allow anyone to come close to them. Gracian, who was entrusted to apprentice Shoaib, scored by many lengths and put paid to the pretensions of a heavily gambled Feelitenjoyit. Isinbayeva came with a long stretch run to take the second spot.
Storm Chaser had De Souza guiding his fortunes. Making full use of his innermost draw, the speedy four-year-old filly hit the front and finished ahead of a feebly ridden Monarchial and Good Companion. The last named, who was running for the first time after being gelded, finished powerfully and displayed his readiness to strike in the near future. Neil Darashah's Vayuputra was the on-money favourite in this race. The top-weighted horse bled under pressure and finished off the frame. He should be given time before supporting him again.
Darius Byramji's Alviano was another favourite to take a toss. The big made colt had won a superb race in his only career start during Bangalore Summer, when he had beaten a top-class field. The ones that had finished behind him on that day had gone on to win many races thereafter. Alviano had come under a cloud thereafter and had been treated for numerous ailments in recent months. One of his major problems was that of a delicate tendon. The fact that the ground was far from firm today was another dampener to his chances. However, punters knowingly ignored all these facts and backed him down to half-money favouritism. To cut a long story short, Alviano led till the bend, floundered thereafter, shortened his strides and dropped back to finish a poor third. A public announcement thereafter confirmed that the horse had pulled up lame after these efforts. Prakash-ridden Moon Memories took full advantage of the situation and ran away from a late finishing Peacemaker.
The other on-money horse that failed to touch the board was Appu ridden Star Speed. For some strange reason, this well-bred horse garners huge support once or twice every season. He has won only one race in his career. He lacks early speed and finds it difficult to keep in touch with the frontrunners. He ran similarly today and took a lot of money down with him. He hated the going and wanted to run out at the final bend. This presented a golden opportunity to last outing winner Nermai, who scored an encore. This bandaged runner had won on a similar surface earlier this month. He gave apprentice Sreekanth an armchair ride to victory. Amit Caddy's Express It showed a spark of his past form by finishing an impressive second.
The day concluded with trainer Sriram Komandur opening his account for the season. John-ridden Mystere galloped fluently in front and had little problem in keeping Sher Dil and Blue Dew at bay. For the second time this month, Blue Dew started as a short priced favourite and failed to deliver the goods. Her previous loss was attributed to her sluggishness at the gates. But despite a level start today, she flopped miserably. She either dislikes a slippery surface or is highly over-rated. Another horse that was expected to run prominently was Mangalorkar's The Dawn, but he too performed poorly and finished a tame fourth.
