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The J H Foley Memorial Gold Cup was the added attraction in the day's card. The mile race for horses in Class II had a dozen acceptors. Talk Of The Devil received one-sided support to start as a clear favourite ahead of My Friend Paul and Van De Star. A heavy downpour prior to the start of this race spoilt the chances of the market fancy. Talk Of The Devil lacks initial speed and likes to come from the back. The heavy impost on his back was another hindrance. Front-running horses generally have an advantage in such conditions. This fact was proved correct once again by Snob Value. In the hands of John, the speedy six-year-old tore away from the field, and despite slowing down in the straight, managed to retain his advantage. My Friend Paul and Talk Of The Devil came menacingly close at the end, but their efforts weren't good enough to topple the leader.
The day's opener saw a huge rush of money on Sharat Kumar's Cute Angel. The three-year-old found herself in the lowest class. The stable had immense confidence in her abilities as they backed her down to half money. They all came to grief as the filly was unable to collar Sher Dil near the final post. Afsar Khan rode her for all he was worth, but the filly just wasn't good enough to win. The followers of Sharat and Afsar were relieved to recover their losses after successfully backing Atlantus in the fifth race. Alhough Atlantus was still a maiden at the age of four, he had run some nice races in his career. He had come close to winning on a couple of occasions. He was clashing with Royal Bank at a weight advantage. This apparently helped in the final outcome when Atlantus gathered late momentum and won in the last few strides.
Trainer Puttanna and jockey Jagadeesh were associated with the favourites in both the divisions of a class IV race over seven furlongs. Great Chieftain and Star News were supported with confidence and slammed off the boards. While Great Chieftain showed a clean pair of heels to his rivals, Star News ran like a damp squib. He was unable to produce the sparkle that he had shown in his previous start. Despite Jagadeesh's strong urgings, he was unable to keep pace with the others. Third favourite Paint Me Red made all the running and gave Dhariwal his only winner of the day. Vinod Shinde rode a well-judged race on Paint Me Red.
A real cracker of a finish was witnessed in a nine-furlong race for horses rated up to 65. Fair Option, Savvy Concept and Table Mountain came into this race with impeccable credentials. The betting was centred around the three of them. Table Mountain tried to steal the race by going to the front. He led till the last fifty metres before a bunch of horses began to gain ground on him. Fair Option on his outside and Desdemona on the inner rails were posing a stiff challenge. The three of them tightly matched as they flashed past the post. A strange silence greeted the announcement of the result. 50/1 rank outsider Desdemona got the nod from the judge. Fair Option, Table Mountain and Savvy Concept finished close behind the winner.
Patrons are getting used to witnessing big betting on horses trained by PC Tejaswi. Horses, which haven’t performed in the last couple of seasons, are suddenly backed down with rare confidence. The stable specializes in gambling with ordinary riders in the saddle. The last race of the day saw something similar. Jockey P Ramesh had not won a race in the last few years. His mount Queen Of Destiny was slammed down from 5/1 to even-money. One must admire the guts of the stable. Once they have prepared the horse, it is immaterial who rides it! Queen Of Destiny went to the front, managed to keep her neck in front of Golden Kiss and successfully landed the gamble for her master.
