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A relieved Padmanabhan led in the winner. Becket had proved once again that he is the best horse stationed at Bangalore. He is bound to improve after this run. It is a foregone conclusion that as long as Becket remains fit, he will be hard to beat in his future engagements. The Fleet Indian camp was equally ecstatic. It was a welcome return to form for their horse, whose last winning effort came in The Mysore Derby. Fleet Indian looks good enough to resume his winning ways. One runner who disappointed in this race was Onassis. Jockey Prakash made another ordinary effort, by keeping him last of all and finishing listlessly in the straight. Onassis is looking really well and he must be supported with confidence when he races at Pune.
The M Ali Asker Memorial Trophy, a sprint for horses in Class III, was the added attraction in the day's card. The large number of acceptors forced the handicapper to divide this race. Jockey PS Chouhan chose to ride Deshmukh's Rapture Of Victory and Dominic's Gift Of Love in the upper and lower divisions of this event. The talented rider rode with vigour and delighted his fans by winning on both these mounts. The performance by Rapture Of Victory was very impressive. The Hyderabad based horse was running for the first time after being gelded, and was giving weight to some well performed opponents. Flying Tricolour and Braavo were fancied by their respective yards. The former had ended second to Eloise, who in turn, had gone on to finish a close third in The Fillies Trial Stakes. Despite receiving a lot of support, Flying Tricolour could not displace Rapture Of Victory from the top of the betting boards. The Hyderabad challenger looked superb in the paddock, and the track reporters touted him as a "moral certainty".
Making full use of his innermost draw, Srinath had little hesitation in taking Flying Tricolour to the front and leading from Rosemead. The two of them charged away to open up a huge gap over the others, and at one stage it looked as though the race belonged to one or the other. On the other hand, Chouhan and Rapture Of Victory were content to race in mid division and the jockey was unperturbed by what was happening in front. He produced his horse on the centre of the track and asked him to quicken. Rapture Of Victory started his march towards the winning post by increasing his momentum. In a matter of seconds, the lead had vanished. He darted to the front and won by a widening margin from Braavo. Flying Tricolour was seen plodding at the end to retain his third spot. Rapture Of Victory is certainly the best that we have seen from the Hyderabad contingent, and is bound to improve from his present mark. He seems destined to become a strong force at his home centre.
Dominic's Gift Of Love got up on the last stride to nail a runaway Moves Goodenough near the winning post. Suraj Narredu's Magic Million took down a lot of good money by running an insipid race. Magic Million was hesitant at the gates and was seen racing at the back of the field. He did not improve from his position till the very end. Moves Goodenough chased Your Destiny till the bend before taking over the running. At one stage it looked as though she would score with ease. Gift Of Love was under pressure to gain ground on the leader. The scene began to change in the final furlong. Chouhan was encouraged by the fact that his filly was beginning to improve with each stride. He was quick to pull out his stick and ride vigorously. The game filly responded to his call and upset the applecart of the well-fancied front-runner. The speedy Moves Goodenough is likely to pick up a race at a low weight in the higher class.
Chouhan's efforts to score astride another Dominic ward called Still Will were thwarted by Irfan Ghatala's Tanzanite. The filly made full use of a dream opening on the rails, and was good enough to score a narrow victory. Still Will was hampered by his outer draw and was caught wide for most of the way. Suraj Narredu gambled by keeping Tanzanite on the rails, and bided his time till well into the straight. The two of them were locked together at the wire. This was the only way Tanzanite could have won today, as she travelled the shortest distance and had the support of the rails for most of the way. The seven furlongs was handled confidently by both these runners.
The upper division of the above race saw Padmanabhan's Red Renegade making every post a winning one, and scoring by half a length from Arjun Mangalorkar's Shotgunn. The winner is known to be a "bleeder" and is raced sparingly. After a single outing during winter, Red Renegade was conceding weight to most of the others today. A winner in his last two starts, Shotgunn was fancied once again. He had shown steady improvement in his form and was considered to be much superior to the opposition. He was backed to the exclusion of his rivals. Srinath allowed Red Renegade to race freely in front and led into the straight. Most of the other jockeys, including Imran Chisty astride Shotgunn, expected the leader to come back to them. That did not happen. Red Renegade shot way in the straight and opened a huge gap near the distance post. By the time Imran realized what was happening, the race was over. He panicked at that stage and rode furiously. It goes to the credit of the horse that the final verdict got reduced to just half a length. Imran Chisty had lost a race that he should have won.
The first three races in the day's card were reserved for maiden three year-olds. The seven-furlong race went to the well supported Ice Bound, who reversed the verdict with Crown Empress and gave Darius Byramji his first winner of the season. Srinath allowed Crown Empress to lead on sufferance before beginning his charge. Ice Bound came with raking strides and sailed away to score a popular victory. Lambourn managed to end a faraway third. The rest of the runners were clearly out of depth in this race.
Satish Narredu's Swift Star (Placerville-Native Tactics) made a superb debut by romping home in spectacular fashion over a scurry in the upper division of another event. He tore away to the front and gave no chance to any of his rivals. Suraj Narredu was a mere passenger on this winner. One For The Money and Sky Glider filled the rest of the frame. Incidentally, the stable completed a double with Son Of The Soil in a nine furlong race for older horses in class IV. Mallesh Narredu guided this winner for his brother with a start to finish performance, thus ending his long chain of losing efforts. The one time champion jockey won a race after a very long time. It is learnt that he has put on a lot of weight in recent months, and his choice of mounts is restricted to horses that are assigned the top weight in a race.
The lower division was won by Warren Singh's A Move To Remember. This colt had led till the last furlong in his previous start. The presence of rookie P Mani allowed this horse to run friendless today. He darted out of the gates and kept going to win from Morova Goodtime and Balmoral Castle. The last name received one-sided support and flopped as an even-money favourite in the opening race of the day. She ran green in the straight, and is sure to improve after today's run.
