Suresh trained Star Baron stunned the field in the Gr 3 Bangalore City Sprint Championship Gold Cup, a terms race for three-year-olds and over, the feature event of Thursday`s Bangalore races. The rank outsider from Chennai stole a march in the final furlong and easily thwarted the late bid of Lady Legend.

Accolade who hasn`t won for 775 days was made the firm favourite in the belief that the progeny of Burden of Proof could bounce back to winning form as the terms favoured him more than the others. Stablemate Lady Legend was second in demand. South Paw led the field from the start with Accolade and Dream Catcher in proximity. Star Baron was in striking range while Lady Legend was eased in the fifth position a few lengths adrift. Rounding the final turn, Accolade went ahead but his foray in front was short-lived as Star Baron came up with a big run to storm ahead. Trevor Patel alerted Lady Legend to the task and the progeny of Win Legend made a futile bid to catch up with the long shot but it went in vain as the ground conceded in firm going was too much to bridge. Lady Legend was a well-beaten second ahead of Accolade. Dream Catcher was fourth. Trainer Sulaiman Attaollahi is not enjoying a good run and his wards haven`t maintained their consistency like before.

Shesmyscript was undoubtedly the best-performed horse in the fray in the1400 metres Karnataka Sub-Area Cup having been consistent in good company. Snowdon who had won last time out was made the favourite though the quality of that win did not merit such strong support. Shesmyscript had even placed in classics came in for stronger support close to race time. Trevor Patel settled Shesmyscript in the rear group and allowed the four-year-old filly to get into her rhythm before bringing her out on the wide outside for her patented burst of speed. Shesmyscript covered the leeway on the front-runners with minimum of fuss and zoomed ahead of the front-running Into The Groove in tremendous fashion to win the race by a widening margin of three lengths. Into The Groove stayed on to take the second position while Merlot saved place money.

Irfan Ghatala trained Donna Bella had served notice of an early by her last effort and she was backed with conviction to win the 1100 metres August Plate, a race for maiden three-year-olds. Initially, Will To Win was the preferred horse but close to race time, Donna Bella displaced the former as the favourite with money pouring in on the Ghatala trainee. Suraj Narredu had Donna Bella in front from the word `go`. The progeny of Tazahum was travelling so well that she was hailed a winner long way from home. Sandarina who chased the favourite stayed on to take the second position to serve notice of an early win. Knotty Oak who lost ground at the start made a good rally in the stretch to be a suggestive third. Will To Win was always in hopeless pursuit.

The withdrawal of Barog on veterinary grounds changed the market equation in the1400 metres Commanche Plate (Div II), a race for horses in the lowest category. Purity became a strong favourite more by default with Winx having some supporters to regain the winning form. Winx who had the first run on his opponents held on to win by a narrow margin over Proudwish who graced the wrong end of the field for the most part of the trip before getting wings in the final furlong to come up with huge effort all by himself only to miss the top berth narrowly. Purity was in with a chance having been prominently placed approaching the final furlong but failed to add spar to the performance and had to be satisfied with the third position.

Lokanath Gowda trained Striking Grey was back to racing over the more suitable trip of a mile in the Lt Col Gaunt Memorial Trophy, a race for horses rated 45 to 65 after a failed effort over a longer trip. Backed with confidence to win, Striking Grey got the spaces needed in the stretch and extricated himself from the mess all the way in the straight and managed to squeeze his way through the rails to stave off the strong bid of Super Smart who was shaping to win in the final furlong. Jockey Darshan showed courage to take the gaps which looked too narrow at one stage. Dr Logan was a close third ahead of Aaron The Baron who too should be better for this effort. Good Time Indeed performed poorly and was never in the hunt at any stage of the race.

Padmanabhan trained Kerazano led all the way and easily held off the challenge of Venus Bay to win the 1400 metres Kunigal Stud Plate, a race for horses rated 30 to 50. Kerazano was backed to the exclusion of the rest to resume his winning ways. Sandesh took Kerazano to the front and the favourite skipped clear in the final furlong to go beyond the reach of his only pursuer Venus Bay to win with a measure of comfort. Star Man who was bidding for a hat-trick ran on to save place money.

A poor lot of horses lined up for the 1400 metres Commanche Plate (Div I), a race for horses in the lowest category. Somebody had to be a winner by default but the one-sided support for Lokanath Gowda trained Above The Rest came as a big surprise. The horse had some credentials but didn`t deserve the kind of support he got as he hadn`t won for 1118 days. In the event, another horse, Good Word, trained by Warren Singh, who had waited for even longer to break the winless sequence managed to cling on to the lead to beat Savisa by a shade less than a length to win after 1244 days, the last victory having come at Chennai during the Invitation Cup weekend races in 2016. Indian Brahmos was third while Above The Rest was not spotted at the busy end.

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Donna Bella (Suraj Narredu up) winner of the August Plate

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Winx (T S Jodha up) winner of the Commanche Plate (Div-II)

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Striking Grey (Darshan R N up) winner of the Lt. Col. Gaunt Memorial Trophy

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Star Baron (A Imran Khan up) winner of the Bangalore City Sprint Championship Gold Cup (Gr.3)

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Shesmyscript (Trevor Patel up) winner of the Karnataka Sub-Area Cup

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Kerazano (A Sandesh up) winner of the Kunigal Stud Plate

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Good Word (Shamaz Shareef up) winner of the Commanche Plate (Div-I)

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