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Padmanabhan trained Big Sur treated the opposition with disdain to win the 1600 metres Karnataka Mile Championship, a terms race for four-year-olds and over, the feature event of Friday`s Bangalore races. Big Sur who was favoured by the terms of the race won the race with an aggressive start to finish approach keeping his challengers at bay.
Big Sur who is rated 101 as against Psychic Force who is rated at 83 was getting five and a half kgs from the latter and this was a significant advantage. Since Psychic Force had won the South India Derby and his last win was a smashing one, he ended up getting good support to maintain his winning ways. Sandesh had no hesitation in taking Big Sur to the front as the progeny of Win Legend enjoys setting his own pace. Psychic Force chased the front-runner while Sakura and Automatic raced behind. Big Sur showed no signs of weakening and in fact, he got stronger in the final furlong to skip away from Psychic Force to record a handsome win. Psychic Force was hard-pressed to retain the runner-up berth from Sakura, but barely managed to do so.
Irfan Ghatala trained Palm Reader had the benefit of running a noteworthy race in Well Connected`s first win over six furlongs but subsequently had performed poorly over the extended trip of seven furlongs. Now racing over the more suitable trip of six furlongs, Palm Reader was backed to the exclusion of the rest in the 1200 metres Track Lightning Stakes, a race for a maiden three-year-olds as those with the benefit of a race run had performed poorly. There were two debutants Jan Zizka and Bostonia, with the former enjoying marginally better support in the betting ring. Suraj Narredu had Palm Reader in front with Bostonia chasing her all the way. Closer home Bostonia threatened with a strong effort but ran out of ground. Desert Combat was faraway third ahead of Silver Swift. John Zizka made no show as he looked far from ready.
Darius Byramji trained Cosmos recorded a hat-trick of wins during the season with an easy over the opposition in the 1800 metres Jayant Shah Memorial Trophy, a race for horses rated 45 to 65. Angelino enjoyed stronger support than Cosmos to record what could have been the second win of his career. Trevor had Angelino lead from the start with Cosmos in chase followed by Kirkwood. Lycurgus raced several lengths behind while Here And Now lost all his chances at the gate itself. Angelino held the lead till the final furlong, but it was clear that Cosmos would assert his supremacy. The progeny of Multidimensional skipped clear in the final furlong and won by a margin of over three lengths. Kirkwood was unable to make the step up into this class a profitable one and was a tame third.
Fictioneer who came in for some smart money pulled it off in the 1200 metres Treasure Girl Plate, a race for horses rated 15 to 35. Fictioneer who was always campaigned over longer trips and in fact run over 2000 overs in his last effort and had finished about 23 lengths behind the winner Here And Now. This was the first time that the four-year-old who had 11 failed efforts prior to this race, was being campaigned over a sprint in hand as such, was not so much fancied as Tiger Returns and Charmaine. Trevor Patel pushed Charmaine to the front from the beginning but in the final furlong, was under intense pressure to retain the lead. Fictioneer who essayed a strong challenge surged ahead closer home and had no problem in staving off the late bid of favourite Tiger Returns. Charmaine managed to save place money at the expense of late rallying Grecian Light
A big gamble attempted by trainer Sharat Kumar on Admirable was foiled by the lesser fancied Aerospeed in the 1100 metres Bold Gesture Plate, a race for horses in the lowest class which is always a graveyard for punters. The jockeys were also not allowed to carry whips in this race. Admirable was backed down from a higher quote to become a firm favourite while the odds on the ante-post favourite Himachali drifted out. Apprentice jockey Md Akram took the Samar Singh trainee to the front from the word `go` and though the front-runner came under intense pressure from Admirable, the former fought back in the closing stages of the race to win by half a length. Himachali never gave hope and true to market expectations, ended up as a poor third.
The odds drift on Arjun Mangalorkar trained ante-post favourite Winall came as a big shock to the punters. Renegade who had some hard luck story to tell the last timeout became a strong favourite to win the 1400 metres Southern Regent Plate, a race for horses rated 30 to 50. Winall led from the start but in the final furlong was sorted by lesser fancied Akita Pro who then had no problem in keeping the challenge of Renegade at bay. Winall weakened to finish third.
The last race of the day, the 1200 metres Epsom Plate, a race for horses rated 15 to 35, saw the heavily supported favourite Silent Guardian from the stables of trainer Neil Darashah pull up lame within the first furlong and then stopped galloping frustrating those who had backed the three-year-old. The second favourite No Opinion had things her way in all the way in the stretch but veered out of a straight course which allowed long shot Red Indian to shoot through in the closing stages of the race and win by a narrow margin. Papadokia saved place money.
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Palm Reader (Suraj Narredu up) winner of the Track Lightning Stakes
Aerospeed (Md Akram up) winner of the Bold Gesture Plate
Fictioneer (Antony Raj S up) winner of the Treasure Girl Plate
Big Sur (A Sandesh up) winner of the Karnataka Mile Championship Cup (Gr.2)
Cosmos (S Zervan up) winner of the Jayant Shah Memorial Trophy
Akita Pro (Shamaz Shareef up) winner of the Southern Regent Plate
Red Indian (Nazerul Alam up) winner of the Epsom Plate
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