The Gr 1 Colts Championship, the second classic of the season, appears to be at the mercy of Ganapathy trained Murioi. The three year old son of Dubawi has been an impressive performer thus far beating a highly creditable field in the Poonawalla Multi-Million and then winning his lead up to the classic with a comprehensive win, swooping from the back of the field.

The impressive looking Murioi has been working well and if jockey Sreekanth rides a cool race, the favourite should not get beat. The only problem that the horse may encounter is that the horse is always ridden on the wide outside, away from traffic snarls but in a crowded field as the one that is running in the Colts, the horse should not get pushed to the widest and forfeit precious ground as a result. The Bangalore track is pretty tight and poses its own problems for such horses for there is also danger of covering ground on the steep gradient approaching the final bend to gain a forward position, away from the pack.

Murioi should not lose unless he suffers hiccups during the race. The big man of Indian racing Dr M A M Ramaswamy has arrived in Bangalore and he would be making his presence at the race course for a racing meeting after an absence of many years. He was present almost every week when he had total domination of the classics but the last few years, a combination of poor performance from his horses and problems with his knee have restricted has presence in Bangalore. The fact that the big man is coming to watch his horse is itself an indication of the confidence level of the connections.

File Photo - Murioi (Sreekanth B up) winner of the Nanoli Stud Juvenile Million (Gr.2)

Md Khan trained Turf Striker has been somewhat of a revelation. The son of first season stallion Sedgefield, Turf Striker recorded a runaway win in his last outing. He has been in fine trim and there is no reason why he cannot make his presence felt in this company. He has already measured some of the runners in this race and since he has proved to be an outstanding horse, one can expect his graph to remain on the rise.

Dominic trained Czar of Romance is another who has proved his class over a mile. Czar of Romance beat a creditable field which included Miracle Memories with ease. Since the progeny of Mathematician is more at home over the mile long trip, he goes into the race as a strong contender. Singapore jockey Oscar Chevez will be guiding his fortunes. These jockeys are more used to riding on left handed tracks but since he is so experienced, the right handed course should not hinder the jockey.

Miracle Memories blotted his copy book with a poor performance in his lead up race. The connections also exuded too much confidence in putting Jagadish to ride him when the jockey is not used to riding high profile horses. One has to discount that run and hope for an improved show from him. He was rated the second best horse in Bangalore after the winter season and now after that poor show, he has to fight back to regain the reputation that he enjoyed as a horse capable of beating Murioi.

Vittal Deshmukh trained Decathlon appeared far from ready when he ran last time out. However, to expect him to overcome that poor and win in as competitive a race as this one would be a difficult ask. Ace Bucephalus did not build on the promise of his winter performance but he may fare well over the mile long trip. Pesi Shroff’s Accalimed is a winner of two consecutive races and he is on the upgrade. Jockey Trevor Patel has chosen to ride him in preference to Agostini whose last win was pretty suggestive.

There are several promising youngsters in the fray but at this point of time, if any one of them pulls of a win, it would come as the biggest upset of the season.