Poonawalla Stud Farm emerges on top

The Poonawalla Stud Farm emerged on top at the conclusion of the Bangalore Summer Races on Wednesday. The stud farm which bred 27 winners, finished ahead of Kunigal Stud Farm which had 23 winners to its credit. The Poonawalla Stud Farm bred Bourbon King (Diffident-Queen Ann), who won both the Colts Trial Stakes and the Kingfisher Derby, earned stakes close to Rs 1 crore mainly due to the enormous hike in stakes for the Bangalore Derby and emerged as the Champion Horse of the Season. Arjun Mangalorkar’s Fairytaleending (Inner City-Classic Story) was the Horse of the Season for her consistent performance, having won thrice and placed in two other outings.

As expected, Ganapathy and Prakash shared the top honours among trainers and jockeys respectively. Dr M A M Ramaswamy was the leading individual owner. Be that as it may, the long drawn card on the final day definitely did not go well with race goers who would have preferred to have the usual eight or nine races. Easy and Hawaiian Sunrise who has lost form were the market fancies to win the 1200 metres Leading Owner Cup (Div I) while Mystic Force which should have received strong support was available at lucrative odds. In the event, Mystic Force and Axara set a furious pace, with Easy giving up a futile attempt to go to the front at around the final bend. Mystic Force who shook off Axara while entering the straight, kicked away for a facile win with Rebellious and Snob Value taking the next two spots. Easy who ran out of steam at the final bend, was a spent force when the race was on the boil. Rio Bravo who had created a favorable impression when recording a facile win when winning last time out despite running after a long lay off, was backed spiritedly and shared favoritism with Ruby Rocket. Despite a sluggish getaway from the gates, Rio Brave moved swiftly along the rails, saved ground and when pulled out from the rails in the final 350 metres, the progeny of Tirol showed tremendous acceleration to win pulling up the lower of the race. Ruby Rocket was not in the hunt. Havana and Arctic Blast finished second and third respectively. The Sriram Komandur trainee has the ability to complete a hat-trick of wins. Aeropostale, who had been knocking on the doors of success, claimed the division three of the Leading Owner Cup getting the better of Zafar for whom the change of name too did not help matters. Kioko came up with a flourish in the final furlong but could only finish third. After a frustrating wait, trainer Sardar Singh finally had success through Ciampino in the Champion Jockey Cup (Div I). Advocate General and Footstepsinthesky were engaged in an absorbing battle and when the former emerged the better, he was being hailed as a winner. However, Ciampino who was stuck along the rails was pulled out and given a clear run and the favourite responded gamely to win with a degree of comfort. Footstepsinthesky fought back to push Advocate General to the third spot. Free Glider who was backed spiritedly in the lower division of the race, just about held on to win from a late-finishing Rocamora. Hakuna Matata came good, winning the Champion Jockey Cup (Div III)with a fair degree of comfort. Alonso, who graced the wrong end of the field, came through the rails to come within striking distance of the winner. The Leading Tipster Cup was claimed by lesser fancied Illusive Girl who managed to keep her only challenger Fantabulous Hero at a safe distance. There was inspired support for Hurry Home but the horse itself was in no hurry in the race.