Padmanabhan trained Ice Glacier showed remarkable improvement when handing over a shock defeat to overwhelming favourite Serjeant At Arms in the Gr 1 Mysore Derby, the Blue Riband event of the Mysore Racing Season in front of a capacity crowd on Sunday. Jockey David Allan who had been specially flown down to ride the daughter of Arazan, rode an exemplary race and his tactical brilliance ensured that the filly managed to stave off a strong challenge of the favourite to record an upset win.

Serjeant At Arms had won the Kingfisher Derby at Bangalore in splendid fashion and had established himself as the best three-year-old of this centre. And his breath-taking win the Mysore 2000 Guineas had only reinforced the belief that he had maintained his superiority. As such, it was hard to visualise an upset in the Derby as he had already beaten Ice Glacier in the Bangalore Derby by three lengths.

Ice Glacier on the other had finished second best to La Donna in the Mysore 1000 Guineas albeit in a fighting race. The only thing that could change the scenario was the presence of David Allan in the saddle as compared to Neeraj Rawal who guided the horse in the Bangalore Derby and the relative riding merits as also the possible improvement that the filly could have made since trunning over the same trip at Bangalore. Given trainer Padmanabhan credentials to get his wards to steadily step up his horses to reach the summit with meticulous preparation, such an eventuality was every much in the realm of a possibility. The race goers, however don`t analyse things so critically and tend to go with the favourite. Luckily for them Serjeant At Arms was at very cramped odds which would have saved the majority from wagering a big bet and losing in the bargain.

There were just five runners in the fray and two of them were supposed to be pacemakers. It was hard to expect anybody other than Serjeant At Arms and Ice Glacier to be involved in the finish. Into The Spotlight did the job of the assigned pacemaker followed by Amber Brown, Ice Glacier, Bold March and Serjeant At Arms who was slightly hesitant at the start more by intent to get the colt cover from the start without the horse having to fight for his head. David Allan made his move approaching the final bend as he shot ahead of pace-setter Into The Spotlight with Bold March too getting into serious work. Jockey Sandesh on Serjeant At Arms preferred to ride a waiting race with an intent to rely on the turn of foot that the favourite was blessed with.

Ice Glacier shot ahead though for some distance Bold March put up a stiff fight. However, in the final furlong, Ice Glacier shook off his rival and was ready to battle with the favourite who was brought into contention with a powerful effort. The expectation that the favourite would cruise past the front-runner but the anticipated acceleration did not come about as Ice Glacier fought on gallantly and spared ¾ of a length at the finish. Bold March stayed on to take the third place. Ice Glacier bettered the course record Field Marshal by fractions, clocking two minutes 01.32 seconds.

This was the first Derby success for Ice Glacier`s sire Arazan and brought immense relief to the promoters of Poonawalla Stud Farm whose classic success had dried up in the last one year. The fact that Ice Glacier won the race in record time and has the ability to get longer trips, she has exciting possibilities for the connections in winter. Serjeant At Arms on the other hand, doesn`t look to relish longer trips and seems to be at his best over a mile. Interestingly all the owners of Ice Glacier namely Mr Byram Jeejeebhoy, Captain Jamshed Appoo and Zavaray Poonawalla had landed up at the venue despite the universal belief that the Derby would be a one-horse race for Serjeant At Arms. The owners of Serjeant At Arms too were in full strength.

Faraz Arshad trained Super Force who was well placed in scales, gave a powerful performance in the 1400 metres Bangalore Turf Club Trophy, a race for horses rated 80 and above, and won the race at the expense of favourite Sea Fairey. Despite her poor performance last time out, Sea Fairey was strongly backed to win the race and the progeny of Multidimensional led in earnest but closer home, had no answer when Super Force swooped on her with a powerful acceleration on the wide outside. Topmost who raced up front, managed to keep the third position ahead of Smile Stone.

Rajesh Narredu trained Supreme Dominator finally saw the winning post ahead of the rest after 470 days. The long shot Supreme Dominator, after being prominent till turning for home, steadily moved up and shot ahead of the pack with a furlong left in the race and established what turned to be a winning lead. Southern Fantasy came home with a big rush but Supreme Dominator lasted out to win by a diminishing margin of a neck in the hands of apprentice jockey Prashant Dhebe. Alexandrite ran on from behind to take the third place.

Interestingly, Praelector who had been relocated from Western India, won the 1200 metres Royal Western India Turf Club Trophy, a race for horses rated 40 to 65, quite emphatically. Legacy Machine who led the field till the final two furlongs, disappeared without a race with Praelector moved up with big strides. The fancied runner then shot away from the rest to win from late-finishing Hostess and Lucky Pineapple.

Padmanabhan trained Sang Royal won the 1400 metres Royal Calcutta Turf Club Trophy Div I), a race for horses rated 20 to 45, after fighting it out with Perfectebony in the final furlong. Sang Royal walked out of the gates but jockey David Allan did not panic as he gradually moved up places on the favourite and came into strong contention in the run in for home. Perfectebony was not inclined to give up easily and fought a stiff battle before going down in the shadow of the post. Golden Bow came up with a late charge to finish an eye-catching third. The lower division of the race went the way of lesser fancied Exemplar who pounced on the front runners with about 200 left in the race and won the race in impressive fashion in the hands of Dhebe. Favourite Carinosa who took time to warm up, was a tame second ahead of Masada whose odds drift clearly indicated that this well backed runner may not be in serious contention.

Warren Singh found another precious winner through Manta Ray who broke 371 days of winless sequence by claiming the 1400 metres Madras Race Club Trophy, a race for horses rated 20 to 45. Manta Ray came into strong contention even as the runners approached the final 200 metres and had no problem in keeping Ted With Me at bay. Favourite Croziet was third. The lower division of the race went the way of Bipin Salvi trained Trust Me Boy who just about lasted out to win from Reformer who put up a valiant fight only to go down by a whisker. Masters Glory came in for big support in the ring but the favourite who did not have a favourable position early on, but was full of running while finishing third.