The vaccines have finally arrived and the process of vaccinating is to begin on Tuesday, December 09, 2008. The Board of Stewards of the Hyderabad Race Club resolved to cancelled the races scheduled for Sunday, 14th December and Monday, 15th December 2008.

Favourites dominated on Monday, seven of them romping home in a card of nine races. Trainers K.S.V.Prasad Raju, L.D’Silva and jockeys T.S. Jodha, P. Kamlesh and A. Ashhad Asbar scored a double each. Trainer Anupam Sharma who has recently moved base to Hyderabad opened his account.

Leo D’Silva trained La Lapitus walked away with the Prince Pradeep Trophy, with an impressive performance. Meticulous did all the running in front till the final bend before Clever Ploy could take it up. Jockey Kamlesh brought the favourite La Lapitus with a fluent run and sailed past the stable mate in front, for a comfortable victory.

Leo, Kamlesh combination completed a double when Costa Mesa held on from Arsham in the lower division of the 26/11 Mumbai Ashok Kamte Memorial Trophy. Costa Mesa cut the wind in front, right from the start and widened the gap over Spectacular Hero who was struggling in second position passing the distance post. Kohinoor Star and Arsham began to warm up late and Arsham was the fastest moving towards the closing stages of the race but fell short by a neck. Spectacular Hero and Kohinoor Star filled the frame.

In the higher division, Jockey Aadesh Kumar rode a peach of a race on Red River Rebel, using the opening along the rails very judiciously to give his trainer Anupam Sharma his first win on this track. Chamatkar who was in the lead till the Rebel passed him, finished second. Page Three and Yippee fought on for the minor placing.

The Palm Groove Plate, for two year old maiden horses were split into two races. Both the races were bagged by babies who had advertised their potential in their first outing. Deshmukh schooled Ramasses made every post a winning one in the higher division. Davenport, Kohinoor King and Casablanca followed the winner in that order. Vendetta had to work his way to win the lower division. T.S. Jodha had to ride out, to pass the leader Menlo Park on the straight and then ward off the late dash of Kohinoor Delight who added pep to the race, finishing a close second, pushing Menlo Park to the third position.

T.S.Jodha had a double when he booted home Indian Army to a facile victory in the 26/11 Mumbai Vijay Salaskar Memorial Trophy. Having gone through listless performances during the monsoon season, Indian Army was coming into hand, improving with every run this season. Jodha replaced medically unfit Ramana on Indian Army and he made full use of his chance mount to score an impressive win. Execute finished second ahead of Encounter. The favourite Star Favours was well poised on top of the straight and jockey Christopher preferred to guide his mount through the narrow gap along the rails and as he did, the gap closed and the horse brushed the inner rails after stumbling. Christopher just managed to stay astride and Star Favours fell back after the incident. Allegation lost almost eight lengths at the start and raced in the rear.

Imran Khan rode out Air Bender to a comfortable victory in the Palampet Trophy run over the metric mile. Royal Bond in his customary fashion led till the final bend. Irish Intellect on the inside, Madho in the centre and Air Bender on the outside began their pursuit on top of the straight and it was Air Bender who went clear from Madho. Lucky Damsel came in late and pipped Irish Intellect for the third position.

Two Speedy types of 3 year olds from Prasad Raju’s stables wrapped up both the divisions of the Auckland Plate, thus giving Prasad a popular double. Dancing Touch missed the course record by one hundredth of a second in the lower division but Red Fairy made amends, setting a new course record over five and a half furlongs. Dancing Touch could not take advantage of the innermost draw and trailed the field till the final bend, after a tardy start. Jockey Ashhad Asbar gradually improved his mount on the straight and brilliantly took the slender gap available on the rails, and once shown the daylights, Dancing Touch galloped resolutely to romp home in style. Red Fairy took a good jump but was soon passed by the speedy Cogent. On top of the home stretch Red Fairy unleashed a terrific run and won the higher division drawing away, stopping the clock at 1 minute 06.33 seconds, a new course record, bettering the earlier one by 0.70 seconds. True Fashion and Cannon Scot were seen to be moving fast in the last 50 meters and finished second and third respectively in a close finish.