The entire grand stand was stunned when Crocodile Hunter romped home to lift the Air Command Cup, beating 12 others which included Attractress. The Deshmukh-trained Attractress was the public choice considering her previous performances and her rating as a classic filly at this centre. But everything didn’t seem to be alright with Attractress as she entered the paddock for the pre-race parade. She was found to be in bandages on both her fore legs for the first time in her career and was not seen in her best coat. Going into the race, Roopesh tried to settle Attractress off the pace but the filly preferred to race in mid-field and on entering the straight Mission Chief got to the front for a short while before he was overhauled by Crocodile Hunter. Attractress looked to be in some kind of unease throughout the race and never got into the rhythm that was expected of her. The winner Crocodile Hunter was trained by Sathyanarayan and ridded by Ch.K.Chary.
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| Crocodile Hunter winning the Air Command Cup |
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Storm Command, who had recently moved into Vatsalya’s stable, surprised everyone with a gusty performance to clinch the Nawab Mehdi Jung Bahadur Memorial Cup. The four-year old filly had never raced over seven furlongs earlier but paid dividends when Ananth decided to put her over nine furlongs. Umesh settled the ‘Storm’ with the front bunch till the bend and took ‘Command’ on the straight to lift the cup. Royal Dignitary was found to be travelling the best on the straight but was unfortunate to go lame and didn’t complete the trip. Vijay Dhanush made a late bid to finish second.
Leo and Harish had a back-to-back double early in the day winning the first two races. Davenport managed to clinch the Shivkumar Lal Memorial Cup within the shadow of the winning post from Fly by Wire and Carte Blanche. Davenport appeared to be sluggish in the early part of the race not responding to Harish’s niggling and had to be literally pelted on the straight to get to the gallop. Emerald Bay shed her maiden ranks in the higher division of the Cupid Plate. The favourite Pavarotti probably took the lead a bit too early on the straight and began to shorten his strides when Harish brought Emerald Bay with a sustained run to win.
The lower division witnessed a pulsating finish with The Beatles Angel just managing to get the nod in her favour at the wire from Colette. A good amount of money flowed The Beatles Angel’s way who wound up as the favourite.
Deshmukh’s Ramases got the better of Chesapeake after the two fought out in the final furlong in the Sunny Blossom Plate.
The two divisions of the Tungabhadra Plate went in favour of fancied runners. The lower division was won by Shehzad Abbas’s Chiquelle who cruised home victorious authoritatively. The higher division was won by Laxman Singh’s Mizna in similar fashion.
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