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The day started with Ladjadj Stephane riding Donald Netto’s Malabar Prince to a very impressive win in the Flowersoftheforest Cup. Stephane kept the raging favourite in check, running second last, although the Prince was showing eagerness to move ahead, till the final bend. As the field entered the home stretch, the Frenchman brought Malabar Prince through the shortest way and surged clear of the front-running Firstandforemost. Vijay Trishul made a late bid to snatch the second place from Firstandforemost.
L.V.R. Deshmukh and P.S. Chouhan combined to score a double. Fleet Commander made an impressive debut, winning the lower division of the Deccan Star Plate, a race for maiden horses. Fleet Commander was in full command of the fleet on entering the straight, with a four lengths lead and after taking a look behind, jockey Chouhan decided to ease his mount and literarily toyed with the opposition. Original Gladiator finished second ahead of Jabel Queen.
Fly by Wire was the duo’s second win but not before going through the ordeal of ratifying it in the stewards room. Exclusive Monarch brought the field into view on the straight and held forte till the last 150 metres. Fly by Wire unleashed a powerful run on the extreme outside moving strongly from a eighth position and in the process shifted in, while going ahead. Dash of Class continued to fight from behind to finish second, a neck behind the winner. Imran Khan took an objection against Chouhan for shifting in, whereby he had to pull his mount out and make a re-run, but it was overruled by the stewards.
Another debutant to impress was Shehzad Abbas-trained filly Corvette (Burden of Proof – Corsicana). The filly showed plenty of speed and won the higher division of the race for maiden horses, from start to finish. After a few niggles as a two year-old, Corvette was not raced in winter and the manner in which she won the race is an indication of a promising career ahead. Retaliate finished second while Aficionado took the third spot.
Apprentice Ajit Kumar, who has been riding with great confidence, raced away with a quick back-to-back double. The five-kilo allowance on the top-weighted Acciaccatura enabled the D’Silva trainee to register a thumping win in the Mrs. S.N. Reddy Memorial Cup. Calighate and Al Jadeed had started to make a move inside the final furlong but was no match when Acciaccatura, traveling the best on the outside, trounced the opposition. Penumatcha warmed up late to take the second spot while Power Ranger travelled all over the track in the final 100 metres to finish third.
Ajit Kumar had the speedy China Pearl in front from the start and never had to dig into the turf to win the lower division of the Tenacity Cup. Canadian Girl had jumped out last from the gates, progressed gradually and came with a late run along the rails to take the runner-up berth ahead of Indian Army.
M. Sathyanarayana-trained Casablanca lifted the higher division. Krithiman led till the last 200 metres and lost steam paving way to the bottom-weighted Kohinoor Magic and the top-weighted Casablanca to fight it out. Casablanca prevailed, close to the winning post, after a tough duel. Dancing Harbour missed the start yet again and laboured hard to finish third.
Prasad Raju’s Striking Gold won by a lengthening margin in the concluding race despite being taken wide by Caladium. Imran Khan kept his cool when Caladium started to drift out and corrected his track to win comfortably. While Caladium held on in second, Daily Star pipped Achiever to the third spot. Trigger Happy was withdrawn after he started to get troublesome at the gates.
