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The field of eight was closely huddled, just four lengths separating them till the final bend in the Elusive Hero Cup. Royal Bay challenged the front-running Kohinoor Eye near the last 300 metres and surged ahead to win the race. True Fashion finished second while Allegation had to crisscross through horses to finish third.
Al Malawi went on a start-to-finish mission and held on from Sanjaa in the lower division of the Democracy Plate. Sanjaa was backed to the exclusion of the other runners and was largely expected to emerge victorious. As the field of eight was dispatched, the favourite Sanjaa seemed to be very sluggish and the rider preferred to make his run five horses wide around the field, throughout the race. Making a strong bid in the last 100 metres, Sanjaa was short by a neck at the wire. The railbirds who had their penny on the favourite found it difficult to digest their loss.
Genius Empress gave its trainer Faiyaz Shaikh his first win of the season. Picking up speed passing the distance marker, Genius Empress left the front-running Aspiring Star cold to win the higher division of the Democracy Plate. The favourite Scorching Affair finished a tame third.
Jockey P.S. Chouhan rode out Faisal Hassan’s Thunder King to a pillar-to-post victory in the lower division of the Khammam Plate. Taking a flying jump at the gates, Thunder King cut the wind in front and kicked on gamely in front of Kohinoor Aditi approaching the winning post.
Sugar Baby surprised everyone with a start-to-finish win in the higher division. What looked like a runaway victory in the last 100 metres turned out to be otherwise, with the first five places covered within a length. Cannon Act and Cicilia took the second and third place, flashing late on the scene but the one that caught the eye was the well-backed favourite, Easy Touch, who covered almost 100 metres to finish a close fourth in one frame with the winner. Apprentice P. Venkat, who has now been allowed the use of the whip after his mandatory ten wins, probably could not co-ordinate his limbs to push the favourite to be with the field after jumping out and raced in the rear, in the 1,100 metres sprint.
The day started with Deshmukh’s Xtreme trouncing the field in the Starsky Plate, a race for maiden horses. P.S. Chouhan was the only professional to score a brace.
