An energetic ride by Mark Gallagher in the final furlong enabled a victory for Ganapathy-trained Ordained One (Placerville-Amazing Princess), in the Nizam’s Gold Cup (Grade III), the feature event of Sunday’s races at Malakpet. Four runners had lined up to vie for the rich purse of this premier event and all of them were from other racing centres, with not a single local representative going for it. Macchupicchu arrived from Western India, while the other three, Ordained One, Cielo Rey and Oban were Bangalore-based. Ordained One started at a short price, below even money, but drifted out to close at 12 to 10 by race time, while Macchupicchu and Cielo Rey were available at 3 to 1 each. Cielo Rey set the pace with Macchipicchu, Ordained One and Oban following in that order, till the final bend. Entering the home straight, Cielo Rey picked up speed and started to stretch away from the others. Mark got busy on the favourite but the son of Placerville looked to be languid and needed a few more than a dozen cracks to produce acceleration and once he did, the colours of Dr. M.A.M. Ramaswamy flew, to beat Cielo Rey at the winning post by a ‘neck’. The next for Ordained One will be The President Of India Gold Cup, coming up here on the 18th of September 2011.

Local hero, P.S. Chouhan could not fulfil his engagements for the day as he was with his better half celebrating the arrival of their little angel. Replacements on his mounts were made and Mark Gallagher got to ride Vijay Monarch in the B Marideswara Rao Memorial Cup. Backed to the exclusion of the other runners, Vijay Monarch (Diffident-Post Impressionist) let Red River Rebel enjoy the wind in front and followed the leader till the 600 metres post. Rounding the final turn, Gallagher let go the favourite and Deshmukh’s trainee showed a clean pair of heels and won with plenty in hand. Don Valentino fought out with Jabel Queen to finish second.

Anupam Sharma’s camp was buoyant on Sunday, pulling off a remarkable treble. All the three winners, Kathakali, Bharatanatyam and Krithiman were partnered by jockey R. Laxmikant. Kathakali (Case Law-Zehera) lifted the lower division of The Tenacity Cup. Maintaining the lead right from the start, Kathakali stepped up speed on entering the straight and opened a healthy gap over the others and that came in handy towards the closing stages as Aarohan, who made her run around horses, galloped strongly but was a bit late, as the winning post had come to the rescue of Kathakali. Hundred Flowers and Splendid Show finished third and fourth respectively, after a keen tussle.

Bharatanatyam (Dancing Beggar-Groves Iesis) was more comfortable while winning the higher division of the six-furlong sprint. Aficionado set out on a start-to-finish mission but was joined by Bharatanatyam inside the last furlong and travelled better after a brief fight to emerge a winner by a length and a half. One Mission finished a tame third despite the best effort of Gallagher.

Krithiman (Alnasr Alwasheek-Starboard) emerged the best in the lower division of the Mrs. S.N. Reddy Memorial Cup, beating the opposition comfortably. After a good jump, Krithiman led all the way and won as he liked on the straight. The 5-year-old seems to have struck form and will be looking for an encore. One One One appeared late to finish second ahead of Chemeli.

The higher division was bagged by a long-shot from the stables of M. Sathyanarayana. Disco Flash (Kly Green-Acaress) produced a dazzling run towards the closing stages to emerge victorious. Onti Onti Onti was not in the fight 200 metres from home but flashed on late to take the runner-up berth ahead of China Pearl and Winning Strides. Kohinoor King was the unlucky one in the race, getting knocked off by Winning Strides at a crucial juncture.

A. Imran Khan rode S.A. Shehzad Abbas’s Secret Burden (Burden Of Proof-Secret Star) to a maiden victory, in the Deccan Star Plate. Vijaysheel, Cherry Hill and Secret Burden raced almost together till the top of the straight and Abbas’s ward quickened well to shoot ahead and win handsomely.

The opening race, The Flowersoftheforest Cup was won by Laxman Singh-trained Bright Spectrum (Sunday Doubt-Chapman’s Peak), who toyed with the field while making every post a winning one. Lesser fancied All The Fun took the second spot ahead of Ice Rain and Indian Warrior.

The concluding race was won by another popular choice, Pavan (Emerald Cat-Justicia). Jockey R. Umesh took the favourite to the front from the start with A Horizontal Urge and Sparkling Sapphire in close attendance. Entering the straight, Umesh had to just niggle his mount and Pavan responded brilliantly to stretch out and win by a good margin. Golden Adagio weaved his way through the field to take the second spot ahead of Oru Oru Oru and A Horizontal Urge.