Those of us, who had witnessed the racing debut of Cielo Rey almost nine months ago, were unanimous in our opinion that we had seen a star in the making. He had leapt out of an extreme wide draw, set his own pace and drawn away from his opponents while stopping the clock in top-class timing. Many had opined that he would be a prime contender in the Summer Classics. Unfortunately, Cielo Rey was nowhere near his best in the subsequent months. He started twice and finished off the board on both occasions. In fact, he was under a lot of pressure while completing his last start and was seen stopping in the final furlong on that day. Trainer Attaolahi was totally perplexed by this turn of events and decided to give his horse a long rest. It goes to the credit of this young talented professional that he was able to ascertain the problems facing Cielo Rey, sort them out with the help of the team at Kunigal, and after giving him two mock races in the last one month produced him in fine shape on Friday. The setting was The Ashoka Chakra Cup, a terms race over seven furlongs for horses foaled in 2006. Six three year-olds accepted to face the starter in the day's feature. Cielo Rey was installed as the first favourite, but with a lot of money flowing in the direction of Glitterato, the odds against this horse rose from 16/10 to 9/2. Glitterato started as a hot favourite ahead of Angelfire and the rest. This led to a lot of confusion in the minds of those who had decided to back Cielo Rey at the beginning of the day, and many amongst them changed their bets at race time. All of them rued their decision at the end of the day. The race itself was literally a "procession". Cielo Rey jumped smartly and was galloping well within himself while showing the way to Six Shooter, Glitterato and Angelfire. He was still on tight reins at the bend while the others were seen being scrubbed at that stage. Chris Hayes released his hold on the leader and asked him quicken. The response was almost electric as Cielo Rey gathered momentum and cantered away for an effortless victory. Despite being eased-up in the final stages of this race, the winner clocked a superb timing of a little over One Minute and Twenty Four seconds. It was a heart-warming performance for the connections of this well-bred horse and much more shall be heard of him in the coming months. For the record, Angelfire came with a long stretch run to go past a heavily whipped Glitterato. The above victory completed a double for Attaolahi and Chris Hayes, as they had already scored with Silken Thomas in the upper division of The Saptarishi Cup. Silken Thomas had run twice in the last one month and on both occasions had run out of steam after leading till the last hundred metres. But since this horse was eligible to run in the lower class, Attaolahi decided to tackle the relatively weaker opposition today. Chris Hayes decided to change his tactics. He knew that it could be problematic for Silken Thomas to carry the top weight to a start-to-finish victory. His plan to hold him back till the bend before utilizing his blazing turn of foot suited Silken Thomas perfectly. The winner came with giant strides and sailed clear of Affirmed Crown, Stylish Bay and Royal Amber. The last named was looking good in the paddock and should be noted for an early success. It has become normal for Suraj Narredu to ride a couple of winners each race day. He had to use all his wits while scoring a last stride victory astride his father's Superb Style. Srinath's mount Spark Of Solitaire had led from the beginning and had opened up a useful lead at the bend. Superb Style was sent in chase and began his assault inside the last furlong. The two riders electrified the grandstands with their saddle artistry. Suraj was able to coax Superb Style to win near the winning post. He returned to an ovation from the crowd as Superb Style was the only clear favourite to win in the day's card. The unlucky runner in this race was Dominic's Bucephalas. The horse was sluggish at the start and was totally outpaced thereafter. Apprentice Khurshad, who was permitted the use of a whip today, began to push his horse thereafter. Bucephalas covered more than ten lengths in the straight and ended close behind the first two. He will be too good to miss over seven furlongs later in the season. Suraj rode Neil Darashah's Hill Of Grace to a narrow win over favourite So Much More. Here again it was Suraj and Srinath who finished in that order. Hill Of Grace was ridden for eventual speed in this race. She raced behind a wall of horses and was totally covered up most of the way. A dream opening in the last furlong was all that was required. Suraj did the rest and pushed her to a long overdue success. Amyn Merchant was the third jockey to ride a pair of winners. He won the opening and closing races in the eight-event card framed for the day. The Dawn was a fancied runner today as his connections had decided to campaign him in Class V. The three year-old was fancied in a higher set a few weeks ago. That experience seemed to have served him well, as The Dawn scampered away from Cash Is King and I Fancy You. The horse became stronger at the finish and the boy had to literally stand up in the saddle to slow him down. On the other hand, Amyn had to whip Warren Singh-trained Season's Greetings till the very end to retain his advantage over Good Companion. There were four runners equally fancied in this race. Pradeep's Dark Horse, Inayathulla's Good Companion, Lokanath's Born Beauty and Md Abbas' Stagelight received strong support in the ring. The bookmakers had the last laugh as Amyn Merchant and Season's Greetings went past the post. Ganapathy-trained First Of A Legend was the shortest priced favourite in the afternoon. The half-money choice was meeting a weak set of horses in a class IV race over 2,000 metres. He looked much too powerful for this set and was accorded all round support in the ring. The horse ran a sluggish race and B Prakash pushed him for most of the way to finish a close second behind Super Spear. Chisty rode this winner for trainer Narayana Gowda. Super Spear had run nine lengths behind First Of A Legend exactly four weeks ago. With hardly any change in the weights, today's result was a huge shock for most racegoers.