Jockey P.S.Chouhan was in his elements on Monday, booting home four winners at Hyderabad. With the monsoon season drawing to a close, Chouhan now stands just two points behind Imran Khan in the jockey’s tally and the fight for the laurels is definitely going to be intense in the next three days of racing. The trainer’s championship is also likely to go to the wire with Deshmukh and Laxman Singh locked in a keen tussle.

River Side (Epicentre-First Wave) survived a scare from Mystical Knight en-route to lifting the Raja R.J.K.Ranga Rao Memorial Cup. Leo D’Silva trained River Side was backed to the exclusion of the other runners in the race, closing at 10 to 7 ‘on’. River Side joined the front running Brianna on entering the straight but was taking time to get past the leader. With some vigorous riding from Chouhan, the favourite finally obliged and surged ahead to open a two lengths lead. Mystical Knight had opted to run along the inner rails and once the rider realized that it may be tough to find daylight, pulled his mount out to give it a free run. Mystical Knight started to drift out alarmingly when pulled out in the last 100 metres but at the same time was getting closer to River Side with every stride. The winning post finally came to the rescue of River Side, who managed to scrape through by a whisker.

Chouhan had earlier ridden D’Silva’s Garcia Marquez (Quest Star-Friendly Type) to a more trouble free victory in the Camino Cup. The rousing favourite was settled in midfield as the seven horse field traversed the mile trip. Approaching the final bend, Garcia Marquez moved forward effortlessly to take over from the long time leader Jaz Elle and stretched out to win. Shades of Victory and The Challenge filled the frame.

L.V.R.Deshmukh’s Dance Baby Dance (Inner City-Café Dancer) was given a hard ride by P.S.Chouhan to confront The Leader’s strong challenge in the final half a furlong of the Candy Man Plate. The Leader was sent into the race at 6 to 4 while Dance Baby Dance was available at liberal eights. Dance Baby Dance tracked Naval Honour till passing the 600 metres pole and Chouhan was quick to draw clear on entering the straight. Imran Khan came up with a power packed challenge on The Leader inside the final furlong and the two top saddle artists went all out till the finish. Dance Baby Dance held on gallantly by a ‘neck’ at the wire.

Deshmukh led in a back to back winner through Vijay Kiran (Puerto Madero-Ruddles) in the Prince Regent Plate. Nurse for Love and Max Baby set the pace in front till the last 400 metres. Vijay Kiran was full of running as the field entered the home stretch and surged ahead in the middle of the track to wrap up the race by a clear four lengths. Robust was the best of the rest to take the second place, ahead of Moment of Roses.

Lioness Heart (Young Senor-Al Falujah) from the stables of M.V.Narayan Rao beat her twelve rivals in the opening event, to shed her maiden status. Moving up to join the front running Merry Maid two furlongs out, Lioness Heart surged ahead to win the higher division of the Top Most Plate, quite comfortably. Cannon Gem and First Spot took the third and fourth respectively.

Donald Netto’s Eloquence (Epicentre-Ours Good Faith) sprang a surprise when she kicked on from start to finish, in the higher division of the Top Most Plate. Eloquence remained a maiden even after twelve runs and the thirteenth attempt turned out to be her lucky one. Danny was hard pressed on the straight but managed only a second place while Sharp Single finished a tame third.

Imran Khan rode S.S.Faisal Hassan’s Paris Time (Inhabitant-Cinnamon) to a thumping win in the P.Antony Memorial Plate, the concluding race of the day. Carson Troy, Kohinoor Glory, Caladium and Paris Time were moving together to hit the front in the last 300 metres and it was Paris Time, who travelled the best and drew away to win by three lengths. Carson Troy, Kohinoor Glory and Caladium filled the frame in that order.