Thomas Gary Mclaughlin gave a remarkable ride, on the Bangalore challenger, Fleet Indian, to win the Golconda 2000 Guineas. Y.S. Srinath tried to make a race of his own on Red Dragon, being the first to appear on the straight. Tom shifted gears on Fleet Indian and as he did so, the gelding began to drift out of the straight course, as is his old habit. At this juncture, David Allan on D’Artagnan began to take the gap but Tom gave a few firm left handers and Fleet Indian obeyed his master, correcting his course and quickened for a well-deserved victory. Fleet Indian had developed the habit of veering out on the home stretch, which he had done in the Monsoon Derby here, finishing third and again while winning the Mysore Derby. Fleet Indian received good support in the betting, going into the race as the joint favourite with D’Artagnan. Trainer J. Babu Rao, who has a reasonably small string, has kept the progeny of Tejano in fine shape and deserves all appreciations for the excellent work.

Mclaughlin, a true professional that he is, had put in quite a few hours of home work, watching the previous runs of Fleet Indian, to study his behaviours. Speaking to Indiarace after the race, he confessed that he was a bit wary of the gelding getting the mile trip and the win surprised him to an extent. He added, “The further he goes, the better he goes.” When asked if he would be astride Fleet Indian in the Derby, he said, “I would have loved to but we shall have Sparks from the home stable.”

Mclaughlin showed his jockeying skills in the very next race, when he rode Zycon, to set a new course record. Hari Har Priya set a scorching pace and stayed in front till the last 200 metres. Thereafter Dancing Touch and Zycon, who had got into the act at precisely at the same juncture, fought tooth and nail till the finish and it was the brilliance of Mclaughlin which enabled Srinagesh’s Zycon to put her neck in front at the wire. Jockey Ashhad Asbar of Dancing Touch took the race for a furlong more, to the stewards’ room, raising an objection against the winner, for reportedly squeezing him near 200 metres, thereby he had to change his whip hand and that was the cause for unbalancing his mount. The objection which lacked substance was thrown out in no time.

Vittal Deshmukh’s Miss Everywhere took command early in the race and the only challenge of sorts was from Rainbow Fog which was thwarted easily, in the Hyderabad Cup. The rest of the field were ‘also ran’ types with the most prominent let down coming from the favourite Ave Maria who did not show inclination to race throughout the seven furlongs. The pathetic performance of Ave Maria was hard to digest for most railbirds.

Vittal had started the day with his youngster, Orient Glory, winning the higher division of the Own Vision Plate, impressively, from start to finish.

Anupam Sharma’s Kuchipudi ran away with the lower division. Racing behind Friendly Equation till the final bend, Kuchipudi sizzled past and drew away to score an encore on debut. Anupam’s Allegation, with a dramatic appearance in the hands of Gnaneshwar won the division I of the Banarsilal Gupta Memorial Cup in a close three-way finish. While Allegation had his neck in front, the judge could not separate Accordion and Amontillado and declared a dead heat for the second place.

Embattled trounced the opposition in the lower division, scoring an emphatic victory over Green Vision who ran out of steam in the final 100 metres. Taste of India, Deccan Passion and Costa Messa rallied in late to finish close behind.

The entire complexion of the race changed in the last 50 metres in the Flying Treasure Plate. While Al Jameel, Kohinoor Fairytale, Air Bender and Try Me Today were fighting out the issue, Golden Sabot put in a terrific run, widest of all to overhaul all of them and win.

Sugar Baby, who is known for emptying the gas much before the winning post, once again packed up on the straight after leading from the start. Ace High and Tristar got stronger towards the finish and the hard riding of M.F. Alikhan brought the well fancied Tristar from Faisal Hassan’s yard to the winning enclosure. Kohinoor Aditi beat Ace high for the second slot. This was Ali Khan’s second win, having won earlier on Miss Everywhere.