Surprisingly a small card of six events with only 60 contenders were scheduled for the weekend races held on Saturday, despite more than 800 horses being stationed here.

The long shot Alchemy, trained by S. Padmanabhan for Mr. Deepak Khaitan, who also had other two runners, in the favourite Alameda and second-in-demand Elusive Emperor in a field of five, entered the winner’s enclosure after a few seasons with an effortless victory under jockey Srinath to claim the Chief Minister’s Trophy, the highlight of the day.

In fact, the followers of the form book were taken by surprise when the Rare Brick-Stormy Beauty gelding, who has no recent form to go by, pulled away from the pack to register a little less than four lengths victory over stable mate Elusive Emperor. Jockey Srinath had an arm charm ride aboard Alchemy who made light of the 62 kgs and came with fluent strides inside the final furlong after tracking the front runners till entering the home straight . 

The five horses’ field broke level for the gruelling 2,400 metres trip, with Alameda showing some urgency in the early part, soon overtaken by Elusive Emperor with Hello Brother and Ma Baker in close attendance and Alchemy travelling a few lengths behind the field of four. The same order prevailed till the heads turned for home with Elusive Emperor showing distress signals and the ace jockey Aslam Khader watching helplessly Srinath drive his mount through the wide gap to take the winning lead inside the final furlong. A further two and half length away in third was Ma Baker with Hello Brother close on her heels, followed by Alameda. It might be too early to predict the winner of the Stayers’ Trophy, scheduled to be held in the first week of March. But watch out for Alameda, the winner of that event at Guindy last year for she may repeat that performance here. 

The four to one chance, Classic Ballet, prepared by ex jockey Karan Singh for Dr. M.A.M. Ramaswamy, was guided to a facile victory by Prakash in the opener. The Diffident-Azzilfi’s filly led from the start with favourite Cape Martin in hot pursuit. The duo engaged in a stirring duel from the top of the straight with both the riders giving their best. But Classic Ballet produced that little extra spark under the rhythmic punching style of Prakash to spare a length and quarter at the wire. Winner’s owner mate Another Time came up with a leisurely run to be a distance behind at third followed by Triple Treasure. Note Another Time, a good looking filly of-Alarming (by Steinbeck) looks like an early winner.

It was the unprofessional handling of jockey P. Woods on Triple King that contributed more to the success of Ambermatic in the 1,200 metres race for five and six years old horses in the 20 to 35 category in the H. Deveux Memorial Plate. Jockey A. Imran Khan, astride the Habib Khan-trained Ambermatic made the best of the situation and kicked on gamely to spare a length and quarter to Triple King, who got in to rhythm when the winner had gone clear. The other fancied runner, Maltese Falcon went wide before finishing third, followed by the Malesh Narredu-ridden favourite Patriotic, who made no progress from the mid bunch of the nine horses field and eventually ended up a poor fourth. Saujas, from the yard of N.A. Ponnappa, with apprentice jockey S. Ramesh up, took over the running early and held on to win the 1,400 metres race for the Saptharishi Cup by half a length, staving of the spirited challenge of Psychedelic, who was gaining ground along the fence. Strides of Fire came almost from the last at the final turn to be a good third and he is the one to be persisted with. The favourite, Indian Rocket failed to take off after raising some hope at the top of the home stretch but eventually completed the frame.

Royal Caribbean, confidently entrusted to lesser known jockey Khalander by its trainer Arjun Mangalorkar, was ridden, to be precise, was banged mercilessly by its rider to upset all calculations in the sprint race for horses in the 10 to 25 category, The Bellary Plate. The favourite Shining Conquest finished five lengths behind as second after a short duel approaching the final furlong mark. Jockey Srinath earned a double through the B. Puttanna trained King Of Mohra, the only favourite to oblige in a day of upsets as it registered a comprehensive win in the concluding event of the day.