S.Faisal Hassan trained Malabar Prince (Gaswar-Red Connect) pulled off an upset victory, beating his three rivals, in the Raja Bahadur Venkatram Reddy Memorial Cup, the main event of Friday’s races at Hyderabad. Don Valentino led the field right from the start, followed by Vijay’s Angel, Malabar Prince and Golden Queen. The same order prevailed till passing the half way stage and Golden Queen improved position to run second as they started to take the final turn. On entering the home stretch Golden Queen and Malabar Prince moved ahead to match strides with each other and the strong urgings of Ashhad Asbar had the later running better towards the closing stages. Golden Queen could not hold out and finished third behind Don Valentino who came with a renewed effort in the last 100 metres.

D.Nett’s Star Saloni (Young Senor-Mikado) made ample amends for her last start failure and those who persisted with her reaped rich rewards. A winner of two races on the trot, the filly had missed a hat-trick when she let down a large following in her last outing. She shrugged off that defeat and was back to her winning ways, posting a convincing victory in the Silky Baby Plate.  Imran Khan got the filly to move up on the far side to surge ahead of Play The Music in the home stretch. Nano Star warmed up late to take the second spot ahead of Play The Music.

Ananth Vatsalya’s Buck Knife (Hurricane State-Nationwide) lifted the higher division of the Krishna Cup to score an encore. Buck Knife led from the start and quickened when challenged by Fopping inside the final furlong. Princess Jaanu warmed up late to take the second spot ahead of Fopping. Ananth and Carlos Henrique teamed up to complete a double, having won on Nano Pride (Sharp Attack-Bribe In Prejudice), in the higher division of the Lovable Princess Plate. Nano Pride, the favourite in the race, rallied in third position, as they took the final bend and moved strongly inside the last 150 metres to collar Crimson Look close to the winning post.

Trainer M.Sathyanarayana and Jockey Satish Nayak combined to score a double through Street Magic and True Diamond. Street Magic (Mathematician- Galway) was in front from the start and had a lead of about two lengths as they entered the home stretch. The favourite Sitting Pretty started to close the gap in the last 100 metre but fell short by a ‘head’ at the wire. Nano Desire finished on fast to join the two in the photo.

True Diamond (Diffident-Aquila) moved quickly at start to get to the front of the packed field of fourteen runners and led all the way to the finish in the Treasure Leaf Plate, the concluding race of the day. Ektto Ektto Ektto covered plenty of ground in the last 100 metres and charged towards True Diamond but was a good one length short at the finish.

Royal Sword (Royal Gladiator-Crystal Clear), trained by K.V.Srinivas was ridden by A Ramana to victory in the Lower division of the Krishna Cup. Covering up ground inside the last 300 metres, Royal Sword went past Caladium. Winning Strides warmed up late to beat Sparkling Saphire for the third place.

Zoheb Shaikh’s Queen’s Craft (Ikthyar-Eka) who was running in about fifth position as they approached the final turn moved steadily under P.Venkat, to get behind Lumiere Blanche inside the final furlong and surged ahead to score a convincing victory, in the higher division of the Sweet Girl Plate. Aarohan moved late to take the third spot.

Bloody Mary (Mr.Mellon-Cats Concert) from the stables of L.D’Silva wrapped up the lower division, beating Price Warrior on the post. Price Warrior entered the final straight five lengths clear of the rest. Apprentice A.K.Pawar started to work his way on Bloody Mary and the 4 year old filly bridged the gap steadily and snatched the victory at the wire. The favourite Transformation finished a tame third.