The Vijay Textiles Deccan Derby –Grade 1, the plum event of the monsoon races at Hyderabad, which is customarily run on the 2nd of October, was won by S.Padmanabhan trained Borsalino (Choisir-Running Flame), which is bred at the Kunigal Stud. This is the fourth success in the race for Padmanabhan and the second in a row, having won with In The Spotlight last year.

It had rained quite heavily the previous day at Malakpet and to add to the woes, there was a heavy downpour as the horses left the parade ring for the opening event of the day. It continued to pour and the completion of the Derby day’s proceedings was being threatened. However the skies cleared up during the fourth race, much to the relief all those interested in racing and the big day was gone through. The usual Derby day crowd was not to be found, with many of  those who wish to be present on the big day staying back, due to the prevailing wet weather.

The Derby card had eight acceptors, with only one filly among them. It  was clearly a clash between S.Padmanabhan trained Borsalino and the  local raider Machiavellianism from the stables of L.V.R.Deshmukh. The two had met on four occasions earlier and the statistics showed the  Hyderabad hero, finishing ahead in three of them. The only race where Borsalino got to beat Machiavellianism was in the Kingfisher Derby at  Bangalore, in July this year. The underfoot condition in that race, was very similar to what was on this Derby day. The going was soft.

Plenipotent went ahead to set the pace as expected, with Borsalino  trying to settle down in second. The two continued to go that way till  the last 800 metres followed by Ocean Side, Machiavellianism, Flying Spur, San Ramon and Racing Tycoon. Hawkspring was sluggish at start  and was travelling a furlong behind. Nearing the 600 metres,  P.S.Chouhan alerted  Machiavellianism, who moved quickly to be at a  striking position, as they straightened up. Borsalino went ahead on top of  the straight and Machiavellianish raised some hopes, being  vigorously ridden by Chouhan. David Allan on Borsalino kept his cool and stuck to his task of keeping his boy on even keel on the wet going. Machiavellianism was clearly out of steam inside the last furlong and Borsalino earned his second Derby title. San Ramon finished third many lengths behind.

“I was a bit worried towards the early part as he was going a bit free” said David Alan while speaking to India Race after the race and added,” nearing the 6 furlongs he relaxed and I could give him a breather”. On being asked when he knew that he had the race, David replied,” 400 from home he came beside me but was not making headway, that’s when I knew that we had the race”.

On what’s next for Borsalino, trainer S.Padmanabhan said that they are yet to decide on running him in Mysore Derby. “We will get back to Bangalore and then decide about running him in the Mysore Derby”, he said.Laxman Singh and P.A.Culhane teamed up to score a double on a day dominated by horses at lucrative odds, while trainer Sk.Kassam pulled  off a brace and P.S.Chouhan getting his share of two winners.

Faiyaz Shaikh trained Genious Empress (Royal Gladiator-Loud Water) got  into a brilliant gallop in the last 50 metres to push through and win  the Major General Nawab Khusru Jung Bahadur Memorial Cup, a six furlongs dash for horses in the highest category. The favourite, Proof was well off the gates at start and settled behind the leaders Days of Thunder and Celtic Rose. Proof surged ahead near the distance post and  was joined by the bottom weighted Annacostia on the outside and Genius  Empress in the centre. The last named scuttled through to win while Annacostia got the better of Proof for the second place.

L.V.R.Deshmukh schooled Ring of Fire (Danehill Star-Arikana) completed  a fine hat-trick in the Raja Saheb of Challapalli Memorial Cup. Price  Warrior and Ponte Verdi were the leaders in front from the start with  Ring of Fire in third, close behind. On entering the straight,  P.S.Chouhan on Ring of Fire went for a run between the two horses in  front and shot ahead. Always Bullish was in futile chase for a short  while on the straight and faded out to finish fourth. Westminister
andDazzling Prince finished second and third respectively.

The day started off with Laxman Singh pulling off an upset through his  ward Vijay’s Dhara (Tirol-Madamoiselle), in the S.N.Reddy Memorial  Cup. Hitting the front from the innermost draw from the start Vijay’s  Dhara was never in any sort of danger by the other runners. The  favourite Ashwa Shakti finished on being second despite the best  efforts from the saddle.

The double for Laxman Singh came through Great Warrior (Glory of  Dancer-Dance in the Stars) in the Turf Authorities Cup. Vijay’s Winner was the one to set out on a start to finish mission along the inner rails but came under pressure near the distance post from Azaiba, who surged to take the lead. Great Warrior, who was carrying the public purse seemed to be very lazy in the early part and the rider Culhane was seen desperately working on him nearing the last 600 metres. The 3 year old gained momentum in the last 200 metres and shot through to win. Speedtosucceed finished second, ahead of Azaiba.

M.V.Narayana Rao trained Molecule (Rebuttal-Anacita), who had completed a hat-trick during winter was ignored in the betting despite finishing in the money in her recent runs. The filly rushed ahead under S.John, to take up the running on top of the straight and kept kicking on till the winning post. Snow Bird made rapid progress towards the closing stages but fell short by a ‘neck’ at the finish. Power Planet and Rustic Gal filled the frame.

Sk.Kassam’s True Scholar (Epicentre-Hunting Hawk) reproduced its  earlier to score an encore in the Nawab Sultan Ali Memorial Cup. Rise of Emerald and Kianoosh were the first two to be sighted on entering the straight, after leading from the start but could go no longer and both of them faded out quickly. Crimson Look was the one who surged ahead first but was soon overpowered by True Scholar, who came with a sustained run.

P.S.Chouhan drove home M.Srinivas Reddy trained Aneres (Kly Green-Music in Motion) in the P.V.G.Raju Memorial Cup, the concluding race of the day. Aneres came from out of the blue, with a flourish to sizzle past Rose Queen and Sun Bird close to the winning post.