The A.P.Race Horse Owner’s Association Trophy, which featured the day’s races at Hyderabad, on Monday, was won by Leo D’Silva’s Golden Palace ( Quest Star (USA) - Groves Iesis (IRE) ) in an absolutely nail biting finish. Golden Queen was on a start to finish mission over the mile trip and came into the home stretch well clear of the rest. Inside the last furlong, Golden Queen still looked good with a three lengths lead. Apprentice Kuldeep Singh set the sails on Golden Palace with about 150 metres left from the finish and the four year old responded readily to inch closer with every stride and managed to nail Golden Queen at the wire.

Laxman Singh trained Royal Shaan (Royal Gladiator-Shanavi) won the Charminar Trophy from start to finish. Ridden by P.A Culhane, Royal Shaan set his own pace and was clear by about three lengths when the  field showed up on the final straight. The favourite Golden Rule was
towards the rear among the five runners as the five runners started to round the final bend and jockey Suraj Narredu started to work hard on  his mount once on the straight. Golden Rule picked up momentum inside the last 100 metres and covered ground rapidly but the winning post  came to the rescue of Royal Shaan, who survived by a ‘short head’ to score an encore.

Laxman Singh, in the first race, the Everest Plate, had sent out an  upset victor in Imaan (Valid Concept-Integrity). Jockey Deep Shanker  took the 6 year old to the front right from the start over the 2400  metres trip and just managed to scrape through from the fast finishing Deccan Storm.

The 3 year old filly from D.Netto’s yard, Elenor  (Mathematecian-Chesterford) scored an emphatic encore, in the higher division of the Hovercraft Plate. Jockey A.Imran Khan was quick at start to get Elenor to be in front, along the inner rails, from the  outermost draw. Paradise Bay moved to take the lead and Elenor decided to track the leader. Mid-way up the straight, Elenor moved ahead with  ease and there was no worthy challenger from the remaining eight. Last outing winner Exclusive rallied on to take the second place.

Netto’s brigade fired again in the next race, the Star of Stars Cup. Travaldo (Midtown-Forest Green) showed good initial speed and shot  through to hit the front at start. Inside the last 300 metres Kohinoor  Pride was coming up strongly and it looked like he would surge ahead but Imran Khan on Travaldo was vigorous on his mount and the bay  gelding responded brilliantly to scuttle ahead and score. Golden  Adagio moved late to take the second spot while Kohinoor Pride finished third. The favourite Rob Roy finished on in fourth.

P.S.Chouhan gave a hard ride on S.S. Faisal Hassan’s Sweety Girl  (Ivory Touch-Highland Fling) to come out triumphant in the Nalgonda Plate. Kohinoor Adhira was on a start to finish mission and was joined by Cannon Ten and Sweety Girl near the distance post. The three matched strides for a short while and Sweety Girl surged ahead to bag her second successive win. Cannon Ten finished second, ahead of  Kohinoor Adhira.

M.Sathyanarayana’s Street Magic (Mathematician-Galway) scrapped  through from the favourite Kohinoor Destiny in the lower division of  the Hovercraft Plate. Kohinoor Destiny and Street Magic set out in  front and raced almost together till the final bend. Even before straightening up for the final run, jockey Kurshad Alam surged ahead with Street Magic and opened a gap of over three lengths.

K.S.V.Prasad Raju’s Fine Racer (Sussex-Fine Glance) was the biggest upset of the day, in the last race of the day, the Cordon Bleu Plate. Kohinoor Supreme, who was on a start to finish bid, came under pressure from the favourite Vijaysheel 200 metres from home and Fine
Racer also sprang up in between these two. The 5 year old who had won a race earlier this season was very surprisingly neglected in the betting.

Trainers D.Netto and Laxman Singh scored a brace each while A.Imran Khan was the lone rider to pilot two winners.