Tragedy struck Malakpet race track once again on Saturday. Veteran jockey Laxman lost his life in a fall involving three horses, in the Elite Zone Plate, the fifth race of the day. The favourite in the race, Ektto Ektto Ektto, ridden by B.Dileep stumbled near the 1000 metres and came down. Triple Eight with Laxman astride and Eloquence with jockey S.Sreekant on the saddle, who were just behind, came crashing down. Dileep and Sreekant escaped unhurt but Laxman was grievously injured and he was shifted to a hospital, where he could not be revived and the end came soon. Dada, as Laxman was fondly called by all his friends at the race course, was a very hard working rider even at the age of 57 years. He would always be at the track by 5.30 in the morning for the morning work. A humble human being, one can recollect his hay days with trainer S.M.Shah and J.Luis in Bangalore.

The 3 year old filly, Oasis Vision (Senure-Strasbourg) lifted the Trainer P.Pratap Reddy Memorial Cup, which featured the day’s nine races card at Hyderabad. Odalis set out on a start to finish mission, with the short priced Oasis Vision in tow. Nearing the distance post, P.S.Chouhan started to work his way on Oasis Vision and the filly gained momentum in fine fashion to score an encore.

Vijay’s Champ (Toccet-Poor Old Eliza), who kick started his career with a win this season, bounced back to register an authoritative victory in the Mystical Cup, to give the trainer jockey combination of Deshmukh and Chouhan a double. Racing handily in about third position till passing the 800 metres, Vijay’s Champ surged ahead before the final turn for home and stretched out freely to win by a big margin. Enigma, who had fallen back, after sharing the lead with Sheikh’s Emperor for almost half the 2200 metres trip, rallied back, to take the runner-up berth. Sheikh’s Emperor and Great Warrior filled the frame.

Ananth Vatsalya trained Kohinoor Supreme (Greensmith-Gamble in Gold) was ridden with great confidence by Nilesh Rawal, to win the higher division of the Blue Ice Plate. Taking off smartly from draw 2, Kohinoor Supreme went ahead to lead the field and was freely in front on the home stretch while Divine Ganges and Fine Racer fought for the minor places.

R.H.Sequeira’s Corvette (Burden of Proof-Corsicana), who has struck form this season, picked her second successive win, in the lower division. Rio Grande was the only one who offered some competition to Corvette all along the home stretch before surrendering. Star Prospect and Samsonite finished third and fourth respectively.

A well planned coup from the stables of T.Srinagesh paid off dividends in the lower division of the Bhagat Singh Plate. The 4 year old Ziv (Hammerstein-Simply Beautiful) from the stable took a smart jump and headed straight to the inner rails to lead the field. Inside the final furlong, Ziv had a useful lead of almost three lengths and Inspiring Tunes was the one which was beginning to devour ground from the rear. As the gap started to narrow down rapidly, the winning post came to the rescue of Ziv, who managed to pull it off.

Faiyaz Shaikh trained Dazzling Princess (Hymn-Broken Silence) whose only win was exactly a year ago, won the higher division from start to finish. Apprentice Harinder Singh took the filly to lead the field right from the word ‘go’ and kept drawing away from the rest, once into the straight. Hard Hit and Amrapal started to get closer inside the last 150 metres but the winner was sighted long way from home and the duo finished second and third respectively.

Anupam Sharma schooled Kohinoor Pride (European-Hero’s Tribute) who had shed his maiden ranks this season, produced a dazzling gallop on the home stretch to lift the Elite Zone Plate. Kohinoor Pride was handily placed in third behind Miss Watermelon and Ponte Verdi till the final bend. Ajit Kumar started to work his way on Kohinoor Pride on entering the straight and the 4 year old responded brilliantly to scuttle to the front. Ice Rain and Ann Arbor rallied late to finish second and third respectively.

The 3 year old bay gelding, Sheridan (Cool Creek-Sherie Rose) from Faiyaz Shaikh’s stables came out of its maiden ranks, with a fine spurt in the last 100 metres of the higher division of the Accomplish Plate. Sheridan matched strides with Allianz Arena all the way till the last 150 metres and when the rider, Ravinder Singh gave two cracks produced a quick turn of foot, to draw clear. Mr Glorious, Prince Prashant and Cannon Law filled the frame, in that order.

Laxman Singh’s Secret Angel (Placerville-Diablo’s Secret) made it a pillar to post affair in the lower division, to make it her second successive victory. Pacific Star was in futile chase throughout the race.