Laxman Singh trained Vijay’s Dhara (Tirol-Madamoiselle) lifted the Indian Navy Rolling Challenge Trophy, which featured the small card of seven races on Sunday at Hyderabad. Vijay’s Dhara, who had finished third to Kohinoor Wish in its last outing, made amends to halt the winning streak of the latter. Apprentice Harinder Singh positioned Vijay’s Dhara in second, letting Garcia Marquez head the field three lengths in front. Entering the last 400 metres, the race got to a boil with Vijay’s Dhara taking the first initiative. Golden Palace, Rosemead and Surya Lakshmi started to change gears on the outside while the raging hot favourite Kohinoor Wish looking to sneak in along the inside. Vijay’s Dhara fought on gallantly till the finish and held on by half a length to emerge victorious. Golden Palace pipped Kohinoor Wish on the last stride to be the runner-up.

Laxman Singh saddled a double with Kianoosh (Ivory Touch-Twothousandfour) in the lower division of the Trade Fair Plate, the concluding race of the day. Kianoosh, who was a maiden, going into the race, was backed to the exclusion of the other runners. Hitting the front right from the start, Kianoosh led all the way, giving the jockey Deep Shanker an arm chair ride. Classic Emerald was hard at work but Kianoosh was hard held in front and extended effortlessly to increase the margin. Classic Emerald, Camacho Speed and Divine Ganges filled the field in that order.

L.V.R.Deshmukh’s youngster Fastest Finger (Holy Roman Emperor-Fragrant) scored a smashing win on debut, in the Soviet Star Plate. Palm Springs was in the lead from the start with Fastest Finger tracking the leader close behind. On the home stretch, jockey P.S.Chouhan waited for quite some time on Fastest Finger and when he released the brakes, the son of Holy Roman Emperor cruised ahead with fine strides. Palm Springs finished second while Princess Cruise was third, a long way back.

Trainer K.S.V.Prasad Raju was another professional to pull off a double. Both the winners from his stables, Aarohan and Aerosmith were short priced favourites. Aerosmith (Rebuttal-Shantay), a maiden winner in its last run, kept up the winning trend in the Bhagmati Cup, a mile race for 3 year old horses. Settled in third, behind Custodian and Green Bay till the last 300 metres, jockey Nilesh Rawal had to give half a dozen hard cracks for the bay gelding to raise a gallop and once he did, stretched out well to establish a big lead. Green Bay was second, while Winjoy after missing almost three lengths at start, was finishing on, taking the third spot ahead of Custodian.

Aarohan (Emerald Cat-Cordon Rose) justified the strong favouritism in the Brave Dancer Plate, the first race of the day. Jumping out from the outer most draw among the six runners, Aarohan waited patiently in third while Homely Helo called the shots in front, followed by The Best Man. Ranging alongside the two runners in front on entering the straight, jockey P.Sai Kumar reminded Aarohan of the task and she quickened readily to take off from there. Moment of Roses after a lethargic beginning improved all the way, to beat the rest of the field and get to the second place. The Best Man and Cherry Hill filled the frame.

Nilesh Rawal was the only jockey to score a brace on the day. He had piloted Ananth Vatsalya’s Nano Storm (Epicentre-Desert Storm) to victory in the Red Orchid Plate. It was a one-two for Vatsalya with his ward Nano Desire rushing from the rear to finish second. Nano Storm made headway passing the 600 metres and positioned well on the outside to challenge the front runners Nano Pride and Qinghuangdao. Inside the last furlong Nano Storm surged ahead and stayed well from stable companion Nano Desire who came fast from the last position.

M.V.Narayana Rao’s Hidden Power (Mull of Kintyre-Cozumel), who was winless even after ten runs, finally made it to the winner’s circle, in the higher division of the Trade Fair Plate. Dazzling Princess after leading the field till the top of the straight fizzled out when Molla, Montego Bay and Hidden Power got stronger. Hidden Power rallied strongly to move forward and stay ahead by a length at the finish from Molla. Montego Bay was another half a length adrift.