Daniel Grant rode a marvellous race to guide Mallesh Narredu trained Maximus (Royal Kingdom-Marquisa) to a splendid victory in the Deccan Bookmaker’s Golconda 2000 Guineas – Grade 2 at Hyderabad on Sunday. This is the first Classic success for this young trainer Mallesh Narredu, who hung his riding boots about two years ago to start his career as a trainer. Speaking to India Race after the triumph, an overjoyed Mallesh Narredu said,”I am very thrilled by the result and I am more excited by the fact that my first classic victory came at Hyderabad because this is the city to which my parents belonged .”

On paper one could not look beyond the local hero Machiavellianism and Deshmukh’s ward was quoted at ‘money back’ odds against his half a dozen rivals in the race. Mallesh had done his home work on the game plan for the race. Maximus had won the Bahrain  Trophy on debut and placed second in its next two runs, one at Bangalore and another at Pune before arriving at Hyderabad for the Guineas. “He had a set back after his run in Bangalore and we worked hard to get him back to shape” said Mallesh. “I have ridden his mother and I knew that he would stay well. I was sure of the turn of foot my boy had and we stuck to a plan and I give full marks to Daniel for riding a marvellous race, sticking to our plan. I am thankful to my owners, Dr.Ram Shroff and Mr.Jaydev Mody  for supporting me all the way.”

Plenipotent once again donned the role of the pace maker to its illustrious stable companion Machiavellianism, who was off the pace towards the rear while Maximus was further behind at the tail. Into the last two furlongs, P.S.Chouhan started to make his move on the favourite and Daniel Grant also got busy on Maximus. The two headed to the front and Maximus travelled the better to get past Machiavellianism. While moving forward, Maximus shifted in slightly but Machiavellianism was beaten fair and square by then and there were no hard luck stories. Plenipotent held on to the third position.On Maximus’s next, Mallesh said, “We have not entered him for the Derby here so the question of coming back here does not arise. We will see how he takes the travel back to Mumbai and then decide on running him in the Indian 2000 Guineas”.

L.V.R.Deshmukh’s Vijayshaurya was the favourite in the Delhi Race Club Cup but it was stable companion Vijaykeerti (Aussie Rule-Cielo Vodka) which sprang a surprise to snatch the race from the favourite in the shadow of the winning post. Vijayshaurya set its own pace from the start with Vijay’s Jet in close attendance. Entering the home stretch, the two broke away from the rest and the favourite had a sizable lead and the race looked to be in its safe keeping. Vijaykeerti by then was brought from way behind by A.M.Tograllu and covering almost a street rapidly, got up in the nick of time to put its head in front at the finish.

L.D’Silva trained Prince Of Arabia (Epicentre-Ice Castle) was powerfully ridden by apprentice A.K.Pawar to lift the Hyderabad Cup. The last three runs of the gelding, of which one was a win, was a clear indication that he was in form but was completely ignored in the betting, being sent into the race as a longshot. Sheer Genius tokk charge on top of the straight and was being ridden out to stay in front when Pawar brought Prince of Arabia with a strong challenge and sped past to register a fine victory. Snow Bird warmed up late to beat Sheer Genius for the second place, close to the winning post.

Anupam Sharma trained Molla (Case Law-Winderemere Star) pulled off a sensational maiden voictory in the Bobbili Plate. Bold Attack showed plenty of speed initially and set out in front with Dazzling Princess in hot chase all the way. Insid the last 100 metres  Allianz Arena and Molla started to devour ground and the latter was the fastest moving. Carlos Henrique, who is back at Malakpet, started off with a win on Molla.

M.V.Narayana Rao schooled Field Smasher (Sedgefield- Mery) lived up to its name, literarily smashing the field in the Royal Tern Plate, a five and a half furlongs sprint for maiden 2 year olds. Racing in about third till the last 300 metres, G.Sai Vamshi started to ride out Field Smasher and the bay colt produced a splendid gallop to go clear of the front runners. Rainbow in The Sky and Fairy Boy finished second and third respectively while the favourite Staminoised failed to raise a gallop when asked for an effort and ended up a tame fourth.

Mr Khoashteep (Quest Star-Dancer’s Quiz) from S.S.Faisal Hassan’s stables won the higher division of the Bonzer Cup. The 4 year old who had remained winless after 25 runs has hit a purple patch, winning three races in a row. Ice Rain had taken charge from the front running A Horizontal Urge and was being ridden out by Sreekanth. The favourite Star Value was racing on the outside but the acceleration was not enough to get to Ice Rain. In the meanwhile Mr.Khoashteep made its move in between horses and surged ahead to score by three parts of a length. Ice Rain finished second and Star Value towed on to be third.

P.S.Chouhan displayed his mastery on the saddle when he piloted M.Sathyanarayana’s Jaden Gil (Rambus-Dark Deen) to victory in the lower division. Jaden Gil got to the inner fence early at start and hit the front. Star Experience in chase all the way from the start stepped up pressure inside the last 200 metres but the strong riding of Chouhan enabled Jaden Gil to keep the momentum till the wire. Striking Gold was always at striking distance but could only finish third.

M.Srinivas Reddy trained Aneres (Kly Green-Music in Motion) completed a hat trick of wins in the Flying Treasure Plate, the concluding race of the day. P.S.Chouhan had Aneres racing in about seventh position as the field rounded the final turn and moving up on the extreme outside flashed past Kansas City Mac.