Kohinoor Wish (Gaswar-Blue Sonata) the winner of the A.P.Chief Minister’s Cup last year slammed the opposition in this year’s edition of the cup. The 6 year old won the terms race in style beating a much younger Machiavellianism by half a length. The win of the Ananth Vatsalya trainee was much easier than the verdict suggests. Kohinoor Wish was taken to the front by jockey S.John quickly at start. Machiavellianism settled in second while Aristos fought for its head for about 3 furlongs. The Leader trailed the field and improved gradually to be a close third approaching the last 600 metres. Moving into the last 400 metres Machiavellianism forged ahead of Kohinoor Wish but that was for a short distance as Kohinoor Wish regained the lost ground with S.John using only his hands to guide the champion.

Jockey S.John packed a double for himself, having piloted K.S.V.Prasad Raju schooled youngster, Golconda King (Hymn-Access Speed) to victory in the Cuddapah Plate. After a smart jump at the gates Golconda King was pushed by S.John to get to the front. Aware tracked the leader for some time and Riverdale headed under Suraj Narredu to take that position. Golconda King continued to hold the lead as they came into the straight and stretched away effortlessly with John using only his hands to score an encore. Riverdale chased the winner in vain right through the straight. Amazon Princess towed on to be third. 

Trainer K.Satheesh saddled a double through Transition and Just Once. Transition (Hurricane Center-Wingnaprayer) scored a surprise win in the opener, the Forest King Cup. A small card of four horses took the start for seven furlongs trip. Transition went ahead at start under apprentice N.S.Rathore. The favourite Vijays Splendour raced about three lengths behind in second and the other two Attenborough and Greek Star were together another two lengths away. Transition came into the final straight with a clear advantage of over four lengths. Greek Star covered some ground from behind to place second, half a length away from Transition. Vijays Splendour came under pressure when asked for an effort on the straight and ended up a tame third.

Just Once (Danehill Star-Rivolitta)opened its account in the Sweeping Success Cup, a 1200 metres sprint for 3 year old maiden horses. Showing plenty of speed at start Just Once headed to the front to lead the pack. The filly under Deep Shanker came in first on the final straight and extended the lead to win by two and a half lengths. Squanderers Square chased the winner all the way up the straight to finish second. Musk Melon was third over six lengths behind.

M.Sathyanarayana trained Aventus (Ace-Starboard) which had won its last two starts in convincing fashion completed a hat-trick in the Deccan Prince Plate. The 3 year old son of Ace was sent into the race at a short price after its previous performances. Our Mascot and Laurel Canyon headed to the front early with Aventus settling well in third. Inside the last 300 metres Our Mascot continued to call the shots. Jockey S.Shiva Kumar gave one crack as a reminder and that was enough for Aventus to produce its true potential. Our Mascot and Laurel Canyon finished second and third respectively.

Apprentice K.Mukesh Kumar scored a double for the stable of Anupam Sharma, winning both the divisions of the Swamy Ramananda Tirtha Plate with Bernabeu and Caladium. The field in the lower division, the last race of the day was reduced to nine after Enrapture and Classic Crown were declared non-starters. Caladium (Case Law-Colonel’s Dream) received good support in the betting as the runners left the parade ring to be the favourite at 6-4. By the time the horses reached the starting gate a lot of money came on Lady of Grace which ended up as the first favourite, pushing the odds of Caladium to 7-4. Caladium took a good start from draw one and led all the way to make it a start to finish affair. Lady of Grace was ridden out by P.S.Chouhan on the straight but found the winner too good to catch and finished second. Nano Tribute ended up third.

Bernabeu (Don Micheletto-Blue Spirit) won the higher division. Khabza was the first to take the initiative on entering the final straight and surged forward to take the lead. Icelandic was making a bid on the outside and Bernabeu which raced with the rear pack for most part of the race found a wide gap along the rails and rushed to go for it. Bernabeu travelled the best to forge ahead and win by a length. Icelandic managed to get the better of Khabza close to the winning post to finish second.