It was another good day for the followers of money at Malakpet, Hyderabad on Monday. Seven favourites obliged in a card of nine races. While jockey P.S.Chouhan had his share of a double it was Suraj Narredu who hogged the limelight, booting home four winners. Three of them were for trainer K.S.V.Prasad Raju.

The Deccan Juvenile Million was the feature of the day and the 1200 metres sprint for 2 year olds had four starters with three of them having already shed their maiden ranks. L.V.R.deshmukh’s ward Vijays Joy (Stern Opinion-Jia Yoh Jia Yoh) was sent in as the ‘money back’ favourite among them. The grey colt broke away well from the gates and set off in right earnest to lead the field. Chal Raja Chal and Black Track travelled together about two lengths adrift with That’s My Darling backing up. Vijays Joy was never under any pressure on the final straight and jockey P.S.Chouhan nursed the youngster nicely to the winning post. That’s My Darling took the rails run to move to the second spot and chased the winner thereafter. Chal Raja Chal and Black Track finished in that order many lengths behind.

Tiger (Astronomer Royal-Seasham) another youngster from Deshmukh’s yard outclassed the opposition on debut in the Malvado Plate. Golden Angel set out on a start to finish mission while the favourite Tiger was giving anxious moments to its supporters in about sixth position, travelling three wide all the way. Inside the last 4oo metres Golden Angel was still clear in the lead and Tiger was alighted to the task from the extreme outside. Jockey P.S.Chouhan gave the youngster two cracks and Tiger responded with a brilliant turn of foot to sail past and go away for an impressive win. Golden Angel stayed on in the second place while Legend and Kalinda finished third and fourth respectively.

D.Netto trained Rahul’s Diamond (Black Cash-Czarina) was confidently ridden by Louis Beuzelin to score an encore in the Baile lalitha Pershad Memorial Cup. Travelling second last till entering the home stretch, Rahul’s Diamond was edged out to make a bid even as Princess Cruise had taken charge in front. As Rahul’s Diamond started to gain ground, Machine Gun also tried to make a race of it but just couldn’t match the strides and settled for the runner-up berth. Princess Cruise finished third.

Proud Image, Aston Doulton and Blossom were the three winners Suraj Narredu rode for trainer K.S.V.Prasad Raju, all of them coming out of their maiden status. Proud Image (Gaswar-Anna Purna), a maiden after ten starts scored a facile win in the Krishna Cup. Proud Image and Military Cross fought for their head right from the start and had broken away by over five lengths as they neared the final turn. On the home straight Proud Image speeded up to move away from Military Cross and kicked on nicely to the winning post. Save The Nation and Dolce took the second and third spots respectively from the tiring Military Cross.

Aston Doulton (Gaswar-Svetlana) lifted the higher division of the Track Lightning Plate. There was a rush for the lead as the field of eleven was dispatched for the five and a half furlongs dash and Suraj preferred not to hurry with Aston Doulton and settled in about sixth or seventh. Inside the last two furlongs Royal Glow and True Pearl were up in front and Suraj got Aston Doulton from the outside. The bay gelding galloped resolutely to go to the lead inside the last 300 metres and stretched out to keep at bay the late challenge of Aggressive Approach. For Sure finished in the money ahead of True Pearl.

Blosssom (Burden of Proof-Callista) scored a runaway victory in the lower division. Accompanying Rocky Hill from the outside till turning for home Blossom surged forward passing the 400 metres board and drew away to win by 6 ¼ lengths on tight reins. For the record Racing Ikon, Dandy Girl and Rocky Hill filled the judge’s frame.

Suraj Narredu who had piloted Be Safe to victory in the Guineas at Mumbai on Sunday wore the silks of Dr.M.A.M.Ramaswamy while riding Gentle Chief (Amadeus Wolf-Lady Asheena) to an easy win in the Silky Baby Plate, the first race of the day. Gentle Chief was last among the five runners in the first two furlongs of the race and improved to be fourth thereafter while Kohinoor Thunder tried to make every post a winning one. Closing the gap over the leader, Gentle Chief forged ahead with 150 metres left and drew clear.

The two long-shots of the day came in the two divisions of the Meghalaya Plate. T.Srinagesh trained Win And Enjoy (Warrshan-Outtostealthescene) won the higher division. Racing towards the rear bunch till the final turn Win And Enjoy weaved through the field to challenge the leader Ein Ein Ein inside the last furlong and stepping over the throttle, accelerated well to wrap it off. The favourite Lips Locking rallied late from the fence to finish second. Ashok Chakra was a non-starter in the race.

M.Sathyanarayana trained Emerald Reef (Emerald Cat-Shimmering) upset the apple cart of the favourite Go For Gold in the lower division. Emerald Reef took charge inside the last 300 metres and was going well when Go For Gold began to devour ground from behind, bridging the gap rapidly but the winning post came to the rescue of Emerald Reef and Suraj Narredu’s effort on the favourite fell short by a short-head. Shimmering Ice and Military Belle finished third and fourth respectively.