Mallesh Narredu trained Quasar (Seeking The Dia-Belle Jour / Hazara Stud), the property of Mr Jaydev M. Mody rep. J. M. Livestock Pvt Ltd and M/s Tanmay A. Agashe & Madhav G. Patankar clinched the Deccan Bookmakers Golconda Derby Stakes –Gr 1, but was made to sweat it out by Dare To Dream, the highest rated among the ten runners for the gruelling 2400 metres trip. Jockey Suraj Narredu had to put all he had to ensure a length’s success in the end. The 550 metres long home stretch at Malakpet helped Quasar achieve the task as he was put to test by Dare To Dream. It was a rare achievement by Quasar, winning his sixth successive start and the fourth Classic on the trot, after the Pune Derby, the Calcutta 2000 Guineas and the Calcutta Derby.

The son of Seeking The Dia bred at the Hazara Stud was the piping hot favourite for the Blue Ribband of the Hyderabad Winter season, sent off at a cramped odds of 10-3 ‘on’. As the ten runners approached the final turn Veloz slipped in to the lead from the inside with Nerves Of Steel ranging alongside and Dare To Dream quickly into position from the outside. Quasar was also pulled out to make its bid from the wide outside. Into the last 400 metres Nreves of Steel was headed from the outside by Dare To Dream who went clear by close to two lengths. Quasar started to make a strong bid but Dare To Dream was hell bent to stay in front with jockey Dashrath Singh giving his best. Suraj Narredu on Quasar found the local challenger Dare To Dream relentless and began to ride out hard. Quasar finally managed to forge ahead of Dare To Dream in the closing stages and extend by a length. Quasar did manage to live up to his top billing but it was Dare To Dream who won the hearts of the masses. Nerves of Steel took the third spot in front f Right Dimension.

“I am very happy about Quasar’s performance despite the fact that he was tested”, said trainer Mallesh Narredu commenting on its success. “He has criss-crossed across the country in the last three months and picked up four Classics and that’s a great feat. If he takes the travel well, the Indian Derby should be his next “, added Mallesh. 

Trainer M.Srinivas Reddy and jockey Dashrath Singh who had missed out the big one had some consolation in winning the Secretariat Cup with the race favourite Desire (Glory of Dancer-Another Star) on the big day. Desire and Galiat travelled together in mid-field till the last 600 metres and started to improve places together from the outside and were ready to pounce on Super Falcon who was in the lead on top of the straight. Desire travelled the better and wrapped it off without much fuss from Galiat. Movie Moghual and Ray of Light finished third and fourth respectively.

 The champion jockey surprisingly drew a blank on the Derby day at Hyderabad. He missed a few of his rides due to a delayed flight and only joined duties mid-way through the day. One such miss was L.V.R.Deshmukh’s Odysseus (Phoenix Tower-Aquila Oculus / Manjri Stud ) in the Youngsters Million  on whom jockey Akshay was the lucky one who replaced Chouhan. Odysseus took a good jump to lead the field early but settled to race in second when Time To Climb raced ahead to get to the front. On the final straight it was clearly evident that the race was between the two and the on-money favourite Odysseus forged ahead inside the last furlong to score its second win from as many starts.

Trainer M.Srinivas Reddy had earlier pulled off an upset victory with his ward Rajkumar (Eljohar-Tia) in the Squanderer Cup. The 6 year old who had not seen the winning post for a little over a year almost made it start to finish over the 1200 metres sprint with jockey David Bruex astride. Aware disputed the lead till entering the home stretch but found it hard to match Rajkumar’s strides and held on to finish second from a late finishing Lips Locking.

Jockey David Breux had in the earlier race, the Nelston Plate ridden Laxman Singh trained Westminister (Epicentre-Sabakh) to give himself and the silks of Mr.M.Majid Ali Khan a double for the day. Westminister chased the pace setting Vijays Victory right from the start over the 2000 metres distance. Into the last 400 metres the 7 year old Westminister surged ahead and gallantly staved off the strong challenge of the favourite Machine Gun. Gentle Chief took the third spot in front of Vijays Victory.

Trainer L.D’Silva’s torch bearer Golden Essence (Roi Maudit-Essence) started the Derby day on an upsetting note for the followers of money in the Deccan Prince Cup. Handily placed in about fourth position along the fence, Golden Essence went for it on the top of the straight and pulled it off by half a length after a keen fight with the favourite Vijays Vidhata. Rosemonde raised some hopes in the final furlong but ended up third another length and a half adrift.

There was some ‘drama’ in the third race of the day, the Sikander-E-Azam Cup. Longshot True Pearl (Tejano-Sea Spray) from trainer M.Sathyanarayana’s yard won the race. Aston Doulton ridden Suraj Narredu who was the favourite for the race tracked first timer Yet Another all the way from the start. Inside the last 300 metres Yet Another started to drift out alarmingly, taking out along with him Aston Doulton. True Pearl found the path in the centre of the track clear and forged ahead to score its maiden win. While Yet Another managed to take the second spot Aston Doulton was pushed out to finish fifth with Kireeti and Globe Trotter finishing third and fourth respectively. K.S.V.Prasad Raju, trainer of Aston Doulton took an objection against the rider of Yet Another for the severe interference and the Stewards also announced an enquiry into the running of the race. Yet Another was disqualified and and the rest of them moved up one position.

Laxman Singh trainer Red Rambble (Top Class-Lady Escort) scored its maiden victory in the Aristocrat Cup. Ondha Ondha Ondha was in the lead from the start and was relentless even as Red Rambble started to challenge in the last 300 metres. Jockey Deep Shanker rode out Red Rambble to finally surge past and quickened well inside the last 100 metres to wrap it up. Graceland with a late effort got the better of Ondha Ondha Ondha for the runner-up berth.

Trainer Donald Netto saddled a double through Parade Queen and Silver Cruise. Parade Queen (Captain Rio-Romancing) was ridden to a convincing start to finish victory by Louis Beuzelin in the Brown Sugar Plate. Vijay Sakhi, Roma Rouge and Dancing Farha towed on to fill the judge’s frame in that order.

Silver Cruise (Razeen-Silver Grey) rallied strongly to beat Kianoosh in the Allez Vite Plate, the concluding race of the day.