A long card of twelve races was gone through on the penultimate day’s races of the Winter season on Sunday. Trainer D.Netto and jockey P.S.Chouhan scored a treble each while jockey Akshay Kumar had his share of two winners. Trainers L.V.R.Deshmukh and Anupam Sharma who are locked in a keen fight for the top spot among the trainers with level scores notched a winner each and the fight now heads to an interesting finish to the last day on Monday. 

D.Netto trained Rahul’s Diamond (Black Cash-Czarina) came with a scintillating gallop down the final furlong to down Racing Ahead and complete a hat-trick this season from as many starts in the H.P.Mistry Memorial Cup, a mile race for horses in the highest category. Azaiba who had taken over the running in the early part of the race came in first on the straight but Carlton soon headed. Racing Ahead started to get stronger and forged ahead of Carlton and was looking good when Rahul’s Diamond came with a flourish from behind and sped past to pull it off by a length. Brahmani managed to peg back Carlton for the third place.

L.D’Silva’s Golden Essence (Roi Maudit-Essence) who had finished second to Decathlon three days ago scored an authoritative victory in the Circar Cup. Vijays Triumph, Golden Essence and Emerald Reef came almost in a line as they turned for home. Entering the last 400 metres Golden Essence surged forward and stretched out easily. Machine Gun finished on to be second while My Star and Emerald Reef finished third and fourth respectively.

Rajkumar (Eljohar-Tia) from the stables of M.Srinivas Reddy who had failed to justify the favouritism a week ago, dead heating for the second place made amends to lift the division I of the Southern Glory Plate and return to winning ways. Leading all the way from the beginning Rajkumar had a good margin of over two lengths coming into the last 200 metres but Anupam Sharma’s Mulitary Belle began to get closer with every stride towards the closing stages but P.S.Chouhan’s hard riding made sure Rajkumar was safely home by half a length. Travaldo finished third in front of Whats Up.

D.Netto’s In Reality (European-Grand Destiny) scored a stunning upset in the Second division of the Southern Glory Plate. The 6 year old ridden by apprentice G,Naresh showed a lot of speed at start and shot to the front. Inside the straight In Reality kept kicking on with the bottom weighted Globetrotter rallying on to finish second. Compromise and Kianoosh finished third and fourth respectively.

R.H.Sequeira’s Olive (Don Michelleto-Super Swift) who had not won a race for over fifteen months galloped resolutely to win the third division. Amazing Weapon and Proud Image got to the front at start and fought for an advantage all the way into the straight. The first named was out of steam mid-way up the straight and Proud Image kept up the lead and was looking good when Olive who was last of the field till the last 300 metres came devouring ground to settle the issue well before the winning post. Stolen Date finished third in front of Racing Tycoon.

S.S.Faisal Hassan trained Yet Another (Equitable-Queen’s Message) who was backed to the exclusion of the other runners in the division I of the Greener Plate justified the strong support to earn its maiden win. Leading all the way from the start, Yet Another picked up momentum in the last 200 metres to stay clear of Pakat Pakat Pakat by two lengths. Vijay Vybhav and Hunter’s Pride improved late to finish third and fourth respectively.

Trainer Anupam Sharma kept his fight for the top spot alive with his 15-1 shot Scholar Gypsy (Rebuttal-Yamuna) pulling it off in the second division of the Greener Plate. Scholar Gypsy racing in about sixth position entering the home stretch started to make its bid from the wide outside and with a long stretched run under apprentice Kunal Bunde sped past the front runners. The ‘on money’ favourite only managed to beat the rest and finish second. Strides Of Luck and Save The Nation filled the judge’s frame in that order.

L.V.R.Deshmukh trained Vista (Oratorio-Athlone / Manjri Stud) made every post a winning one in the third division of the Greener Plate. Jockey P.S.Chouhan took the favourite Vista to the front right from the start and nursed the filly well till the finish. Spirited was the best of the beaten brigade 4 ¾ behind the winner. 

Trainer Ananth Vatsalya’s youngster Mangalyan (Ravel-Dandiya) who was on its third start won the Charon Plate, a five and a half furlongs dash for maiden 3 year old horses. Jockey Nilesh had Mangalyan move to the lead along the inside. Professor, Eternal Gift and Time Is Luck raced close behind. On entering the final straight Time Is Luck tried to throw a challenge but fizzled out soon even as Mangalyan continued to kick clear. Eternal Gift rallied on to be the runner-up ahead of Professor while Perfection appeared from nowhere to complete the board.

 Lesser fancied Roi’s Cruise (Roi Maudit-Blues Clues) from Donald Netto’s stables displayed good speed to lift the second division. Jockey Louis Beuzelin took Roi’s Cruise to the front early at start and galloped strongly to stay well ahead inside the last furlong even as Matica and Columbus tried their best to get there. While Matica and Columbus finished second and third respectively with just a short-head separating them while Aakash Vani took the fourth spot.

M.Sathyanarayana’s grey colt Ryuzaki (Alnasr Alwasheek-Fantastic Bride) won the third division in a tantalising finish. The ‘on money’ favourite Golden Angel shot to the lead from the outermost draw and Ryuzaki was quick to chase the leader. Inside the last 200 metres Golden Angel was still in command but the persistence of jockey K.Sai Kiran got Ryuzaki to pick up speed inside the last 100 metres and with a sizzling gallop downed the aspirations of the favourite in the shadow of the winning post.

K.Satheesh trained Gentle Chief (Amadeus-Lady Asheena) beat Red Rambble by a short-head in the Red Orchid Plate, the concluding race of the day. Red Rambble was on a start to finish with a lead of over three lengths on entering the straight. Gentle Chief in mid-field till the bend started to make its bid from the extreme outside. Red Rambble began to drift out of the straight course and joined Gentle Chief close to the outer fence. The grey Gentle Chief ridden by apprentice N.S.Rathore prevailed by a short-head at the wire.