The Monsoon races at Malakpet, Hyderabad got off to a steady start with fancied runners rising to the occasion. Sticking to the trends of bagging doubles, the first day was no different with trainer Donald Netto and jockey Imran Chisty pulling off a brace of winners each.

The new inclusion to Malakpet race course which already boast of separate tracks for monsoon and winter was the installation of the state of the art digitally operated Sprinkler system. The entire project that cost approximately 2.5 crores of rupees can cater to both the tracks as well as the training sand track, all together or individually as required. Mr.R.Surender Reddy, Chairman of the Hyderabad Race Club inaugurated the facility before the commencement of the races.

Another interesting news that is doing the rounds is the shifting of the race course in Hyderabad. “The government is in the process of identifying land in the happening areas of Hyderabad and we are ready to build a new race course and shift” said Mr.Surender Reddy while speaking to IR correspondent on the side-lines of the Bangalore Derby recently. “We may get about two and a half years to move out from here once the land is allotted and  the process should begin soon” added Mr.Reddy.

Netto’s C Eleven (Mathematecian-Crown Character) who had signed off her winter campaign with a win, continued to remain a speedy contender while winning the division 1 of the Madras Race Club Cup, a 1200 metres sprint which featured the first day’s card. The 4 year old filly moved quickly to lead at start and was tracked closely by Palm Springs, Magical Spell and Modern Sniper. They raced in that order into the home stretch and C Eleven dominated the stretch with an effortless gallop. Palm Sprigs held on to the second place while Lips Locking warming up late to deny Modern Snipe the third place.

L.V.R.Deshmukh’s youngster Kolors (Phoenix Tower-Krasnaya / Manjri Stud) who spent the summer at Bangalore without much success was the shortest priced favourite of the first day in the Look of Eagles Cup, the opener of the day. The son of Phoenix Tower was on his own while justifying the strong support over the seven furlongs trip. Jockey P.S.Chouhan took Kolors to the front right from the word go and drew away from the rest inside the last furlong. Time to Climb, King of Pop and Hunter’s Pride filled the judge’s frame in that order.

The opening day proved a landmark one for trainer Sk Waseem Ahmed as he scored on debut sending out a fluent winner in Green Image (Sussex – City Star).  Green Image, one of the two top fancies in the race alongside Limitation, was off to a quick start and jockey Imran Chisty urged him to the front to assume command right from the start. Golden Desire stuck to the leader all the way into the straight. Wishing Heart and Limitation galloped a touch too far from the front runners and could only manage to take a crack t the minor placing.

Once in the straight, Green Image galloped on relentlessly, speeding away from his companion Golden Desire in quick time. At the furlong mark, Green Image looked solid and well in control with the others struggling to catch up. With about 150 to go, Chisty almost let slip the whip but he quickly clutched it instantly, not that it would have mattered. Green Image was fluent in his finish and won handsomely, providing a moment of pride and an ideal start to his master’s career. Wishing Heart edged out Limitation for the runner-up berth a good 4 ½ lengths behind the winner.

Imran Chisty later guided prime favourite Desire (Glory of Dancer – Another Star) to victory claiming the lower division of Madras Race Club Trophy, warding off Dance to Destiny and Movie Moghual who ended close behind.  Imran had to sweat it out to surge past leader Cornwallis, which he did soon on turning for home. Dance to Destiny weaved his way between horses and was soon prominently poised to take on a bunch of horses scrambling towards the finish. He picked up well to gallop past the bunch but failed to nail Desire who kept on the strong gallop right through. Dance to Destiny ended on the tail of the winner. Movie Moghual arrived late on the scene but ended an eye-catching third.

Netto’s first win was through Byron Bay (Lord Admiral-Auxilliary / Sans Craintes Stud) in the higher division of the Welcome Plate. Jockey A.M.Tograllu settled the youngster nicely along the rails to track the leader Sketch of Beauty. Passing the 600 metres board Byron Bay surged ahead to get to the lead and quickened well from mid-way up the straight to extend the leeway over Sketch of Beauty. Masti and Dublin finished third and fourth respectively.

Vijay Vidhata (Gaswar – Blue Sonata) cantered home to post an impressive victory humbling fancied Escalante with a good measure of comfort. Settling in striking second on the haunches of leader Aware, jockey Kuldeep Singh surged past the leader effortlessly and soon had the Laxman Singh trainee charging ahead on his own. Kuldeep never once had to hustle his mount as Vijay Vidhata showed that he was way ahead in form and ability compared to his opponents in this set. In his victory, Vijay Vidhata implied that he is good enough to score an encore.  

K.S.V.Prasad Raju’s Celestial Fire (Arabian Gulf-Dannenberg) was on a hat-trick in the lower division of the Wandering Star Plate but was neglected in the betting as Rock Baby Rock, the only other 3 year old among the eight runners garnered all the attention at cramped odds. Panachecorn, Celestial Fire and Rock Baby Rock raced close to each other in that order from the start and Celestial Fire stepped up the pace to take over with 400 metres left from home. Rock Baby Rock was ridden out to get the better and Panachecorn looked to be lost for room towards the last 150 metres. While Celestial Fire stayed clear by a length to complete a hat-trick Panachecorn edged out Rock Baby Rock by a ‘head’ for the second place.

Another runner to benefit from summering at Bangalore was Peagasus (Chevalier-Over The Ocean / Ruia Stud) from L.D’Silva’s yard. The 3 year old almost shared the favouritism with Morning Miracle in the Nelston Cup. Pegasus showed plenty of speed in the beginning and moved swiftly towards the fence from the outermost draw to take charge. Morning Miracle joined the tussle inside the last 200 metres and with P.S.Chouhan riding out looked to be travelling the better but jockey Kiran Naidu persisted with Pegasus and the gelding boldly responded to stave off the challenger by three parts of a length.

Ananth Vatsalya’s Silver Passion (Roi Maudit-Storm Command) who was winless from 21 starts came with a fast gallop towards the closing stage to pull of the biggest blot in the run of the favourites in the Act in Time Plate, the concluding fare of the day. Another long shot Military Cross set off on a start to finish bid and was looking to pull it off even inside the last 100 metres when Silver Passion ridden by Aneel suddenly burst into flying strides to score her maiden win. Dancing Farha finished third while the favourite Rumaiya Vastavaiya ended up to be a tame fourth.