Mallesh Narredu trained Quasar (Seeking The Dia-Belle Jour / Hazara Stud) added another feather in its cap, winning the Golconda St. Leger (Gr.2), the concluding classic of the season at Hyderabad on Tuesday. The multi classic winner up against a moderate opposition and was sent off at cramped odds for the 2800 metres trip. Yash Narredu who has partnered the champion every time after the debacle in the Indian Derby had an easy task in guiding him to victory.

There looked to be no takers for the task of setting the pace and Azzurro decided to go for it. The Bangalore raider set a pedestrian pace and Quasar settled in second. Tiger Tops was another two lengths away followed by Dare To Dream in last. They raced in a single file in the same order till approaching the 1200 metres marker and with Quasar showing keenness Yash let him take charge. On the home stretch Quasar had a handy lead and played ‘catch me if you can’ with the other three contenders who were fighting hard all in a line. Quasar made it easy by 2 1/2 lengths and Azzurro along with Tiger Tops dead-heated for the second place Dare To Dream was fourth another head away.

L.D’Silva trained Alameda (Amadeus Wolf-Bombala / Mebajeona Stud), a winner of its previous start came good to lift the S. Rangarajan Memorial Cup. The bay filly raced second last among the seven horses that were in a cluster till approaching the final bend. As the straightened up the leader Prince of Arabia was passed by Veloz and jockey Kuldeep Singh brought Alameda to challenge from the outside. Alameda quickened nicely to go ahead and draw clear. Golden Arrow and Power Planet moved up to finish second and third respectively with Veloz ending up fourth.

Spirited (Don Micheletto-Blue Spirit) who had a solitary win from 30 starts was fancied well by the connections in the Smt. C. Mohana Kumari Sathyanarayana Memorial Cup. The 5 year old from trainer S.A.Shehzad Abbas’s yard kept up the holes of the connections and made it start to finish successfully. Fenway and Goldie came charging in the closing stages but could only manage to reduce the margin of Spirited’s win and end up second and third respectively. Trustful after toiling hard behind the winner throughout the straight ended up fourth. Classic Emerald was withdrawn near the gates.

K.Satheesh trained Columbus (Gaswar-Stunning Rose) scored an easy win in the Scintillating Plate. Flower Roll Up, Rocking Racer and Kohinoor Thunder raced abrest early on and Columbus settled well behind them close to the fence. As they turned for home Columbus pushed its way between horses and was up in front on top of the straight. It was easy going after that and apprentice N.S.Rathore kept the gelding going by over four lengths. Kireeti came in late to place second ahead of Kohinoor Thunder. Glorious View was a close fourth.

Trainer K.S.V.Prasad Raju and jockey P Trevor wrapped up both the divisions of the Tick Tock Plate. They won the higher division with on-money favourite Strengthandbeauty (Multidimensional-Burooq) and in the lower division dead-heated on Lion Of China (China Visit-Safari Girl) with trainer K.V. Srinivas’s Gangadhar (Samhoon-Ganga Devine).  Debutant Strengthandbeauty was up in third behind Egyptian Wind and City Of Destiny fighting for their heads in front. City Of Destiny forged ahead inside the last 200 metres and Trevor had to work hard to get Strengthandbeauty to get up from the outside. The first timer took some time but collared City Of Destiny and went past by half a length close to the winning post. Egyptian Wind was third.

In the lower division Yes Baby and Jem Star were relentlessly hanging on in front approaching the last 200 metres and Gangadhar got stronger from the outside and surged ahead. Lion Of China was being ridden out hard by Trevor but the first timer looked to have a tough task on hand. Lion Of China picked up speed in the dying moments and went past the winning post locked together with Gangadhar. The judge could not separate the two in the photo finish and declared a dead-heat between the two. Gunner stormed in late to snatch the third place from Jem Star.  

Commanding Boy (Royal Gladiator-Think Of Us) from trainer K.R.K.Raju’s stables justified the favouritism to score an encore in the Camino Cup Div.I. The youngster shot off to the front from the innermost draw and was never in threat at any part. Bharat King rallied on to finish second while Malakeye Ziba nosed out Lavender for the third place.  

L.V.R. Deshmukh trained Victorindiafoxtrot (Rebuttal-Star Gold) gave jockey P.S.Chouhan an armchair ride to victory in the Classic Style Cup, the opener of the day. Biding his time in second last till entering the straight, Victorindiafoxtrot galloped effortlessly from the outside and drew away to win by a lengthening margin. South Lake, Buckshee and Big Boss filled the judge’s frame in that order.