That it always pays to have the leading `Knights’ guide the fortunes of fancied  horses was again established after the Scottish professional David Allan, leading jockey Suraj Narredu and S John, who is now riding like one possessed produced superb efforts to score in tight finishes. The three pros needed  to dig  deep into their reserves to gain the results in their favour and they just did that to the delight of the railbirds.

Suraj Narredu astride the top fancy Booker Jones back after his satisfactory campaign in Pune after streaking ahead and posing like a winner at the distance post was strongly challenged by  rankoutsider  Ethophian  in the final furlong before  Suraj  stretched every sinew and gained the day by  the shortest of margins  in the Hyderabad Silver Vase, the plum event run over a mile.  Ethopian  piloted by the much improved Chetan Kalay, it must be mentioned is again back at his best and it will not be long before he earns his cornbill.

Chetan Kalay, who earlier booted home the quietly fancied Wings Of Fortune  to a convincing victory in the upper division of the Kalinadi Plate  later produced his best on the well fancied Handsome Soldier in the Dharwar Plate. But that again proved  not good enough, Topaz from Lokanath Gowda’s yard  gaining the day by the shortest of margings at the shadow of the winning post.  John was at his brilliant best on Topaz  and in no mood to give up the fight, packed punch on the Lokanath ward to reign supreme at end.  It was moré of a jockey winning the race rather than Topaz who 100 metres from home looked beat before John kept him going to snatch the verdict.

Earlier David Allan guiding the fortunes of Feliciana started his campaign this winter on a winning note, tirelessly working on the Padmanabhan ward  to score in the T B Hanumantharaj Memorial Cup run over a distance of seven furlongs. The winner who appeared only 70 percent fit in the parade ring was supported strongly and after David drove her ahead, Feliciana was seen struggling to  maintain the lead at end before David pulled out all stops and drove her home, pegging back the belated effort of Mystic Music who was finishing on fastest at end. Miracle Of Life who gained the third spot also caught the eye and is one for the notebook.

The upper division of  the Kentucky Plate  saw Storm Ahead from Arjun Manglorkar’s yard open the favourite ahead of the Rashid Byramji schooled  Dubai One before the Prithviraj camp punted big on Shining Armor . The result: Shining Armor closed the first favourite at end closely followed by Storm Ahead while Dubai One drifted out to (5/1) in the betting ring.  The well prepared Dubai One partnered by Ryan Marshall after being favourably placed at the top of the straight donkey-licked all his rivals to register a facile win. Shining Amor only finished a tame third while Storm Ahead,  it is clear will  need time to get ahead and  earn his cornbill this winter.

Ryan earlier provided the racing buffs good reason to smile, confidently piloting the public choice Passion Flora to an effortless victory in the Planetarium Plate run over a sprint. The winner is in good heart and is set to provide an encore if her connections choose to exploit her form soon.

Rubi Rey and Frizbee  dropped  the two bombshells. The latter won the opening event in the hands of jockey Imran Chisty. Ole in this event was backed to the exclusion of all his rivals but all that the half-money favourite did was to take a lot of good money down the drain. The performance of Ole in fact was too bad to be true and it is learnt that the authorities have chosen to seek explanations.

Go Greeen partnered by Imran Khan garnered the maximum support in the Antaragange Plate. The favourite despite Imran making every effort to stay in contention failed to raise a winning gallop and eventually finished in the ruck. Brown Panther in his effort to make every post a winning one  met one better in Rubi Rey who quickend in the hands of Ramu to land the sucker punch.

Despite the fact that the Irfan Ghatala schooled Albertino is a bad bleeder, he was supported most in the lower division of the Kalinadi Plate.  Leading light Pradeep Chouhan  provided Albertino the best chance, holding him well till he pushed him ahead in the final furlong. But yet again Albertino stopped in his tracks the moment he was under pressure and this helped Cool Baby who was fancied sweetly by the right connections gain the day.