Leading pro Suraj Narredu joined the top two, Sandesh and John on top of the leader board recording a popular treble.  The top gun opened his account on the public choice A Crown from  Sharath Kumar’s yard, winning the lower division of the Supervite Plate before he packed punch on the Sriram Komandur schooled Natanza in the  Rare Gem Plate and signed off in style guiding home another favourite Sir Majestic in the concluding event, the lower division of the the Col. Rajkumar C Desraj Urs Memorial Cup run over a sprint.

Suraj apart, Imran Khan and trainer Inayathullah too had their share of the cake registering a double apiece. Imran booted home the lesser fancied eight to one shot Golden Friend from Inayathullah’s yard and the long shot Escala from the stables of Neil Darashah. Inayathullah who is enjoying a good run in the Ramzan month after leading in Golden Friend struck through another outsider Indian Brahmos  piloted by Merchant who last week helped the same connections pull off a successful gamble on Tea Wid Me.

While Suraj, Imran and Inayathullah enjoyed the sun back after a week, trainer Arjun Manglorkar it is needless to mention was gutted with three favourites biting the dust from his yard  but Shivalik Star did bring the smile back on the face of the leading pro who is poised to emerge the champion trainer this season, though the other two Sulaiman and Neil have the daggers out going into the business end of the season, the Maharaja’s Cup this week followed by the blue riband of the season, the Kingfisher Ultra Derby on July 10.

The first to flop from Arjun’s yard was Fabulous. The on-money favourite who impressed most in his last essay was struggling to keep pace early on in the race and eventually finished a poor fourth in the Pendragon Plate. Escala won the event but it was the Irfan Ghatala schooled Watchmyscript and Carolina who caught the eye and it will pay to follow these two fillies in the weeks ahead.

Downton Abbey was next who went down to Knighthood in the upper division of the Col.Rajkumar C Desraj Urs Memorial Cup. Downton Abbey garnered the maximum support in the betting ring on the strength of her fair second behind Sans Peur in her last effort and the fact that most big bettors from the Prithviraj camp don’t go big on this Prthvi ward knowing that he is bit of a choker. Well if anyone it was the favourite and John who choked in the race and this helped Knighthood make every post a winning one in the hands of apprentice Prashanth Dhebe.

Shivalik Star did bring home the cheer winning the Chief Minister’s Cup in style after Light Of magic from Ganapathy’s yard bolted from the starting gates and delayed the proceeding and the favourite Dubai One missed the kick and was a passenger all through the trip. Acclaimed finished second ahead of Smile Stone who appears to have lost a little of his spark this season.

It appeared that Shivalik Star’s success provided the Arjun camp the boost needed after two failures and they went bang-bang on Saga who was making her maiden appearance this season. Natanza who opened the firm favourite was now offered at (3/1) while Saga closed (2/1). The favourite raced in patches and could only finish a poor fourth while the Sriram ward proved too good in the Rare Gem Plate.

After another disappointment but in no mood to give up, the Arjun camp fancied Ayrton piloted by apprentice Anthony Raj to pull off a gamble in the final event but here again they were defeated, the well backed Sir Majestic bolting home without raising a sweat. The vastly improved performance of the Satish Narredu ward  shocked most old hats in the game. The fact that he was backed heavily as if defeat was out of the question from (7/2) to (6/4) after he had finished third behind Downton Abbey in his last effort who failed to match strides with Knighthood today shocked most pundits. They were of the view that the Satish Narredu ward was in with a chance in this open affair but  trouncing his 10 rivals in what was a vastly improved performance jolted the pundits.

The Narayan Gowda schooled Cool Springs was one other who like Sir Majestic was backed heavily in the Honeyday Plate but the mare after raising hopes shot her bolt in the final furlong, the two Inayathullah wards Raw Gold and Indian Brahmos charging home before the latter gained the day. New Era and Dancing Princess it appeared were out on a holiday, never in the hunt to make a race of it.

The classic hopeful Ice Glacier won the Poll Ramachandra Rao Memorial Trophy in good style but this filly from Padmanabhan’s yard who next is listed to compete in the Derby lacks the class to match strides with the colts who are likely to dominate, Serjeant At Arms looking good and ready to help Sulaiman record three straight Derbies at this centre.