After the week long boxing bouts, punches counter punches which would have put the epic Thrilla at Manila bout between the the all-time great Muhammed Ali and the legendary Joe Frazier to shame, the two warring groups called ceasefire and the summer season started on a positive note for leading trainer Sulaiman Attaollahi who combined effectively with the leading `knight’ Trevor Patel, recording a good double through the two well fancied winners Kangra and Carolina.

After his impressive second behind the speedy Silver Ikon during the Invitation Cup week-end, the connections of Kangra were bullish of her chances in the Maj. Newton Davis Memorial Cup. The good looking strong daughter of Western Aristocrat travelled nice and easy all through the seven furlongs trip before Trevor reminded her of the task ahead and the Sulaiman ward stormed through to score in emphatic fashion. Hyderabad hopeful Eternal Angel in her effort to make every post a winning one held on to finish second ahead of the favourite Lady Barrington while Amber Crown was seen finishing on well at end to run home a close fourth.

The fact that the talented filly Carolina was making an appearance after a long eight-month lay-off saw a good number of punters plum for Flirting Eyes, but the many brave bettors  who placed trust in the ability of the Sulaiman ward laughed all the way to the bank, the filly beating her 11 rivals comfortably. Now that Carolina is back in business it will pay to follow her. Times Time caught the eye while finishing a close third in the hands of an apprentice boy Nazer-ul-Alam and it will not be long before she earns her winning bracket.

What a start it proved to be for new young trainer Dheeraj Venkataswamy. The boy won the plum event, the Mayor’s Cup with the first horse he saddled. And the icing on the cake was that the winner Super Success is owned by his father Venkataswamy. Leading pro Sandesh in a never-say-die effort packed punch on Super Success when all seemed lost, the four to one shot Side Winder and the top fancy Goldberg contesting the issue in the final furlong.  And just when Side Winder looked set to score, Super Success produced an astounding gallop to edge out Side Winder close home. Taqdeer Ka Badshah did well to finish third ahead of Ace Badraan while Goldberg surprisingle ran out of gas in the final furlong and failed to even finish in the frame.

Earlier, another short-priced favourite Chemical Romance from Neil’s yard partnered by Suraj Narredu bit the dust in the Royal Command Plate run over a distance of 1100M.  The half-money favourite who had performed fairly against better rated horses in winter was touted a `moral certainty’ but she met a tartar in Queenofgoodtimes who proved too good in the hands of apprentice Syed Imran.

Disappointed after the two big losses, Suraj and Neil got it right on Regency Girl. The judiciously prepared favourite romping home in the upper division of the Malenahalli Plate run over a sprint. The grey Love For Life finished a notable second ahead of Rocket Punch who raced in patches. The lower division of the event was claimed by the 30 to one long shot Brave Girl from Azhar Ali’s yard. The unfancied winner sneaked through a gap on the rails to stun the lesser fancied Kudla Punch who looked set to score before Imran Chisty guiding the fortunes of the Sharath ward was caught looking for any threat on his left when Brave Girl was slipping through on the right and at the end it was Brave Girl who gained the day much to the chagrin of the Sharath Kumar camp. Celtic Mist finished third ahead of the public rage Divino who performed like a dud.

Both the youngsters, Grand Empire and Olympia Fields started their summer campaign on an impressive note. The former from the stables of S Ganapathy made a smashing debut, winning the Welcome Plate in emphatic fashion while Olympia Fields rated highly by his trainer Arjun Manglorkar won the Majesty Plate without unduly extending himself. Olympia Fields in fact was strongly fancied to score in his first attempt in winter but the talented chestnut failed to display his true potential simply because he went in after suffering from a bout of fever. After that Arjun wisely provided this goodtype of youngster all the time and space he needed to recover and he readily justified the confidence of his master romping home in style. Implicit Trust finished second ahead of Olympia Fields who is set to provide an encore. The Darius Byramji schooled Ultimate Magic who too had a fair share of her supporters failed to make a mark while Automatic from Irfan Ghatala’s yard appears to have gone of the boil after his eye-catching maiden effort.