Form horses came to the fore but for Doubly Sure (15/1) and fancied horses fetched good returns as well. The day saw young allowance claiming jockey Md Ismail score a fine treble that would be a big boost to the lad’s confidence and he is sure to evolve with such success.

Meritocracy (Excellent Art – Mawaheb) accelerated nicely to clinch the Mirza Zunnur Ahmed Memorial Cup without encountering any serious challenge. Jockey Koushik settled the K Sateesh trainee in second position well behind Platinum who led them all the way into the straight before fizzling out. Meritocracy wore down the leader to sail ahead with about 300 to go. Once in the lead, Meritocracy galloped away fluently and did not give even a sniff of a chance to her rivals. She romped home in style winning by a good margin. Champion Bull who finished second was never in the hunt although he improved positions in the straight. Starlight lit up after all was over and he covered a lot of ground in the final furlong to finish alongside the runner-up.

Trainer D Netto and jockey Kiran Naidu scored a Trophy double winning both the divisions of the Telengana Horse Owners Association Trophy.

They first combined to succeed with Southern State (Lucifer Sam – State Secret) in the lower division of the race run over 1200m. Southern State hit the front soon on start Air Salute close behind, the others were not too far away as they turned for home.

Southern State upped the ante soon after entering the homestretch and stepped up momentum. Air Salute fell back despite putting in a sustained run, Southern State proving too good for her to handle. In the final furlong, Southern State stretched out nicely to stamp her authority and win handsomely. Air Salute kicked on gamely to take the runner-up berth. Lockhart did well to take the third ahead of favourite Wings of Eagles as he had lost nearly five lengths at the start was lagging behind for most of the early half of the sprint. Favourite Wings of Eagles was listless and was never in the hunt.

The upper division stumped the punters and the jackpot pool hunters as un-fancied Doubly Sure created a flutter. Just like Southern State, Doubly Sure too was sent out on a start to finish mission and jockey Kiran Naidu sailed ahead with hot favourite Amazing Script in pursuit.

Into the straight, Doubly Sure (Tazahum – Crown Vision) showed no signs of weakening and galloped persistently with Amazing Script giving it her all, yet not being able to get any closer to the leader. She fought hard but just could not match the speed of Double Sure who galloped on gallantly to score by just under two lengths. Amazing Script had to eat humble pie but finished well ahead of Latest news.

The star of the day however was the allowance claiming jockey Md Ismail who scored a wonderful treble. Ismail’s first win came atop Digger (Mathematician – Akaliki) the shortest priced winner of the day at 10 to 9 on.

While Escobar lost about five lengths at the start, Digger jumped out well and got straight down to business. He led comfortably to Limousine who was a good three lengths behind, with the rest even further away.

Digger, trained by Mir Faiyaz Ali Khan, entered the straight with a handy lead and galloped on smoothly showing good rhythm and looking the winner long way from home. Limousine did manage to cut down the margin to just over a length at the wire, but never looked like troubling the winner even in the closing stages. Vijay’s Empress ended a tame third.

Md Ismail then partnered Super Act (Charmo – Waggamama) for trainer SSF Hassan to ride a calculated race settling in third at the start. Vallee Ikon snatch the lead from Willow Glen on settling down and led them all the way into the straight before fading out.

Willow Glen took charge soon on turning for home and moved ahead galloping at a good clip. Super Act moved into second and then began to accelerate nicely to get closer to Willow Glen with every stride. Willow Geln was still leading as they dashed past the 200 m board, but Super Act finished on a lot more strongly as he grabbed the lead in the final 100 and then drew away beating Willow Glen squarely to pull it off by a margin of one and half lengths winning by a good measure of comfort.

Md Ismail signed off in style with a well-ridden race atop trainer SSF Hassan’s Wood Bridge (Win Legend – Premier Panache) in the concluding race of the day. This one was hard work for Md Ismail as he had a couple of challengers to counter and also had to switch lanes at a crucial stage which he did astutely.

Kohinoor Lucy led them into the straight with Rose Petal ready to pounce on her. Wood Bridge moved out as did All That Jazz. Between them was Withrosemakeup also moving up along with them making it a line of horses building up for the boil.

Rose Petal was slightly ahead with Wood Bridge and Withrosemakeup and it looked a three-way finish. Withrosemakeup was just about to grab the lead when Ismail switched to the inside of Rose Petal and Wood Bridge responded with a good turn of foot to surge ahead and win by over a length. Withrosemakeup ended a good second just ahead of Rose Petal.

Lancashire (Arazan – Meohmy) put in a sustained gallop in the final furlong and timed his run well to catch the runaway lead Red Bullet a couple of strides from the winning post. Two jockeys had fall during the race, the first to fall was jockey Rohit Kumar (Glorious Grey) and soon after jockey RS Jodha was dislodged from Halo’s Princess; both jockeys escaped with minor injury but are under medical observation. It is however, confirmed that they are out of danger.

Red Bullet had a runaway lead coming into the straight which he sustained until into the final furlong, but soon ran out of gas. Lancashire had a lot of ground to cover and the L D’silva trainee measured-up well to the task ahead and in the hands of jockey C Umesh, devoured ground rapidly to stun Red Bullet a stride or two from the winning post. The large number of Lancashire’s supporters were vocal in their cheer as he came from a seemingly improbable position to collar Red Bullet close home giving the followers of favourites a good start for the day.

For the professionals, trainers D Netto and SSF Hassan saddled a double each, while jockey Md Ismail scored a treble and jockey.