Champion Bull (Burden of Proof – Tetisheri) lived up to his name, fighting fiercely to bag the Sri S Ramakrishnam Raju Memorial Cup with a stubborn display of grit. Champion Bull charged ahead soon on turning for home, getting past early leader Pentagon early in the straight. Favourite Be Sure shaped well for the final bid and drew closer to Champion Bull approaching the distance post. Champion Bull, with ace jockey A Sandesh in the saddle, found that extra bit and kicked on gamely, putting pressure on Be Sure. Although Be Sure gave it everything, it was never going to be enough with the Srinivas Reddy ward extending well and galloping resolutely all the way to thwart the attempts of Be Sure and carve out a narrow win. Meritocracy improved in the final few strides and did well to edge out Starlight for the third. Starlight was slowly off but managed to recover considerably and is one for the notebook.

Trainer K Sateesh’s ward Mark My Word (Net Whizz – Theworldismystage) pulled off a hard-earned stat-to-finish victory, setting the course right for himself and returning to winning ways. He had a handy lead coming into the straight, but always under threat with the favourite Exclusive Blue looming large on the outside.  The duo battled out the homestretch with Mark My Ward clinging on to the slender lead. Jockey Nakhat Singh rode his heart out and did extremely well to keep the dangerous Sandesh from inflicting any last stride damage. Mark My Ward was relentless all the way and managed to win by a narrow half-length margin. Cape Kidnappers disappointed and didn’t make any impact on the top two finishers.
 
Trainer L D’Silva saddled a lucrative double starting with Kionia (Arazan – Freefall) who humbled hot favourite Southern Lady in the Floweroftheforest Plate for maiden three-year-olds. Zip Zip Zip dropped the rider soon on start. Kionia spurted into the lead while Southern Lady did well to work her way to the leader from the wider draw. Kionia had a narrow lead coming into the straight and all eyes were on Southern Lady as she tried to draw level with the leader. Kionia foiled that bid as stepped up the momentum and started to gallop away from Southern Lady. Jockey Afroz Khan rode out hands and heels as Kionia accelerated sweetly to draw away from Southern Lady. Kionia won toying with the favourite winning comfortably. Angel Tesoro added further misery on the favourite as she improved well to snatch the runner-up berth relegating Southern Lady to third.
  
D’Silva struck again in the very next race with jockey Umesh piloting his ward Escalating Striker (Royal Gladiator – Escalating) to an exciting win. Story Teller ran a good race leading them all the way into the last furlong. He gave the favourite Escalating Striker a hard time as he galloped strongly, leaving it to the filly to try and topple him. Escalating Striker ceased the moment when Story Teller left some room along the rails. Jockey Umesh came through that passage and once he got through, Escalating Striker picked up speed to surge past Story Teller. Escalating Striker finished on well to win by just under a length from Story Teller. Mossad improved positions in the straight to take the third spot well ahead of Blazing Speed.

Jockey Rohit Kumar set off on City of Sails (Rebuttal – Christmas Fever) and pulled off a neat start-to-finish victory. City of Sails grew stronger once they turned for home. None of the other runners could match up to the Satyanarayana trainee as City of Sails cruised ahead to win comfortably. Golden Hope tried hard to catch up but just could not muster enough and had to concede, finishing two lengths away. Vijays Empire improved position to take the third post.
 
Jockey Suraj Narredu put in all his might to guide trainer FFS Hussain’s Queen Runner (Top Class – Rebecca) to her maiden success. It was not all smooth sailing though as favourite Exclusive Art put up a strong fight in the dying moments of the race.
 
Queen Runner was quick to make her run on turning for home and soon surged past Mind Reader and The Great Gatsby past the 400 m mark. Once in the lead, Queen Runner established a handy lead and kicked on towards the winning post. Exclusive Art was slightly wide at the turn and was racing at the centre of the track. She progressed well but ran a tad green. She never really raced straight as an arrow and that proved her undoing. She charged in late with a good dash, but by then Queen Runner had enough to hold on to her lead and achieve her maiden win by a narrow margin. AS for Exclusive Art, she finished on well and she should be able to score before long if not in her very next outing. Star of Tiara and Ashwa Calvari too improved towards the end and both should benefit from this outing.
 
Actually (Royal Gladiator – Antilia) saddled by Deshmukh, lived up to the expectations and justified the strong support by pulling off a start to finish victory. She looked good coming into the straight as she galloped away with a lot of steam in the early half of the homestretch. It was Avantika who started to bridge the gap in the final furlong and draw closer to Actually. Five kilo claimer Surya Prakash was up to the task as he vigorously  pushed Actually to stay a stride ahead of Avantika and eventually quelled the challenge with a determined effort. Avantika had to be content with the runner-up berth. Semira ran on to finish in the money.
 
Vallee Ikon (Green Coast – Kiana) trained by Waseem Ahmed, was another one on the day to lead all the way to the winning post. Favourite Country’s Gift challenged his lead midway in the straight and put up a stiff fight. However, jockey BR Kumar rode Vallee Ikon strongly to thwart the challenge, emerging victorious by over a length. Debutante Rhine arrived with a late finish to make his presence felt and despite a good effort lost the runner up berth by a shirt-head. Rhine should improve for the run and ought to fare a lot better with the benefit of this good run. 
Trainer Leo D’Silva was the lone pro to score a double.