Deepesh Narredu trained Awesome One (Dean’s Kitten – Aim to Achieve, Sohna Stud) galloped to a third successful win taking his career tally to five wins from eight starts. The well-backed joint favourite alongside New England delighted his supporters scoring a facile victory beating his rivals with surprising ease.

Governor General set the tone and led them all the way into the homestretch before fading out. St Andrews looked good as he surged ahead but was soon humbled when Suraj Narredu alighted Awesome One early in the straight. Awesome One cruised past to take charge and then sped away from the rest, rendering the race into a no-contest. Awesome One strode out majestically beating seasoned campaigners by an impressive two lengths plus, without being extended. Perfect Star dished out a spirited run to finish a commendable second and after being in the rear bunch until the turn. Turning Point ended a close third, but without really making any impact on the winner. New England disappointed and finished off the frame.

An interesting anecdote emerges that this was Suraj Narredu’s first instance of riding for his cousin Deepesh, hence it was a sort of successful ‘debut’ for the ace rider in taking the leg-up from his younger cousin. Coincidently, Awesome One was the first runner saddled by Deepesh while debuting for his training career and was ridden by his younger brother Yash Narredu last year. So the Narredu family had a lot to rejoice in terms of interesting statistics connected with Awesome One!

On the same note, it may not be out of turn to recall that Satish & Malesh Narredu - the more illustrious fathers of the cousins, were involved in a ‘Dead-heat’ while riding Great Spectacle and Forest King decades back, thereby creative a one-of-a-kind occasion. The horses involved in the dead-heat were both owned by the same owner - Dr MAM Ramaswamy, trained by the same trainer - JH Foley and both were bred at the Poonawalla Stud Farm!

Trainer Altamash Ahmed and jockey Neeraj Rawal combined to dominate the race day, winning three of the six races slated for the day. Their first strike was with Properly Posh (Varenar – To The Manor Born, Equus Stud) in the second race of the day. Properly Posh settled in third behind leader God’s  Decree and favourite Monk. Properly Posh made her move soon on turning for home and sailed past the front running God’s Decree and Monk effortlessly and then drew away outpacing them comprehensively. She was all alone in front bounding forward to score a delightful victory sparing more than eight lengths at the wire. God’s Decree kicked on to take the runner-up berth while Monk held on to the third from the late finishing Ithaca and Periwinkle.

The duo struck again in the very next race and with Enid Blyton (Showcasing – Passing Power, Equus Stud) in the very next race. This one was a lot more dramatic as Enid Blyton had to cover a lot of ground in the short Pune straight.

Majestic Warrior was fighting for survival on entering the straight with debutante Questina looming large on the outside. Questina tackled Warrior Prince with ease and shot ahead picking up good speed and piling up a handy lead. Enid Blyton started to bridge the gap approaching the distance post and jockey Neeraj Rawal timed his run to a nicety as he gained ground briskly to collar Questina just in time to win a ‘neck’ verdict to the relief of the filly’s large number of followers. For a debut run, Questina was a gallant second and should break out of her maiden status sooner than later. Warrior Prince ended a decent third far ahead of the rest.

Altamash and Neeraj signed off the day with a third victory through Augustus Caesar (Holy Roman Emperor – Snowy Day In La, Equus Stud) in the day’s concluding race. Augustus Caesar won readily as he pounced aggressively on the front-running Hyannis soon on turning for home. Augustus Caesar gathered momentum and stretched away from the field and looked the winner long way from home. He won by an impressive margin of seven lengths snuffing out any fighting revival from the rear. Notting Hill who was detached last until the turn put in a strong bid towards the end and did well to snatch the runner-up berth from Bunting on the post.

Earlier in the day, Lambretta (Den’s Kitten – Indira, Sohna Stud) galloped to his maiden win on his 13th start. Jockey Sandesh galloped past Gold Magic approaching the turn and soon amassed a big lead coming into the straight. Hi Ho Silver too moved up and started to chase Lambretta. The Karthik ward however, accelerated nicely to stay clear of Hi Ho Silver and company to pull of a comfortable victory. Hi Ho Silver ended a tame second while Tianjin Honey ran on to save place money.

Narendra Lagad trained Timeless Deeds (Varenar – Elegante, Equus Stud) improved considerably over his last start showing and perhaps, spurred on by the lucrative odds gave it his best in the hands of Dashrath Singh to notch up an easy victory. Timeless Deeds improved position initially to settle in the fourth spot approaching the final turn. He made a confident move to surge ahead as they entered the homestretch and then unleashed a powerful burst to skip away from them all. Flinderof tried hard to make a race of it, but just could not quicken well enough and had to be content with emerging second best. Hodson’s Horse edged out favourite Bernice for the third spot.