Jockey Suraj Narredu enjoyed another good day at the office scoring a fine treble on the day. This included his hard-fought win atop Exclusive Blue (Ravel – Blue Sonata) in the Class I Kinnerasanni Plate.  

Suraj settled the Laxman Singh trainee in the third spot after taking a quick jump and leading for the first couple of strides. It was Highly Acclaimed who led the field homewards, with Titus in hot pursuit. This duo fought out early in the straight where Titus traveled better to seize the initiative a furlong from home. Exclusive Blew started to inch closer under a couple of cracks and it took a few strides for him to pick up speed. He did so soon enough and although Titus galloped on, Exclusive Blue wore him down to take the top spot closer home to win by one length. Titus ended a good second, while Highly Acclaimed held on by half from Rikki Tikki Tavi to finish in the money.

Suraj started the day on a winning note guiding Laxman Singh trained debutante Forever Splendour (Leitir Mor – Forever Glory). Forever Splendour dashed out of the gates and settled close behind leader Elmira and these two led the field home. Forever Splendour soon unleashed a terrific run to stretch out nicely and leave her rivals far behind. Suraj had little to do as the filly raced like a seasoned campaigner, running close to the rails, and working up a good pacey gallop without much assistance from Suraj. The jockey even had a look ove his shoulder past the grand stands, as Forever Splendour won easing up and by a massive margin. Surely displaying spcial talent, which could see her score an encore sooner than later. Exclusive Art edged out Days of Reckoning to clinch the second spot. 

Suraj signed off with another victory astride City of Passion (Net Whizz – St Fina’s Bay) for trainer Srinivas Reddy. This one, however, saw Suraj having to dig deep to ensure his mount kept a fair course as the gelding was threatening to drift out all the time. The first task for Suraj was to ensure a good position in the big field, coming out of draw no 18 in the sprint race. He achieved that gradually as he made steady progress from the outside despite having to jostle and brush against fellow -runners. By the time they turned for home, City of Blossom was in command and surged further ahead to pile up a handy lead. Ity of Blossom started to drift outwards and had Suraj not used his whip effectively, there could have been trouble. Peaky Blinders too had to come through a rough passage. He swerved inwards and made a sustained effort, but City of Blossom had corrected his course and had enough gas in the tank to carve out his maiden win on his second attempt. Peaky Blinders will live to fight another day and Saffron Art did well to improve in the final furlong and finish in the money. 

Jockey Akshay Kumar too made his presence felt with a back-to-back double for the day. Private Empire (Stern Opinion – Ciboney) provided him his first win beating the Horus who was threatening to pull it off until into the last 100m. 

Ashwa Arjun led them into the straight but soon buckled under pressure. Horus moved up to take charge and put in a sustained gallop to build what looked a decent lead. Jockey Akshay Kumar then asked Private Empire for an effort and under some hard riding, the Sequeira trainee responded with a late blitz to collar Horus a few strides from the winning post to win by half a length. Horus fought all the way and is one to be noted. Ruletheworld struggled through to finish a faraway third. 

Akshay then partnered Sequeira’s Super Angel (Win Legend – Ice Point) to a fairly comfortable victory. Super Angel was way too far away when Mark My Day led them into the straight, with Eagle Bluff in tow. While these two were battling along, Akshay got Super Angel from the wider out rightly keeping away from the bunch towards the inside. Once Super Angel picked up momentum, it was clear that she had it under control. She zipped past the front bunch without confronting any challenge and quickly amassed what seemed a winning lead. Spicy Star too made a spirited bid, but could not catch up with the winner, falling short by a little over a length. Eagle Bluff did well to take the third spot. 

Greek’s Ace (Sedgefield – Turk’s Friend) from trainer Ravindra Singh’s yard made most of the opportunity to notch up his debut win winning it fighting all the way. Bourbon led them into the straight but fell off and it was right in front of City of Bliss. The jockey of City of Bliss showed timely reflexes in avoiding further casualty as he checked his mount and averted a possible collision and picked up again. However, it did break his momentum and that gave the opportunity to both Greek’s Ace and Total Darc were picking up momentum and closing in at a good rate. Greek’s Ace, with apprentice Gaurav Singh in the saddle, traveled the best of the trio to surge forward and win it by less than a length from Total Darc and City of Bliss. 

Four One Four (Royal Gladiator – She’s Hip) stormed ahead of leader Bedford soon on entering the homestretch and that was that! The rest struggled to catch with the Faiyaz Ali Khan ward as Four One Four was simply too good for the rest. Lacrosse came in far too late but covered a lot of ground to finish a noteworthy second. Sea Wold managed to pip Blink of an Eye for place money.  

Apprentice jockey Rohit Kumar packed a punch in his finish atop Reno Star and came with a flourish in the final few meters to win with a well-timed finish. City of Wisdom looked on course when he got the measure of Incredulous and was dashing towards the post. Conscious Gift was putting up a challenge when Reno Star arrived with a speedy finish. Put into top gear, Reno Star flashed past the winning duo to snatch victory by a short margin. City of Wisdom emrged a clear runner-up from Conscious Gift. Blazer yet again faltered at the gates but managed to figure in the frame. 

For the professionals, trainer RH Sequeira and jockey Suraj Narredy scored a treble, while trainer Laxman Singh and jockey Akshay a double each.