He knew he had the best chance. He knew he had the ammunition in his yard to pull the plug and fuse out the opposition in the blue riband of the season, the Kingfisher Ultra winter Derby The fact that he under his care had the best colt and the champion filly provided the confidence required to scale the summit and the leading trainer Sulaiman Attaollahi was not going to let the initiative slip, He left no stone unturned in his effort to send the unbeaten Forest Flame, five victories from as many starts including two classic wins and the double classic winner Lagarde in the best of health and top form. The result: a high five, fifth classic success so far this winter and a Derby at home. Sulaiman was immensely pleased. Lagarde emerged champion and established himself as the best on the Indian racing circuit. Forest Flame finished a close third despite encountering rough passage at the final curve after travelling wide all through the backstretch. Trevor Patel to say the least was below par while guiding the fortunes of the Queen filly who in defeat was not disgraced and lives to fight another day. While Trevor blotted his book astride Forest Flame, Hyderabad champion Akshay Kumar produced his best on Lagarde setting a good pace at the backstretch and outwitting his rivals in the straight to help the top colt proudly wear the Derby sash.

After the four best fillies and five top colts came under the starter’s flag for the classic mile-and-half classic journey, Akshay Kumar bravely pushed Lagarde to the front and set a decent pace all through the backstretch. The star performer from the Nanoli Stud farm travelled nice and easy and held the advantage before the field negotiated the final curve.

Akshay packed punch on the champion colt the moment the race came on a boil and the winner kicked strongly to peg back the belated effort of Sovereign Legend and Forest Flame. The sublime effort from the champion fetched the three owners, Rama Seshu Eyunni, Prabhakar Reddy and Khusroo Dhunjibhoy a rich purse of Rs 77,56,154  considering the substantial reduction in stakes during the pandemic period. 

A jubilant  Sulaiman who had earlier disclosed that his two prime contenders are at the top of their game and that he is confident that the filly and the colt will stay the Derby revealed that Lagarde's next target will be the Indian Derby at Mahalaxmi in March and it is needless to mention that the filly will also travel to Mahalaxmi to again cross swords with his top stablemate in her effort to settle a score. 

A lucky Akshay Kumar who got a chance to pilot  Lagarde was all praise for the champion who made every post a winning one in the showdown at sundown on Republic Day. Akshay said: "I was not under any pressure when challenged by Sovereign Legend and Forest Flame in the final furlong. Lagarde was comfortably travelling and all I needed to do was to keep him going. I did that and he successfully managed the rest." .

While a lucky Akshay came out tops, Suraj Narredu, who had partnered Lagarde in both his earlier classic wins,before he chose to guide the fortunes of  Forever Together from his younger brother Rajesh Narredu’s yard will be kicking himself, missing a big opportunity to register his 10th classic success this winter. The top `Knight' who has struck gold booting home classic winners at all the premier racing centres missed out on the big one at home and that's largely due to the fact that the connections of Lagarde took time to charter a definite classic route to the champion. 

The principal added attraction, the Mysore Race Club Trophy run over a mile was claimed by the public rage Knight Templar from Padmanabhan's yard. The winner after assuming command at the distance post needed to stretch every sinew to peg back the gallant effort of Automatic close home. Roma Victor also caught the eye while finishing a creditable third ahead of Akita Pro. 

The final event, the lower division of the Totalizator Cup saw Gnaneshwar back after a long suspended holiday punch home the ten to one shot Rosy Rapunzel to a thrilling victory. The favourite In The Breeze from Irfan Ghatala's yard who was seen finishing on fastest at end met severe interference at the top of the straight and this cost the Irfan ward piloted by Suraj dear. 

Earlier, the seven to one shot Peaconwood from Arjun Manglorkar's yard edged out stablemate Kensington in a thriller to take home the Indian Republic Trophy. Scintillating Lass from Sulaiman's yard and Devil's Magic from the stables of Neil Devaney were fancied most. The latter after being favourably placed at the top of the straight lacked the gas to make a race of it, while the favourite Scintillating Lass lacked initial speed and graced the wrong end of the field for most part of the journey before gathering  steam to finish third ahead of Devil's Magic. 

The Irfan Ghatala schooled Watchmystars was fancied most in the T B Hanumantharaj Memorial Trophy on the strength of her facile victory in her last essay. But it was the other non-fancied runner Cavallini from his yard who bolted in to the surprise of the more than 2500 railbirds who were forced to cough up big sums to gain an entry on the big day. 

The moment Cavallini shot through the favourite Watchmystars had to settle for the runner-up berth ahead of Sea Of Cortez who was ably taken on a start to finish mission by apprentice jockey Likith Appu. Likith in fact partnered Sea Of Cortez home in her last essay.

Neil Darashah-trained Alpha dropped the biggest bombshell winning the Kumararajah M A M Muthiah Trophy in the hands of Prashant Dhebe. The winner paid out a handsome dividend of Rs 544 on a tenner at the tote window. Del Mar from Mohd Khan's yard was backed as if defeat was out of the question but the coup backfired as Del Mar raced in patches and eventually floored all the punters who fell for the big tip. Second favourite Hokkaido too failed to make the frame and that proved to be a big blow for the followers of form and money. 

Imtiaz Khan landed a successful gamble in the opening event through Tiger Returns piloted by Rayan Ahmed and John guided home the topweighted Sherwin to a deserving victory in the next event run over a distance of seven furlongs.