The darling of the Hyderabadi nawabs, Akshay Kumar is slowly yet surely emerging as the top gun in the Indian horse racing circuit. The leading `Knight’ who consistently boots home winners at most premier centres produced another sublime effort on Friday booting home the Sulaiman Attaollahi-trained Anjeze in the Stayers Trial Stakes and Angelino in the S V Subramaniam Memorial Trophy run over a mile.

Astride Anjeze, Akshay brought to light exemplary saddle artistry which provided an object lesson to the young hopefuls ready to don silks. The top pro stretched every sinew to gain the day in a pulse-pounding finish, edging out Sporting Memories piloted by Trevor Patel after a ding-dong battle in the final furlong. The racing buffs enjoyed the thrilling duel despite the fact that many had lost out pinning their hopes on the on-money favourite Salazaar, who finished a close third in the plum event run over 2400 metres. While Akshay earned big appreciation from all the racing pundits, many old hats in the game pointed out that the in-form Suraj Narredu, who to his credit has booted home nine classics this winter had blotted his book, not at his best on the public rage. But all said and done it was a edge of the seat thriller which warmed the hearts of the railbirds on a day only two firm favourites Allamanda and Tyto Alba and one well supported joint favourite Memoriter came through in the eight-event card.

Alexandre Dumas from the stables of Narayan Gowda was fancied most in the S V Subrmaniam Memorial Trophy. It was clear that the followers of trainer Narayan Gowda and owner S N Harish were readily placing big bets on Alexandre Dumas after the success of Tyto Alba and Colonel Harty. But Alexandre Dumas who has recorded two victories this season found the going tough and failed to even save place money. The topweighted Angelino comfortably pegged back the challenge of Velocidad while Thailand from Arjun Manglorkar’s yard spared a `neck’ to the public choice to gain the third spot.

Tyto Alba was backed as if defeat was out of the question in the lower division of the Malaprabha Plate run over a distance of seven furlongs. The Narayan Gowda ward piloted by Trevor Patel despite not being favourably placed early on in the race produced a winning gallop at the distance post to romp home in effortless fashion. Tyto Alba on the strength of this performance is certain to provide an encore. Super Gladiator who in his last essay had finished second behind Sea Of Cortez again had to rest content with the runner-up berth while Sir Piggot finished on purposefully at end to gain the third spot.

Most pundits were of the opinion that Bellator from Sulaiman’s yard was hard to down in the Amazing Grey Plate run over a distance of seven furlongs. The punters too agreed and Bellator was touted a `moral certainty’. But the successful combination of Sulaiman and Akshay failed to come good on this one, the top fancy like Alexandre Dumas failing in his mission to even save money punted in place. Colonel Harty in the hands of lesserlight Tauseef made every post a winning one after hitting the front a furlong after the start. Cavaliere from Arjun’s yard did well to gain the second spot ahead of Karadeniz and is one for the notebook. The below par effort of Bellator was too bad to be true and he certainly deserves another chance to make amends.

After Scruples posted second straight success on Derby eve, Allamanda from Arjun Manglorkar’s yard on form was unbeatable in the Ice Breaker Plate run over a sprint and the short-priced favourite galloped home by a widening margin of 10 lengths. A small number of brave and bold followers of Padmanabhan chose to take a small chance on Tommy Shelby but the youngster could only finish third behind Mitsuro who made a favourable impression on debut.

The Samar Singh schooled Aerospeed dropped a bombshell in the opening event. The winner piloted by apprentice jockey Naveen Kumar paid out a rich dividend of Rs 176 on a tenner at the tote window. Gazebo Talk from Neil Darashah’s yard garnered maximum support in this event but he failed to match strides with the first two, Aerospeed and Proudwish and had to rest content with the third spot.

In what was a very open event, Musterion from trainer Arvind Ganapathy’s yard closed the favourite in the Glass House plate run over a sprint. The fact that leading pro Srinath was engaged to guide the fortunes of Musterion helped the Arvind ward garner more support than his 11 rivals. The six to one shot Harmonia from Pradeep Annaiah’s yard partnered by apprentice J H Arul hit the front soon after the dozen-horse field came under the starter’s flag and never let the initiative slip galloping home nice and easy by five lengths. Musterion who failed to gain a good position early on in the sprint event made up ground at end to gain the runner-up berth. Harmonia it appears is back on the winning way and it will surprise most if the mare fails to add one more win before the curtains are down this winter.

The lower division of the Malaprabha Plate saw Memoriter from Azhar Ali’s yard and Another Rainbow from trainer Mohd Khan’s stable receive good support and at end the two closed joint favourites. While one (Memoriter) came good, the other (Another Rainbow) flopped badly and came home fourth. The winner was ably piloted by Chetan Kalay. Mrs Thatcher who also had her share of supporters finished a tame third.