Jockey Akshay Kumar’s delightful form continued as he reaped a rich haul of four winners in the eight-race card which also included the Governor’s Cup that he won atop Consigliori. 

Consigliori seemed unstoppable once he stormed out of the gates and took charge. Galloping Gangster and Victory Parade followed the leader, while favourite Corfe Castle raced in the fifth spot. 

Consigliori was still looking good as he led them into the straight and had a useful lead with just over 400m to go. Victory Parade started to warm up and Corfe Castle too improved to rub shoulders with Victory Parade. Akshay rode out forcefully and a couple of cracks ensured Consigliori did not let his guard down and kept the momentum going. Consigliori, trained by Sequeira, showed good resolve and held on by a neck, thwarting a stiff challenge from Victory Parade. Corfe Castle failed to get going in the final furlong and folded up without threatening the top two finishers. Prince Valiant tailed the field all the way until into the homestretch, but improved thereafter to finish alongside Corfe Castle. 

Jockey Akshay Kumar has been blazing away this season as well and his four-for-the-day came as no surprise. He hit success in the day’s opening race astride trainer D Netto’s Maximum Glamour (Smuggler’s Cove – Tejaswini) who enjoyed maximum market support. The filly had had an educational outing on the opening day this season when she had finished an easy third on debut. Maximum Glamour showed marked improvement over that run to achieve her first success in her second start. Akshay settled her in the second spot behind Able Love until into the straight and then made smooth progress to sail past Able Love and draw away from them all. Maximum Glamour won by an impressive margin of four and half lengths from Able Love. Moonlight Ruby ran on to take the third spot. 

Sequeira’s Soloist (Top Class – Allee Bleue) provided the second success to Akshay and this too was an easy conquest. Soloist raced behind My Master until into the straight and made her forward surge with about 300 to go. Once in the lead, Soloist shot further ahead to compile her maiden victory by over three lengths without encountering any challenge. Special Effort edged out Dream Station narrowly for second place. 

In the very next race, Akshay partnered favourite Lamha (Whatsthescript – La Surama) to her third successful victory, two of which came this season. Lamha travelled smoothly right from the start and Akshay had her in the last position until the turn. Cheltenham got past long-time leader Grand Duke soon on straightening up for home and had Sweet Melody close behind. Lamha moved up from the wide outside and she warmed up nicely to swoop down on the fighting bunch with about 300m to go. Lamha arrived with gigantic strides to blow away the opposition to win by close to three lengths. Cheltenham managed to stay ahead of Sweet Melody at the wire to claim the runner-up berth. 

Laxman Singh trained Sublime (Excellent Art – Final Refrain) dashed off to the front and kept galloping hard to trick the others and return triumphant. Five kilo claimed Santosh Raj sped away approaching the turn and amassed a sizable lead coming into the homestretch. He then pushed hard to keep Sublime going and build on the handy lead in the kitty. Lockhart tried her best to catch up but Sublime was up to the task and held on to win comfortably. Lockhart beat the rest to take the second spot, finishing just ahead of Rhine. 

Sreekant trained Maxwell (Crimson China – Amazon Sky) put in a fierce finishing gallop at the business end to snatch a hard fought victory. He was racing in the mid-bunch most of the way as Incredulous led them into the straight with fancied Her Legacy looming large on the leader. Her Legacy was shaping well and just as she launched her assault, Maxwell, with jockey Mukesh Kumar in the saddle, appeared on the scene with a fiery gallop to zip slightly ahead. Her Legacy fought hard and stayed close but Maxwell pulled away in the last couple of strides to score by a length. Her Legacy found the winner too good and had to be content with the runner-up slot. Maxwell did exceedingly well in clinching the Hyderabad City Police Commissioner’s Cup in an exciting finish. The best finisher however, was City of Wisdom. The bay gelding covered a lot of ground in the final furlong to finish a close, notable third and could oblige in her next outing. 

Mukesh Kumar had earlier partnered Sacred Lamp Royal Gladiator – Lamplight) to victory over a shorter scurry, guiding the filly to her maiden victory on her 11th start. Sacred Lamp was away from the spotlight even in the early half of the homestretch as Secret Command, Let it be Me and Air Salute were fighting at the front approaching the distance post. Star babe too was making headway when Sacred Lamp caught the eye. The five-year-old mare trained by Ravindra Singh scorched the turf and began to devour ground at a brisk rate. She caught Secret Command right on the post to carve out a sensational victory close home. Secret Command was a tad unfortunate to have let it slip away on the last stride. Star Babe too did well to end alongside the top two. 

The last race saw a grim finish with Aibak, ridden by apprentice Afroz Khan, running amok in the final stages of the race. It all happened in the final furlong. Golden Forza was in the lead and trying hard to stay on when Aibak switched out to throw his challenge. Aibak gathered momentum and while overtaking Golden Forza, Aibak moved inward due to which Golden Forza had to be checked. Further, as Aibak went into the lead, he again veered out abruptly, thereby causing interference to Berkeley Placed 2nd) and Stark (3rd), for which the jockeys of the respective horses lodged an objection. The trainer of third placed Stark too raised an objection that his horse could not be ridden out and that cost him the race.  The stewards went through with the proceedings and eventually overruled the objections and Aibak was allowed to keep the race. 

For the professionals, jockey Akshay Kumar was the star performer of the day scoring four winners, while trainer RH Sequeira saddled a treble and jockey Mukesh Kumar scored a double.