Incredulous (Green Coast – Coppelia) trained by D Netto, yet again asserted her raw speed while claiming the Raja Narasimha Rao Memorial Cup in a clinical start to finish manner. Jockey Vikrant had little to do initially as the mare shot into the lead as she is used to and held a slender advantage as they entered the homestretch. Her Legacy was the only threat lurking close by and these two were well ahead of the rest. Incredulous always held the slight advantage over Her Legacy, but the latter did seem to close in approaching the distance post. Both fought hard and stuck by each other going stride for stride all the way past the wire. Incredulous held on by a neck to carve out a thrilling victory. Her Legacy ended a gallant second, well clear of the third placed NRI Elegance.

Laxman Singh trained Brilliant View (Tazahum – Regal Glory) set the track ablaze with a dazzling finish that not only took her tally to four wins from five starts, but also smashed the track record of Versallies which stood at 1:05:61 by setting her own best timing at 1:04:35 over the 1100 meters sprint for the Salar Jung Cup. It was an incredible finish as Brilliant View was at the tail end of the field until into the straight!

Burano fell back after sharing the lead with Beauty on Parade at the turn, while Apollo was not too far away either. Beauty on Parade took charge early in the straight and shaped well approaching the distance post, The rest were over two lengths behind and struggling to catch up with Beauty on Parade. Jockey Akshay Kumar then alerted his mount and Brilliant View responded with a crisp alacrity, picking up momentum with every stride and literally flew in the final 150 meters, not only surging past the competition, but also to thunder away to win with a huge margin of close to four lengths - all in a matter of split-seconds!  Brilliant View’s final burst was simply awesome and a testimony of her raw speed. Beauty on Parade was undoubtedly stunned, beaten by an incredible final burst, but she did well to pick up the
runner-up berth ahead of Menilly.

Angel Tesoro (Royal Gladiator – Flying Rani) had to dig deep even after sailing past the front running pair of Life Time and Monarchos to ward off a spirited challenge posed by the late finishing Top In Class. Racing in third, Angel Tesoro started to accelerate in the final furlong to cut the lead that Monarchos had gained after passing early leader Life Time. Jockey Vikrant moved up steadily and Monarchos did not offer much resistance. With a little over 100 meters to go, Angel Tesoro seemed to have had it covered when Top In class started to devour ground at a brisk pace. Top In Class was in full flight and moving the fastest, even better than Angel Tesoro, but he didn’t have enough ground to make the most of it as the winning post arrived a bit too soon for him. Angel Tesoro escaped to victory holding on by a
narrow half-length.  Bloom Buddy too improved positions to claim the place money.

Short priced Aerial Combat (Air Support – Sheer Class) from the Sequeira stables churned out a facile victory in the hands of Akshay Kumar. Aerial Combat was not in the best of positions as they turned for home, but worked his way up meticulously to come into contention inside the final furlong. Star Racer looked good midway in the straight but he just could not pick up well enough. Aibak started to make progress between horses, which is when Aerial Combat lit up to make his final dash. He finished with a flourish swooping down on them all to charge ahead in the last fifty meters and score easily by two lengths. Aibak held on narrowly to the runner-up berth, while Curcumin managed to pip Star Racer for the place money.

L D’Silva trained Miss Marvellous (Crimson China – Gamay – Beaujolais) edged out Dillon and Linewiler in a three-way finish in a fight that went to the wire. While Linewiler and Dillon were both well in front in the straight, the top weighted Miss Marvellous had some catching up to do.

Linewiler and Dillon got down to fight out the issue and were engaged in a grim battle. Dillon came under pressure and ran a bit erratically, keeping Linewiler interested. Akshay then arrived with a game gallop cutting the lead down with each stride. Miss Marvellous quickened further at the business end and arrived with a bang to nail the fighting pair just in time to clinch a ‘head’ verdict. Dillon, despite going wide, snatched the second slot from Linewiler.

Strongly fancied Star Cruise (Green Coast – Exclusive Monarchy) from the stables of trainer Sreekant, delighted his large number of supporters with facile victory in the opening race of the day. He was off the gates in a flash and made every post a winning one right through the six furlong sprint. Leading them into the straight, Star Cruise with Akshay Kumar up, galloped on resolutely, getting stronger with every stride. Arcadian Angel tried her best to match up but gave up after raising slight hope midway down the straight. Star Cruise stayed well ahead of competition to achieve her maiden success on her 12th start. Stark and Good Tidings improved positions to grab the second and third spots.

Silk (Saamidd –  Mini Cooper) trained by Shashikant proved far too superior to her rivals as she won without encountering any challenge to achieve her maiden success on her seventh start. Settling behind early leader joy O Joy until the turn, Silk, with apprentice Santosh Raj in the saddle, made a smooth forward move early in the straight. Once in the lead, she galloped fluently without being hustled at any stage and scored a clinical victory, increasing her lead with every single stride, She won untroubled by a healthy margin of four lengths without dropping sweat.  Joy O joy held on to finish second ahead of Challenger.

For the professionals, jockey Akshay Kumar sizzled with four winners.