The Chennai Winter Meeting got off to a rollicking start on Thursday for trainer Robert Foley and jockey Nakhat Singh as they combined fruitfully to notch up a lucrative treble with Empress Eternal, Rippling Waters and Lord Of The Turf. The main event, The Stewards Trophy, however saw the Narredu brothers Deepesh and Yash steal the show with their piping hot on-money favourite Leopard Rock. The sprinter by Kingda Ka out of Besame Mucho allowed Wakeful to call the shots till well into the straight before taking over the running and eventually winning on tight reins in a smart opening day’s time of 1mn 12.37sec for the six furlong scurry. The winner is owned by the Jaydev Mody syndicate.

Trainer Deepesh and jockey Yash thus completed a brace, having combined earlier in the day atop Anastasia (Multidimensional-Clementi) in the 1000 metres race for the Babylon Handicap.  The three-year-old filly was tucked in, in fourth slot, while  Sovereign Power and Amarone called the early shots. Once into the straight, a couple of reminders from Yash’s stick was all that was needed to send the filly galloping into a comfortable lead.

The first of Foley’s three winners was Empress Eternal (Saamidd-Repique) in the 1000 metres sprint for the upper division of The Theogundi Handicap. It was to jockey Nakhat Singh’s credit that he was able to get the best out of her even after being severely interfered by Star Proof who veered out considerably at the start. Nakhat gradually improved her position to ultimately collar Fiat Justitia without much ado for a comfortable victory. Foley next led in Rippling Waters (Common China – Last Edition) who won the Apache Handicap start-to-finish though Nakhat had to use the stick as many as ten times in the straight. One couldn’t help but feel aa tinge of sympathy for the filly. The last of the Foley - Nakhat treble was Lord Of The Turf  (Ruler Of The World – Pedra Ona) who made the First To The Post Handicap his own by being first at every post. The favourite Mayflower followed him home.

Champion jockey C Umesh was also in the forefront of affairs with a well-earned double atop King’s Show and Queen’s Hall. The pair won both divisions of the Sentova Cove Handicap reserved for five-years-old and over horses. The former won the opener, which was the lower division of the race. Umesh had Mandanna -trained King’s Show (Gusto-Saisoku) racing behind Renzaccio till into the straight where he had to go full throttle. Six-year-old mare Queen’s Hall (Whatsthescript-Sparkling Crystal) was a more facile winner of the upper division as she pegged back the favourite Star Fling to the third slot.

Trainer B Suresh caused quite an upset with Annexed (Samidd-Lambency) who won the lower division of the Theogundi Handicap in dramatic fashion by over five lengths in the hands of Shahar Babu.