Arvind Ganapathy, after leading-in his first classic with Faith of Success (Saamidd – Isola Tiberina, Hazara Stud) winning the Golconda Oaks (Gr2) less than three weeks ago, landed the plum event of the season, the Golconda Derby Stakes (Gr1) with the same filly and recorded a fine Oaks-Derby double. The mild mannered trainer was ecstatic with his first Derby success, a memorable landmark in any professional’s career.

Faith of Success showed her mettle while coming through a rough passage at a crucial juncture and jockey Neeraj Rawal handled her judiciously in what turned out to be a perfect ride.

Neeraj kept the filly off the pace from the start and through the backstretch and gradually moved up without taking much out of the filly until the turn. Karanveer led them into the straight and stayed on through the homestretch and was in the fight all the way. Stockbridge was the first to challenge the long-time leader and he worked up a good pace to surge past. Painted Apache was behind these two and he shifted out just when Faith of Success was getting into top gear. With Fire Power on her outside, Faith of Success was in peril, tightened for room as she was sandwiched between the two. Neeraj showed great presence of mind and went through the narrow gap astutely and once he got in the clear, he forged a forceful finishing effort past the distance post. Karanveer, Stockbridge, Faith of Success and Fire Power were going all-out and in full flight. The screams from the grandstands was deafening. It was Neeraj Rawal who provided ample assistance in the saddle that spurred Faith of Success to put her best foot forward in the dying moments of the race. What a finish! Faith of Success clinched it by a neck from Stockbridge. Fire Power ended a short-head further back with Karanveer alongside the top three!

“My heart was pounding so fast,” explained trainer Aravind. I was trying to remain calm all through and my filly did travel well all the way into the straight. However, when I saw her caught between the two horses early in the straight, I was cringing. Neeraj did a brilliant job and that gave the filly the chance to pick up from there. She stayed well as I had expected, but I must admit that it was way too close to remain cool and calm,” said Aravind. Asked on what next for the dual classic winning filly, he was quick to state “We will give her a chance to take a crack at the Indian Derby in Mumbai. She is a tough filly and took both races very well and considering the gruelling distance and the contrasting style the races panned out, I am convinced she has it in her to give off her best. The question at the back of the mind does lurk whether she would take the trip after two hard races, but I remember the late Dr MAM Ramaswamy sir saying “Horses are natural athletes and are born to run. If you don’t run them, how will you win them?” I believe he too would have directed me to give her this opportunity. Hence, if she takes the travel well and feels good enough, we will run her in the Indian Derby, concluded Aravind.

For jockey Neeraj Rawal, this was his fourth Derby conquest after two in Bangalore and one in Kolkata. “I am sure it was an exciting race to watch from the stands or on the screens, but it was really hot on the race track. Things happen so quickly. I was a bit worried coming into the straight and with the horse inside shifting out, I had no time to consider options. I went by my instincts and thankfully got enough room to breeze through at the right moment,” said jockey Neeraj Rawal over the phone. Once I got through (the gap) I was confident that she had enough left in her and she duly responded with a nice turn of foot in the final run. We were confident she would stay the distance well and I am delighted she ran so well,” said Neeraj.

Netto trained Lagos (Gusto – Blumarine) was back to her best and scored a facile victory beating close rival Market King with a measure of comfort. Market King was the favourite over Lagos and true to the trend, these two outpaced the rest. The speedy Incredulous darted to the front and stayed in front until into the straight. Lagos, who was in chase of the leader, shot ahead soon after passing the 400m mark and accelerated smoothly to take a decisive lead entering the final furlong. Market King galloped past the early leader, but could not catch up with Lagos. Jockey Suraj Narredu rode out confidently and Lagos won, sparing two and a half lengths to Market King. Watch My Stride improved in the straight to beat Incredulous for the third spot.

Well-backed Knotty Dancer (Gusto – Daffodils) who had finished close behind Blue Origin when they met at Chennai looked much sharper and scored an authoritative victory back on his home turf. The bottom weighted Keystone led them into the straight. Blue Origin tried to make headway, but was found wanting. He just could not get going. Keystone moved up nicely and cruised past them all to take charge approaching the distance post and then sailed away to score a comprehensive victory. Keystone kicked on to finish second a length ahead of NRI Sport and Citi of Blessing. Blue Origin ended a dismal fifth.

Sunderji trained Narakamicie (Excellent Art – Vijays Pride) after a couple of fair performances, managed to show his best yet with a neat start to finish victory, his first on his sixth essay. After leading them into the straight, jockey Trevor got Narakamicie to hasten and soon built a handy lead, playing catch-me-if-you-can with his rivals. Hot Seat tried hard but just found the winner too good on the day. Narakamicie won easing up by a clear margin of two lengths from Hot Seat. Unmatched came in with a sharp finish, but had too much ground to cover, yet he did well enough to almost pip Hot Seat, falling shy by just a short-head. Aibak finished a fair fourth and can do better.

Sreekant trained Isra (Sedgefield – Star of Peace) galloped away to score her maiden win. Taking advantage of the light saddle, Isra dashed into the lead soon on settling down and entered the straight about two lengths ahead. Silver Bells was doing her best to catch up with Isra, while the rest were not measuring up well enough. Isra, with jockey Dashrath Singh in the saddle, galloped away merrily to stay well clear and win by two lengths from Silver Bells. Kimberly finished with a good fast run to take the third spot, a neck behind Silver Bells.

Despang (Multidimensional – Amore Mio) from the stables of trainer Deshmukh, was another one to make it start to finish. He had a slender lead turning for home and he gradually built on it in the straight. Jockey Surya Prakash did a good job to keep Despang going at a hot pace. Grand Duke made a threatening forward move midway down the straight and Sorry Darling too was lurking alongside. Despang however, did not loosen her grip on the race and the jockey added the finishing touches to carve out a second win on the trot. Grand Duke managed to pip sorry Darling for the runner-up berth.

The Image (Declaration of War – Oriental Image) followed up on his second finish on debut with a fine performance to claim her first victory and also justified the strong support she received. Jockey Ashhad Asbar settled the Srinivas Reddy trained filly in second behind Star Medal. Asbar was holding his mount tightly and gradually loosened his grip indicating to the filly to go. The Image took off in an instant and accelerated fluently from there on to steal a march on Star Medal and sail away to an effortless victory. Star Medal returned second best with a clear margin over third placed Voice of a Dream.

Inception (Ampere – Aliwiyya) had to muster all her strength to close-in on NRI Blue as she had a rather long leeway to cover in the final furlong. NRI Blue had kicked away after leading them all the way into the straight and had soon built a handy lead. Inception was toiling to keep up in the early half, but warmed up nicely past the distance post. NRI Blue was still about three lengths ahead and hurtling towards the winning post when jockey Rupal Singh got the Ravindra Singh trainee picking up. Inception charged at NRI Blue with all her might and nailed it right on the wire to score a dramatic last stride victory. NRI Blue did everything right until the final stride. Rhine too was right with them and finished a head behind the top two, while New Hustle covered a lot of ground to finish a good fourth.

NRI Gift (Net Whizz – Circus Star) trained by Shashikanth, who had been placing consistently in recent times, produced a juicy turn of foot in the final furlong to finally add to his solitary win that had come in 2018. Jockey Anthony Raj settled NRI Gift in the front group with Rivadavia leading them into the straight. Rivadavia kept the momentum going and stayed ahead deep into the straight. NRI Gift worked his way up past NRI City and It’s My Life to challenge Rivadavia. These two battled hard with NRI Gift looming large and gaining speed at just the right time. Good Tidings too was making rapid progress as was Spectacular Cruise. However, NRI Gift zipped ahead in the last 100 meters to score a well-fought victory. Rivadavia held on to finish second from the fast finishing Good Tidings.

Trainer D Netto was the lone pro to score a double.