Punters had a dream start to the monsoon meeting as most of fancied runners barring Turning Wheel and Blue Origin kept their date with success. Jockey Akshay Kumar stole the limelight by winning four out of his five riding engagements during the day. Trainer Srinivas Reddy saddled a profitable double for owner BE Vasanth Kumar through The Sensation (Excellent Art – Miss Arazan) and The Image (Declaration of War – Oriental Image) who were both fluent winners.  L D’Silva also led in the well backed winning duo, Bangor On Dee (Roderic O’Connor – Strawberry Fields) and Ayr (Roderic O’Connor – Book Thief) to claim both divisions of the Adilabad Plate.

LVR Deshmukh schooled filly Nugget (Excellent Art – Elouana) was the odds on choice to claim the season’s opener, the Con Amore Plate Div-I and she obliged warding off the spirited challenge of Malibu. Rovaniemi called the shots after the gates flew while PS Chouhan settled Nugget in the mid field. Coming into the home stretch, Rovaniemi surrendered the lead to his front running companion Malibu and Nugget, who had progressed steadily to enter the fray. Malibu and Nugget fought a fierce duel in the entire last furlong following which the latter gained the upper hand in the last couple of strides. Clefairy, who finally made her debut, gathered momentum gradually to be in the money ahead of Dr Dee Dee who finished close behind.

Falcon Edge (Gusto – Dovers Hill), whose only defeat from five outings came in the Colts Trials Stakes last September, scored an impressive win carrying top weight in the PM Bokdawalla Memorial Cup. As the RH Sequeira trained Falcon Edge was running after a long layoff, it might have led to Blue Origin being lodged as the favourite. After showing up prominently in the front bunch till the last furlong, Suraj Narredu ridden Blue Origin flopped badly. Earlier, the heavily backed N R I Sport went on a start-to-finish mission and almost pulled it off before Akshay Kumar piloted Falcon Edge unleashed a scintillating run to strike gold and also his lost form. He wore down N R I Sport to win by a neck. Royal Grace finished on late to be third ahead of Miss Little Angel.

The day’s feature was claimed by Lagos (Gusto – Blumarine) from D Netto’s yard. Suraj Narredu kept the mare close on the heels of leader Skipton till the field straightened for home and then assumed command. New Look with apprentice RS Jodha in the saddle gave a tough time to the favourite but Suraj’s strong handling helped Lagos claim the Osman Sagar Cup by half length. Chuckit and Scramjet ran well to finish on the judge’s board. With a better calibre rider to assist him in the saddle, Scramjet has the ability to earn a bracket over a slightly longer distance soon.

The Sensation and Bangor On Dee derived full benefit of the educative run they had during their solitary outing when summering at Bangalore recently. The fitness of the two youngsters helped them score in their respective events. The Sensation, partnered by Abhay Singh in the saddle, showed a clean pair of heels to his rivals and even got stronger at the finish to easily vanquish Ivanhoe and Desert Sultan who covered lot of ground in the straight to finish third.

Akshay Kumar started his winning spree by steering Bangor On Dee to a facile victory over Visionary and Exotic Dancer. The winner allowed them both to dictate terms till the heads turned for home and then took charge to score his second career win.

Ayr, who also had a summer sojourn to Bangalore, was quoted at cramped odds in the lower division of the Adilabad Plate which indicated that the race was at the mercy of trainer D’Silva’s ward. The bay colt obliged readily and brooked no opposition from his eight rivals. Akshay Kumar powered Ayr easily accounted for Vision of Rose and Costello.

The most impressive win of the day was registered by The Image in the concluding event of the day. Srinivas Reddy’s candidate lay a handy fourth as Silk led the field and cruised past the no-hoper as they skirted false rails for home. The winner was sighted a long way from home as Akshay Kumar had the luxury of looking back more than once and also easing up The Image about hundred metres from home whilst ending his day on a high note. True Icon ran a laboured second ahead of Archangels and Mireya.

K Satheesh saddled and RS Jodha ridden Classy Dame (Corporate Jungle – Yasmine) though neglected in the betting ring proved too good for her rivals in the Tenacity Plate. The mare overtook leader N R I Secret easily and won emphatically despite veering out in the closing stages. Favourite Turning Wheel found his galloping shoes late and ended second ahead of the tiring N R I Secret. Turning Wheel’s run deserves to be taken with a pinch of salt.