Putting behind the narrow defeat she suffered at the hands of Ballerina at Bangalore last month, Artemis Ignacia (Excellent Art – Windsor Manor) came to Hyderabad with renewed vigour and made ample amends for that failure in the K Mahipati Rao Memorial Golden Juvenile Million on Sunday. The bay filly went straight down to business when the gates flew open for the seven furlong trip and was in command till the 500-metre marker where the heads turned for home. Here Artemis Ignacia shifted out from the inner rails offering AA Vikrant ridden Ashoka a dream opening which he readily accepted and shot ahead.

However, the Neil Darashah nurtured filly's business was not finished yet. Artemis Ignacia fought back when PS Chouhan dug into her reserves and threw a challenge at Ashoka with a spirited run in the last furlong. In the fierce battle that ensued, Chouhan's experience and strong handling proved decisive as Artemis Ignacia regained supremacy over Ashoka, who fought bravely till being forced into submission by the victor. The glaring difference between the handling of Chouhan and Vikrant was pronounced in the eventual result. That said, Artemis Ignacia's fortunes did change for good but Suraj Narredu ridden favourite Crown Consort's fate didn't as the filly flopped once again. She never raised any hopes and ended third ahead of The Image.

Replicating the effort of Chouhan in the next race, Suraj brought his experience and power-packed finish into play which enabled second favourite By The Bay (Lord Admiral – Karisini) to achieve success in a blanket finish involving four horses. Rising Queen led the closely bunched field of ten vying for the Hydraces.com Trophy and kept kicking on till her rivals were off their bridles. She was challenged initially by the favourite Miss Little Angel, who fought for her head as the field settled down and then came wide into the straight. With more than a furlong left for home, the favourite was a spent force already and soon Suraj switched lanes to bring Laxman Singh trained By The Bay into contention. A few hard cracks from Suraj and his all-out effort inspired By The Bay to stretch out and douse Rising Queen's hopes. Drd also threw his hat in the ring but Ajeeth Kumar failed to derive that extra bit from the mare and ended third behind Afroz Khan partnered Able Love, who failed to raise a fluent gallop and lost her footing momentarily under pressure. Able Love regained composure soon but her late burst wasn't good enough to topple By The Bay. Last outing winner Bangor On Dee ran a tame fifth.

N Ravinder Singh trained Beauty Blaze (Top Class – Lucy In The Sky), who was a facile winner on debut last season, made it two in a row with another effortless win in the Jangaon Plate. Entrusted to B Nikhil yet again, the bay filly cruised into the lead from draw one and was never headed thereafter. Beauty Blaze put daylight between herself and her rivals when Nikhil gave her a backhander. N R I Millenium, who was in hopeless chase of the winner throughout, ended fourth and allowed longshot Briar Ridge and the second in demand Arabian Queen to be in the money. The rest were simply outclassed.

Ambitious Star (David Livingstone – Phoenix) from K Satheesh's yard claimed the day's opening event in the hands of apprentice RS Jodha. The bay gelding hit the front and had favourite Costello alongside in hot pursuit. Silk made an attempt to slip through the inner rails at the bend but couldn't accelerate. Meanwhile, in an absorbing duel, both Ambitious Star and Costello were ridden hands and heels as they went stride for stride towards the winning post. Costello found conceding 6kg to the winner difficult and played second fiddle yet again as Ambitious Star got stronger at the finish. Silk and Exclusive Spark followed them home.

Malibu (Roderic O'Connor – Final Refrain), though lesser fancied than only Clefairy, ran true to form when graduating from the maiden ranks in the Ascot Plate. L D'Silva's trainee Malibu was thrust into the lead by Akshay Kumar as the early leaders Rx Hundred and Bellaque spread out at the turn.  The bay quickened nicely to score much easier than the odds suggested and kept Clefairy at bay. Debutant Hugh Capet came with a long stretched run to end third ahead of Ivanhoe, who gave a listless performance.

D'Silva led in his second winner of the day when Pedro Planet (Planetaire – Pedro Ona) made light of the heavy impost on his back and registered his second career success. Running on demotion, Pedro Planet raced behind no hoper Red River and Cash Register till the final turn where he was alerted by K Mukesh Kumar. Pedro Planet covered good ground under the whip to catch leader Cash Register who had established a five-length lead after Red River retired from the fray.  Pedro Planet was really made to sweat as Mukesh Kumar worked hard astride him for about a furlong before catching up with the leader and then raced away to win sparing nearly three lengths to Cash Register. That's My Way ran on to finish third while Akash, who came in for enthusiastic support in the betting, ran a poor fourth.

Anant Vatsalya schooled Wallop And Gallop (One Lucky Dane – Woodchick) registered an upset victory to claim the Basra Cup run over nine furlongs. The Ajeeth Kumar ridden chestnut took off sluggishly from the gates but warmed up soon to cover rapid ground and join Ashwa Sultan and Yesterday who took turns in heading the field for the first three furlongs. Grand Duke then called the shots with Wallop And Gallop joining him just before the heads turned for home. The favourite with RS Jodha in saddle lugged in after coming wide into the straight and suffered badly when Yesterday started to hang in. Grand Duke almost collided with the rails and lost all his chances. Wallop And Gallop meanwhile seized the opportunity and stormed into the lead. Ajeeth Kumar kept the winner going even as Advance Guard rallied to finish runner-up while Yesterday ended third ahead of New Hustle.