RH Sequeira saddled filly Life Song (Lord Admiral – Hi Life) defied the penalty she incurred for her previous win and gave another stylish performance to lift the Independence Cup in a tight finish. The fact that Akshay Kumar was replaced by Kiran Naidu in the saddle atop Lifes Song made no difference to the filly’s ability as she unleashed another stupendous gallop to wrest the crown. The K Mukesh Kumar ridden favourite Blue Origin dictated the terms as Amyra chased her along with the other runners including Kingston and Lifes Song not far behind. Blue Origin’s lead shrank as Amyra, Kingston and Lifes Song began to close the gap. Both Kingston and Lifes Song came breathing down the neck of Blue Origin. Lifes Song’s final burst saw her skip away and hit the wire first ahead of Kingston, who got intimidated by Lifes Song presence on the outside and couldn’t overtake Blue Origin till the winner was beyond his reach. Blue Origin just managed to hold on to the third position from Morior Invictus, who was happy gracing the rear till the last 300m and then finished with a flourish, though half-heartedly, to end a short-head behind the favourite.

Naidu had another substitute assignment at the start of the day when he got to ride Tiger Mountain (Top Class – Star Mountain) hailing from D Netto’s yard, who was originally supposed to be ridden by AA Vikrant. No hopers Lights On, Wind Sprite and Milton Keynes were the front runners in the early part of the race with Akshay ridden on-money favourite Yaletown settled nicely behind them Naidu always had his sights on Yaletown and both horses made their move as the heads turned for home. Tiger Mountain, the 10 to 1 longshot, shot ahead in a trice even as Yaletown was hard-ridden by Akshay to stay in the hunt. The winner was spotted a long way from home as Tiger Mountain had something in reserve when leaving his rivals standing which provided Naidu the luxury of peeping over his shoulders at the 100m marker. There was nothing to write home about the other runners though Yaletown, Resurgence and Wind Sprite figured on the judge’s board.

Black Onyx (Stardan – Dancing Dame), who had led all the way till being overwhelmed by Baudelaire over 1400m earlier, was installed as favourite to win over six furlongs. The Magan Singh Parmar trainee and top-weighted Siyavash went stride for stride after the start till the halfway mark, where Black Onyx surged ahead after boring Siyavash and the quickened to record his maiden win. Indian Temple, Blazing Jupiter and Siyavash were left fighting for the minor berths.

Jockey Nakhat Singh got a chance ride aboard Starwalt (Chinese Whisper – Dutch Auction) due to Akshay’s absence in the Kamareddy Plate run over a mile and cashed the opportunity boot home a winner. Isra made the early running and was followed by favourite Ice Berry and the rest racing behind in a single file. There was not much in the order as Isra still held the advantage till 300m from home where Gurbaz, Mireya and Starwalt threw their hat into the ring. Favourite Ice Berry meanwhile seemed to be in trouble as RS Jodha faced great difficulty in getting the mare to race on an even keel and ended a pathetic fifth. Bottom-weighted Starwalt accelerated well when Nakhat brought him into contention and assumed command in the last furlong. LVR Deshmukh’s ward won quite easily from Gurbaz, Isra and Ashwa Migsun.

Deshmukh soon led his second winner when Galway (Air Support – Carla) made a winning appearance after a hiatus of eight months in the Deverakonda Plate. Beauty Flame set the pace for the field and led merrily in front as Galway and the odds-on favourite in pursuit. With little over 300m to go for home, Beauty Flame surrendered the lead to Galway without much ado and retired from the fray. K Mukesh Kumar, who was asked depute for Akshay on Lamha, worked fervently on the filly but P Ajeeth Kumar driven Galway wasn’t in a mood to give up and kept going under the whip to keep the favourite at bay. Char Ek Char, piloted by Ishwar Singh, came all guns blazing only when the race was in the safe-keeping of Galway and finished an impressive third ahead of Miss Marvellous.

S Sreekant trained and Kuldeep Singh ridden even-money favourite Golden Forza (Varenar – Incandescent) struck immediately on demotion in the day’s concluding event. The chestnut gelding was quickly off from the blocks and won untroubled all the way. N R I Secret, Inside Story and Charmer followed him home.