Making her first appearance at Malakpet after six months, the chances of trainer G Shashikanth trained mare N R I Infinity (Western Aristocrat – Kilkenny) was given a miss ahead of her fancied rivals in the Rani Rudrama Devi Cup. The import from Western India (formerly known as La Teste) produced a stunning start to finish run to floor her fancied opponents including favourite Icicle.

Jockey BR Kumar went smoothly into the lead to don the role of a pied piper and made her eight rivals dance to her tune at every step of the mile journey. Ashwa Raudee and City Of Blessing chased N R I Infinity initially in the hope of catching her as soon as she presented an opportunity. But that was not to be. N R I Infinity in fact stepped up her pace when the heads turned for home and left them chasing her shadow. Favourite Icicle cut a sorry figure when labouring hard to make her impact. The grey filly could only manage to wrest the runner up berth in a three-way fight with Show Me Your Walk and Painted Apache.

RH Sequeira nursed Knight Templar tried to emulate N R I Infinity’s success immediately in the next race but conceded defeat in the shadow of the winning post to favourite Scramjet (Air Support – Scarlette) from KSV Prasad Raju’s yard. Akshay Kumar astride Knight Templar dictated the terms in the small field of six vying for the Belmont Prince Plate. It appeared that the leader started feeling his legs and veered out slightly after bringing the field into the home stretch. Knight Templar’s lack of competitive exposure in recent months seems to have put paid to his hopes against Scramjet, who had taken two easy runs this season to improve on his racing fitness.

Jockey P Sai Kumar astride Scramjet certainly deserves praise for showing remarkable poise when engaged in a fierce duel with his celebrated peer in the last furlong or so and nailed Knight Templar on the post. A head separated the two horses at the finish. Premier Action’s rider Afroz Khan’s overzealous bid to poke through between Knight Templar and Scramjet in the straight saw him squeezed out of contention. Premier Action ended third ahead of Top Secret and Saffron Art.

Another Prasad Raju trainee Briar Ridge (Strong Suit – Midnight Cruze) lived up to the promise shown with a late finishing run behind winner Beauty Blaze in his previous essay. Place advantageously on the scales, apprentice Santosh Raj piloted Briar Ridge raced in the fourth position behind leader Silk, Malibu and Top Diamond. Malibu challenged Silk, who started losing pace, while Briar Ridge started to loom on the outside with a brilliant run. Malibu stormed into the lead but found the weight a stopper as Briar Ridge, who wore him down at the 100m marker and stretched out register his maiden win. Theo’s Choice suffered interference from Malibu towards the rails at the crucial juncture and recovered soon to relegate the favourite to the third berth.

Akshay Kumar started the day with a hard-earned victory astride debutant Elusive (Western Aristocrat – Catherine Linton). The chestnut filly from Sequeira’s string did well to overcome the tenacity shown by another debutant Strauss. The initial speed shown by Temptations saw her ahead till the last furlong where both Suraj Narredu and Akshay started working hard on Strauss and Elusive respectively. The latter eked out a narrow lead and Akshay’s powerful riding ensured that Strauss was kept at bay. Strauss lives to fight for another day and this experience should do her a world of good especially when she is tried over a slightly longer trip.

Pleroma (Planetaire – Cockayne), the second winner of the day for Akshay and Sequeira, claimed the Karimnagar Plate and justified her favouritism with an easy win. Without taking away any credit from the winner, it must be mentioned that had early leader Best Buddy not bumped and bored second favourite Stag Leap and carried him out when failing to chart a straight course in the straight, the order of placing would have been different. Pleroma who hugged the inner rails throughout got a dream run and Akshay wasted no opportunity in driving her for an encore. Southern Act snatched the second place from Best Buddy who was followed home by Stag Leap, who never recovered from the severe interference at the most important stage of the race.

Turning Wheel (Knight’s Tour – La Prado) provided the icing on the cake for Sequeira and Akshay’s celebrations with her maiden success in the last race of the day. A change of tactics for Turning Wheel saw the mare hit the front and brooked no opposition from the maiden lot chasing her including the well-bred favourite Doe A Deer. The winner’s stable-mate Dream Station came with a late run to finish second ahead of Cash Register and Ashwa Migsun. Doe A Deer ran a disappointing fifth.