Tasked with the responsibility of bringing home another trophy, Pesi Shroff’s protégé Theon (Multidimensional – Fontainebleau) went through the motions of lifting the President Of India Gold Cup (Gr.2) with absolute ease on Sunday. The betting interest in the race was restricted to the moneybags who love to make quick money whereas the outcome of the event was of academic interest for a majority of race-goers.

Theon hit the front with PS Chouhan in the saddle and made every post of the Derby trip a winning one. The supremacy of the big made son of Multidimensional was never tested by his two opponents, Pissarro and who N R I Infinity, who rather found themselves in the midst of this contest only to ensure that the event does not go void and with it came a money-making opportunity for their connections. Chouhan only used his stick when he found that Theon was trying to loaf on finding that there was no challenger in sight after coming into the straight. A couple of reminders were enough to propel Theon and he won by a distance from Pissarro who claimed the runner up slot after N R I Infinity almost stopped galloping in the last furlong.

Stag’s Leap (Gusto – Corfu) from D Netto’s yard, who was hampered at a crucial juncture by Best Buddy in his last run, was backed down to on-money favouritism in the Telangana & Andhra Sub Area Trophy ahead of Laurus. Stag’s Leap faced no traffic problems on this occasion as he followed Divine Connection into the home stretch. A little over a furlong left for home, Suraj drove him to wrest the lead from Divine Connection and stretched out to win from Fatuma and Carlisle. Runner up Fatuma may have missed the chance to get a demotion after this run yet deserves following when pitted against a less exalted company. Laurus fought for his head and was too keen in the early part of the race. He even shied away before entering the straight and was a spent force by the time the field started the last lap of the race. She finished down the field.

Jockey Akshay Kumar obliged with both the first favourites he was entrusted with – Dream Station (Kingda Ka – Oyster Reef) and Dyanoosh (Declaration Of War – Bunga Bunga). Dream Station, after falling back due to the crowding of the field in the initial phase of the seven furlong trip, came with a powerful run towards the rails and found a dream opening between Baisa and Cash Register with less than a furlong left for the finishing line. The RH Sequeira groomed bay gelding then skipped clear of his rivals to earn his maiden success. Cash Register ended up second ahead of Ok Boss, who had done his spade work before taking a shot at a sprint event. Baisa ended fourth. The runner up’s stable-mate Redeem Our Pledge, though ridden by Trevor Pate, ran miserably without raising any hope for her supporters. The saga of wayward running of horses trained by K Satheesh continued and, on this occasion, it was Challenger who veered out violently to his left and dislodged his rider soon after he jumped out from the widest draw. Luckily the rider escaped unhurt.

Akshay completed his double astride another maiden Dyanoosh, who hailed from trainer Mir Faiyaz Ali Khan’s yard. The betting trend in the concluding event suggested that it was going to be a toss-up between Dyanoosh and Yaletown. The latter had performed slightly better in her current campaign but it was Dyanoosh who flourished as he had a better calibre rider to guide his fortunes. Yaletown showed good initial speed and ran abreast of longshot Star Medal until the horses came into the view for the final run in. Yaletown had a tough time tackling Star Medal and in the meantime Dyanoosh started to devour with each stride. Dyanoosh was driven powerfully by Akshay to seize the upper hand at the 200metre marker and drew away to register her maiden win and also provide her master with his first victory of the season. The well-bred debutant Once I Come advertised her fitness when finishing third with an eye-catching late dash and should not linger in the maiden ranks for long. Acrobat also gave a noteworthy performance when coming from way back to finish fourth.

Akshay missed out on a treble after favourite Hero Of The East failed to collar front-runner City Cruise (David Livingstone – Velvet Queen) in the Tudor Jet Plate run over nine-furlongs. Nakhat Singh spurred City Cruise to grab the lead after travelling about a furlong and then kept going to win after warding off Hero Of The East’s spirited bid in the straight. Carnival Lady ended a faraway third. Sergeant Reckless and Voice Of A Dream, who cornered much of the betting, disappointed and ran fourth and fifth respectively.

Favourite Queen Of The Blossom (Ivory Touch – Smile All The Way), running on demotion in the lowest, landed the spoils in the Rock Of Gibraltar Plate also run over nine furlongs. PS Chouhan ridden Amalfitana tried runaway tactics which were foiled by the favourite in the straight. Md Ismail alerted Robin Reddy’s ward half way through the journey and improved her gradually to challenge Amalfitana opposite the stands and forced her into submission. Queen Of The Blossom won comfortably and was followed home by Amalfitana, Call Of The Blue and Neffereti.