The PVG Raju Memorial Cup, the feature race at Malakpet with a seven-horse field on Sunday, was stitched up with three horses from RH Sequeira’s yard, two coming from Leo D’Silva’s stables and one each from that of N Rawal and D Netto. The wagering in the race showed an intriguing trend as two horses sent out by Sequeira – Watch My Stride and Soloist, cornering the major share of betting with D’Silva saddled Premier Action attracting good support as well. But the winner and runner up belonged to Rawal and Netto respectively. The outcome was not exactly a reversal of form yet what surprised the students of form was lack of ability displayed by the form horses.

Lesser fancied Trump Star took a smart jump to head the field and was soon joined by Soloist who disliked being ridden in check by Gaurav Singh. Meanwhile, the favourite settled in the rear as Akshay Kumar pulled out his whip soon after the start probably to prevent Watch My Stride from being relaxed. As Trump Star and Soloist brought the field in the home stretch, it was the latter who Soloist slipped into the lead briefly when his rival shifted out. Trump Star regained the lead even as Premier Action and Staridar tried to challenge the duo ahead. Premier Action failed to respond to his rider’s call but Staridar accelerated well on being driven powerfully by apprentice Santosh Raj. Akshay astride Watch My Stride cut a sorry figure as he tried extricate his mount from the mess he found himself in behind the frontrunners close home. Staridar’s final burst caught both Trump Star and Soloist napping as he wore them down for an upset win. Watch My Stride got into his stride when it was too late and had the consolation of pegging back his fancied mate Soloist for the third place. Kesariya Balam ran on from tail end to finish behind his stable-mates while Premier Action receded to end a dismal sixth.

The hope that Akshay would find his winning touch this week had faded a race earlier when he partnered an expensive failure in Speaking Of Love. And guess who the winner was? The filly’s stablemate Winning Streak! Call it a hard luck story or whatever, the reality was that the D’Silva saddled piping hot favourite ended a close third in a blanket finish. Afroz Khan took Winning Streak to the front whilst Superstellar and Speaking Of Love all racing within close range in the seven horse field. Instead of falling back, Winning Streak broke free and had a comfortable lead when he brought the field into the view. Both Superstellar and Speaking Of Love went in hot pursuit of Winning Streak but, despite Gaurav and Akshay’s desperate efforts, they couldn’t produce the desired acceleration. All they could do eventually was finish abreast of the winner who was ridden confidently by Afroz. A neck and a nose each separated Superstellar and Speaking Of Love from Winning Streak, who lived up to his name.

The next on-money favourite to bite dust was Suraj Narredu piloted maiden Once I Come hailing from Laxman Singh’s yard. Once I Came had shown promise of an early success when she finished an eye-catching third behind Dyanoosh on debut two weeks ago when ridden by Kiran Naidu. Entrusted in the strong hands of Suraj now, the well-bred filly was backed to the exclusion of her eleven rivals including Akshay ridden White Roses. The race was however won by the Robin Reddy trained and Md Ismail steered Soorya Vahan, the lowest rated horse in the field and who had never hit the board in any of his eight previous starts. The bay son of David Livingstone out of Maripasoula hit the front and made every post a winning one. White Roses, who missed the kick, covered ground in the straight to be second while Once I Come appeared to have left her galloping shoes behind at the stables. Once I Come plodded in the straight and ended a pitiful eighth in the huddle of horses which finished behind Protocol, who ran third. Some smart money came Acrobat’s way but he ran widest of all in the straight to end a close fifth.

The beleaguered punters were able to recover a part of their losses towards the end of the day when two favourites hit the wire first. One of the winners was the KSV Prasad Raju schooled Briar Ridge (Strong Suit – Midnight Cruze) in the last race.  Punters were lucky in the sense that Suraj got Briar Ridge to warm up just in time and managed to overwhelm Top Diamond in the shadow of the winning post.  Top Diamond dictated the terms to his rivals all the way as Gaurav took him on a pillar to post mission and seemed to be making it when Briar Ridge, settled fourth behind the leaders, came flying to halt his march. Second in demand Ok Boss, a maiden but rated 41, chased Top Diamond throughout but wouldn’t respond to Akshay’s hard riding. He ended third ahead of Royal Pal. Cash Register had a large following like Ok Boss but he fell back to the tail end after a good jump and seemed lacking in intent when rallying late to finish a faraway fifth.

Laxman Singh trained Baisa (Declaration Of War – Firebird) made full use of her handicap to record her maiden win. Dhanu Singh Deora kept Baisa close on the haunches of joint favourite N R I Blue who wrest the lead from the gates. Baisa was poised to overtake N R I Blue in the last furlong and just as she got into her stride, Above The Law came through the shortest way to grab the lead. Baisa quelled Above The Law’s strong bid after a brief duel and stretched out to the delight of her supporters. Cabello came into the picture when it hardly mattered and was content finishing third ahead of late-finishing Mind Reader, who had N R I Blue and Aiza in close tow.

There was a three-way contest in the opening event of the day between debutant Alabama, Swiss Girl and Temptations who had their own set of individual supporters. However it was LVR Deshmukh’s ward Temptations ((David Livingstone – Tourmalet) who took charge of running at the start and was never under any threat once the field straightened for home. P Ajeeth Kumar kept him going close home as Alabama, who had to be steadied after he ran into a wall of horses shortly after the start, came with a big run. Alabama had to play second fiddle to the winner. Swiss Girl ran thereabouts listlessly to finish third ahead of China Town.

City Of Bliss (Green Coast – City Of Destiny) at last made her way to the winner’s enclosure after unleashing a scintillating run to over haul Bedford, who seemed to be coasting for an encore after bolting into the lead. G Shashikanth trained and BR Kumar ridden City Of Bliss overhauled Bedford just 50m from home and made up for his past failures with a convincing win. Drd could do no better than finish in the money as usual. Bandit King caught the eye when finishing an easy fourth.

A stroke of luck helped the friendless That’s My Way (Western Aristocrat – Raw Silk) have his say in the lowest class. Paree, Horse O’War and That’s My Way were fighting for supremacy in the last furlong when Horse O’War veered out violently and went on to Sea Of Class who had to be pulled up. Afroz undeterred by the happenings around, drove the Raza Shehzad trainee to a resolute victory. Horse O’War was second with Virangna ending third ahead of Alpine Girl who came from way back to finish fourth. Akshay ridden favourite Good Tidings and Sea Of Class were sort of unlucky as they found themselves in the midst of a melee which proved costly for the punters.