A confident piece of riding from jockey Dhanu Singh Deora was instrumental in Magan Singh Parmar saddled Top Secret (Crimson China – Secret Wish) upstaging Kuldeep Singh ridden Ashwa Raudee in the Smt Teegala Sulochana Reddy Memorial Cup on Saturday. What makes Top Secret’s victory more significant is the fact that the winner was conceding a whopping 11.5kg to the runner up.

Top Secret tracked Ashwa Raudee from the word go as Red Snaper called the early shots over the mile journey. Ashwa Raudee wrest the lead from the tiring Red Snaper in the last 300m but had Top Secret breathing down his neck. Both Kuldeep and Deora made free use of the whip to eke out the best from their mounts. Deora, who had ironically earned a suspension for careless riding aboard Top Secret on Derby Day, persevered admirably with the Parmar trainee to claim the top honours by a short-head. An identical distance behind was Gaurav Singh piloted Super Angel, the victim of Top Secret’s waywardness last time out, who came on the scene a bit too late. The RH Sequeira nursed mare lives to fight for another day. Favourite Kesariya Balam, who had the services of Akshay Kumar in the saddle, gave an out-of-sorts performance as he ran thereabouts in the mid bunch and finished a tame fourth without raising hopes for his supporters at any stage of the race.

‘Money makes the mare go’ is an old proverb which proved right when MS Parmar trained Hugh Capet scored a fluent victory in the opening event of the day. Back in action after his one-day suspension, Deora rode a winner with his very first engagement atop Hugh Capet (Planetaire – Win And Enjoy). Hugh Capet whose second run this season came under the stipes’ scrutiny had the right money riding on him on this occasion which is probably why the support for Starwalt waned in the betting ring. The three-year old bay colt lived up to the expectations with a sparkling run down the straight which took the toll of Candy Girl, Malibu and Vision Of Rose. Earlier, Candy Girl led the field and was followed by Vision Of Rose and Malibu. Hugh Capet ran a handy fourth towards the rails behind them and came with a terrific burst of speed when Deora switched lanes. Starwalt met a minor interference at the start and dropped back after being steadied by Ajeeth Kumar. Starwalt, who was credited with a hat-trick and was unbeaten this season, toiled in the rear and gave a listless performance.

KSV Prasad Raju trained filly Ballerina made amends for her previous failure when carving a narrow win over Exotic Dancer and Blissful. Exotic Dancer hit the front as the gates flew open and had Blissful and even-money favourite Ballerina in pursuit. Exotic Dancer, ridden by lesser known jockey Aneel, held on to the lead and with Blissful unable to overtake her in the straight despite apprentice RS Jodha’s desperate “show”, it was left to Suraj Narredu driven Ballerina to take stage. Ballerina, despite Suraj losing his whip at around 300m, improved steadily to engage Exotic Dancer in the last 100m and was hard-ridden to gain the upper hand. The first four horses on the judge’s board – Ballerina, Exotic Dancer, Blissful and By The Bay were separated by three part of length each.

Favourite N R I Sun from the yards of G Shashikanth obliged in the hands of Antony Raj when the favourite finished on with a rattle after gracing the wrong end of the field till the final turn.  With just over 100m left for home, N R I Sun (Saamidd – Maid Of Artois) wore down the runaway leader Makhtoob and avenged his last outing defeat in the process. Sun Dancer pegged back Makhtoob to take the runner up slot ahead of top-weighted Lamha, who was inconvenienced by the winner when she was about to make her move shortly after the field had straightened for home. The rest were simply out for an airing.

Leo D’Silva groomed bay colt Carlisle defied the heavy impost on his back to earn a bracket this season. Kuldeep Singh replaced Mukesh Kumar in the saddle astride Carlisle who stole a march over his rivals after being ridden hard to collar Rovaniemi and N R I Secret in the last furlong. N R I Millennium ran on to be second. The favourite duo Dr Dee Dee and Sweet Dancer lay at the wrong end of the field when Rovaniemi brought the field into the straight and their late finishing effort could only fetch minor berths behind N R I Millennium. Jockey BR Kumar who rode Dr Dee Dee has reportedly incurred a four-week ban for unsatisfactory riding i.e. failing to ride out his mount to complete advantage in the straight.

The concluding event of the day saw Flamingo Fame playing second fiddle yet again as the Suraj Narredu ridden even-money favourite from Neelesh Rawal’s yard was trounced by Mind Reader. Flamingo Fame, after allowing Golden Forza and Different to show the way, assumed command a furlong away from home. Unlike his previous efforts, apprentice RS Jodha timed his challenge to perfection astride K Satheesh’s ward Mind Reader (Saamidd – Clogher Cove) and rode him with serious intent on this occasion. Mind Reader was driven plain hands and heels by Jodha and he unleashed a powerful run to topple Flamingo Fame. Star Racer’s late bid fetched him the third spot ahead of Hashtag.