It appears that the two champion pros, Akshay Kumar and Suraj Narredu have decided to test the nerves and hearts of the railbirds. They did it in the Calcutta Monsoon Derby, flashing past the post locked together, the magic eye unable to separate Imperial Power piloted by Akshay and the Vijay Singh schooled Success partnered by Suraj. And back again in the betway Mysore Derby on Super Sunday, the two produced another fire to the wire finish before the magic eye this time out nodded in favour of the public choice Once You Go Black from James McKeown's yard.The classic finish in the blue riband provided the silver lining to the mega event and leading pro Suraj Narredu, who gained the day by the shortest of margins, immensely pleased with the result disclosed that though he thought he had won by the proverbial whisker, it really was too close to call. Akshay Kumar astride Still I Rise was ecstatic. He was very confident that he had beaten the public choice in the final stride after the two were were locked in a ding-dong battle in the final furlong. But that was not to be, Suraj and Once You Go Black stole the limelight in a humdinger and the racing buffs who enjoyed the pulse-pounding climax provided Suraj and Akshay a standing ovation.

The nohoper Last Wish hit the front after the first couple of furlongs and set a decent pace all through the classic 2000 metres journey. The Sulaiman Attaollahi schooled Prague followed the leader ahead of Wild Emperor, while the two market leaders Once You Go Black and the Deccan Derby winner Salento chose to play the waiting game. Last Wish violently shifted out while negotiating the final curve and at this juncture Trevor Patel guiding the fortunes of Prague streaked ahead and brought the field into view before the big roar from the record crowd made it clear that the favourite had stolen a march. And the moment Once You Go Black and Suraj streaked ahead, Akshay Kumar riding like one possessed brought the long shot Still I Rise into contention and in what was a repeat of the epic Kolkata Monsoon Derby finish, the two again looked inseparable at the post before the judge called the favourite to the delight of the punters. The two finishes certainly were not for the weak hearts, but yet it warmed the hearts of the lovers of sport on the D-day in the mega event.

"The moment I hit the front and my horse quickened I thought I had it, before Akshay stormed up on Still I Rise and I quickly put the whip down and rode out hands and heels in a desperate charge to the post and as luck would have it, I got the big result in my favour by the proverbial whisker," said Suraj adding that he had not won a classic for quiet some time before the dead-heat success in Kolkata. The result provided a shot in-the-arm for the Madras Race Club, the winner and the runner-up, both coming from Chennai.

Earlier, the second in demand at the betting ring, The Sovereign Orb from the stables of Sulaiman upset the applecart of the favourite Golden Oaks in the Bangalore Turf Club Trophy run over a sprint.The topweighted public choice in his effort to make every post a winning one in the hands of four-kilo claimer Salman Khan shot his bolt in the last 300 metres and had to rest content with the third spot. Shreyas Singh, another apprentice in the fray, guiding the fortunes of The Sovereign Orb seized the initiative in the final furlong and gallantly pegged back the belated effort of Tactical Command.

Trainer Aravind Ganapathy who enjoyed the two-day Derby week-end, proudly led in the well fancied Serdar in the upper division of the Madras Race Club Trophy after Pastiche brought the smile back on the face of her master on Saturday. On the strength of his scintillating effort in his last essay, losing out to the highly rated Eridani by a `neck' , Serdar on paper was head and shoulders above his 14 rivals, but the connections of Tough Cookie thought otherwise and the Pradeep ward was strongly supported to beat Serdar. But that was not to be, The `cookie' crumbled, while Serdar waltzed to victory in the hands of Pradeep Chouhan. Now that the Aravind ward has broken ice he is set to provide an encore at his parent-centre (Bengaluru) in the forthcoming winter season. Tough Cookie, who failed to gain a favourable position early on in the race did well to finish second, but there was no hard luck story considering the fact that Serdar proved much superior to the rest on this day. The lower division of the event was claimed by the Faraz Arshad-trained Southern Force who edged out the long shot Super Sexy at the shadow of the winning post. All credit to Faraz for sending out Southern Force spot on and nominating him to come good in the big field of 15 runners. The winner justified the confidence of his trainer, producing a gutsy effort in the hands of Rayan Ahmed to the delight of the Faraz Arshad camp who went bang-bang in the betting ring despite the fact that Klimt from Padmanabhan's yard was also strongly fancied to enter the winners' circle. Klimt for the record finished third ahead of War Trail.

On the strength of his last run, Kings Speech from Mohd. Khan's yard looked outstanding in the RCTC Trophy run over a distance of seven furlongs. But the fact that Baba Nayak was listed to partner the favourite in the big 15-horse field put off many big bettors, not willing to take the risk. But fortune favoured the brave and Baba Nayak and Kings Speech bravely made every post a winning one to the delight of the owner Chandre Gowda and Mohd.Khan. The second in demand at the betting ring, Gemini followed the winner home, while Mr Humble saved money in place.

The Prasanna Kumar schooled Evaldo was one other popular winner. The overwhelming favourite proved too good for his 14 rivals in the Hyderabad Race Club Trophy run over a distance of seven furlongs. Akshay Kumar produced a neat effort on the classy winner who is back at his best and will be a force to reckon with in the major plums this winter. Evaldo apart, Skyfire, Able One and Chain Of Thoughts were the other fancied winners on D-day.