Trainer S Sreekant schooled Truth and Bharath Singh trained Ramiel attracted the majority support in the eight-horse field vying for the PG Reddy Memorial on Monday. The two contenders ran true to the market expectations with Truth prevailing over Ramiel in a hard fought finish. Both Truth and Ramiel had returned from Bangalore and their fitness level clearly influenced the final outcome. Entrusted to Kuldeep Singh Sr., Truth was slow to start while Ramiel stayed in close touch of Sweet Dancer who led the closely bunched field over the mile journey. Ramiel was urged to take charge from the tiring Sweet Dancer as the field swung for home. Earlier, Truth had covered lost ground to join the pack at the half-way mark and warmed up to his task as Kuldeep brought him into contention in the straight. Ramiel and Truth both waged a fierce battle with the latter moving resolutely under Kuldeep’s strong handling to snub his rival in the last 100m. Nugget, who carried top weight, was in contention till the last furlong and ended a good third ahead of Juramento.       

The professional duo of Sreekant and Kuldeep completed a double as they were involved with the success of Planet Super in the day’s curtain raiser. Planet Super, who had an easy outing last week, was backed with enthusiasm so much so that the filly ended as a firm 11 to 10 against favourite though she never seemed to be in the reckoning when the ante post odds were out overnight. Planet Super went in chase of leader Exeter and managed to collar the latter shortly after the heads turned for home. Planet Super (Planetaire – Sylvette) however failed to go clear after shifting out under pressure. The heavily backed favourite was lucky to survive the onslaught of Alcahol Free, who came a flourishing run towards the end stages of the race. A mere half-length separated the two at the wire with Faiz finishing a length away. Moon Walk was not unduly punished when ending fourth.

The Ascot Plate, another event for maiden juveniles, was claimed by Laxman Singh saddled on-money favourite Shadow of the Moon. The grey colt reduced the race to a one-horse affair though Encore tried to match strides with him but only till the race came to a boil. Lady Racines, who is bred as full sister to the regional classics winner Lady In Lace, then appeared on the scene but Yash Narredu powered Shadow of the Moon (Sir Cecil – Avarua) drew away to earn his maiden win. Lady Racines ran second with Terenga a faraway third ahead of Sacred Bond.

Emulating the feat of his stablemate Commanding Knight, who won a day earlier, KSV Prasad Raju groomed Briar Ridge registered a swift encore this season. City of Bliss hit the front with Neeraj Rawal in saddle and had stablemate Unsung Hero, Mark My Day and Briar Ridge close behind. City of Bliss came first into the straight and was in charge till the last 100m where the vigorous effort of Ajeeth Kumar helped Unsung Hero gain the upper hand. However, Santosh Raj made free use of the whip astride Briar Ridge (Strong Suit – Midnight Cruze) to get the desired response before nailing Unsung Hero near the post. City of Bliss finished third ahead of Mark My Day. Interestingly, Kuldeep Sr ridden Mark My Day was backed down to favouritism but he failed to live up to the expectations and flopped badly.

Original Sin had the dubious distinction of following the footsteps of her owner and stablemate Miracle Mary who had failed to deliver the goods a day earlier. The only difference between the failures of the two was that Miracle Mary lost a close battle while Original Sin flopped inexplicably to beat just one home. Be that as it may, S Saqlain partnered Original Sin failed to take a smooth jump as the gates opened while China Town decided to call the early shots. Akshay Kumar quickly had the second favourite Detective  settled behind the leaders and waited patiently to launch his assault. With just two furlong left for destination, Akshay put Detective (Sedgefield – Translation) into top gear and got a tremendous response from the bay colt which gave Laxman Singh his second winner of the day. Detective left his rivals stranded and registered a smashing victory over Divine Destiny, Aerial Combat and Voice of a Dream. Original Sin cut a sorry figure as she struggled throughout the race and eventually ended in the rut.

Despite racing after a long gap of almost a year, Best Buddy showed no signs of rustiness as the grey horse went to pillar to post in the hands of apprentice RS Jodha. The K Satheesh trained Best Buddy showed plenty of early speed to go sailing into the lead and was ridden out confidently by Jodha to keep both Royal Grace and Star Racer at bay. The last named made good progress and had all but snatched the initiative from the winner in the last furlong. Royal Grace was asked to cover a lot of ground as usual and the Akshay piloted favourite could only reduce the margin of defeat as he took the second place by pegging back Star Racer near the wire.

A race later, Akshay made amends with a facile win aboard second favourite Siddharth. The Srinivas Reddy groomed Siddharth was involved in a three-way contest between him, Anab e Shahi and Alexina. The last-outing winner Alexina, who had won last week, was fancied to give an encore but the filly clipped the heels of the front-running Divine Connection after travelling for about a furlong from the gates and dislodged apprentice Ajay Kumar from the saddle in the process. Siddharth followed Divine Connection into the straight and easily wrest the lead in the final run in. Siddharth (Excellent Art – Lavender Brown) was in no danger of being caught after that as Divine Connection and Calista Girl both strayed from the straight course to reach the outer rails. This allowed Anab e Shahi to fill in the runner up slot ahead of Desert Sultan.