Honourable Lady, the KSV Prasad Raju trained four-year old filly who had graduated from the maiden ranks just two weeks ago, performed out her skin to claim the Devarakonda Cup on Sunday. Ridden by P. Sai Kumar, Honourable Lady (Kingda Ka – Shalamanka) made the heavily fancied duo of Indian Sniper and Golden Gazelle look ordinary when she produced a sparkling run in the home stretch to humble her main adversaries. Pal Cha headed the field from the gates with Indian Sniper settled close behind in the pack that was in chase of the leader. With a furlong left for destination, Yash Narredu brought Indian Sniper into contention and Akshay Kumar too made his move astride Golden Gazelle at the same stage. These two wrest a narrow lead over Pal Cha but Honourable Lady had started devouring ground when shown daylight by Sai Kumar shortly after moving into the straight. Honourable Lady literally flew in the last 100m and nailed Indian Sniper on the post. Golden Gazelle kept the third place ahead of Pal Cha. It was a disastrous day for the followers of the three favourites saddled by trainer Laxman Singh. Apart from Indian Sniper, Laxman had sent out Morning Mist and Alabama but all of them bit dust. Yash, who had flown down to ride Morning Mist and Indian Sniper, the horses co-owned by Teja Gollapudi, returned home empty handed.

Morning Mist was fancied to win the day’s opening event as he had raised hopes of an early success when finishing runner up to Indian Sniper, which got a further boost with the presence of Yash in the saddle now. Morning Mist got straight down to business when the starter’s flag came down but lost momentum despite Yash’s vigorous riding and was well and truly beaten in the last half furlong. Great Giver gained the upper hand first but Pontefract made steady and rapid progress when alerted by Akshay and breezed past Great Giver in the dying moments of the sprint. Colt Pistol ran green for most of the journey before ending fourth.

Ironically, only two weeks ago Leo D’silva saddled Pontefract (Pinson – Superb) had failed as a 5 to 4 against favourite when ridden by Afroz Khan and finished fourth behind Only The Brave. When questioned after his failure, Afroz explained that Pontefract didn’t show any turn of foot in the straight inspite of his best efforts, which was noted for future reference by the stipendiary stewards. Pontefract had finished over four lengths behind runner up Thunder Knight then but ran over seven lengths ahead of him on this occasion, an improvement of over ten lengths! Such incidents endorse the race-goers’ belief that the lack of turn of foot or not, Indian horseracing is indeed a mug’s game, short on credibility and integrity both.

The six-year old Blue Brigade had never figured on the judge’s frame in all her eight career starts yet the S. Sreekant groomed mare was backed down to favouritism immediately on relegation to the lowest class. Ridden by Kuldeep Singh (Sr), Blue Brigade tried runaway tactics which ended abruptly when Prasad Raju’s ward Precious Gift (Phoenix Tower – Anmol) accelerated well in the last furlong and drew away to record her maiden win in the hands of Sai Kumar. Ar Superior, My Master and Creative Art ran on to take the minor places. Blue Brigade faded out to finish a poor fifth.

LVR Deshmukh nursed Happy Soul, who had whipped around at the start and ran riderless in two of his four career starts, took a smart jump on this occasion and went on to taste his maiden success. Backed to the exclusion of his rivals, Happy Soul (Smuggler’s Cove – Halle) was taken on a pillar-to-post mission and he just held on to win by a short-head from B. Nikhil-steered Veneno, who found her rhythm a wee bit late. Deccan Spirit also warmed up late and finished a close third with Shadow Fax ending a faraway fourth. Mohit Singh astride Bold Beauty appeared to have lost his stirrups shortly after the start and could not offer any assistance to his mount who ended down the field.

The rap on his knuckles received by jockey AM Tograllu from the stipes for the tender handling of Icicle in her previous run seemed to have evoked a positive response as the grey mare was well-fancied to win now. Icicle (Tenth Star – Connemara), who migrated to Mysore briefly and returned back to be placed under the care of the newly-licensed trainer B. Mukesh Kumar, ran true to her potential this time and gave her master his first career success. Tograllu played a waiting game as Candy Girl found herself in the front with Bangor On Dee racing well up with the leaders. Icicle moved resolutely under the whip when urged by Tograllu and stretched out well to collar both Bangor On Dee and Candy Girl in the final stage of the seven-furlong event. Superstellar ran fourth without showing any intent.

Stag’s Leap from MR Chauhan’s string swept his rivals off their feet including favourite Alabama as he made every post of the seven furlong journey a winning one. Laxman Singh-saddled Alabama raced in the rear in the initial stages of the race but Akshay soon had her racing on the haunches of Stag’s Leap at the turn. Akshay deployed all his skills and went all out on Alabama but his effort was in vain as BR Kumar ridden Stag’s Leap (Gusto – Corfu) kicked on gamely for an upset win. N R I Ultrapower ran a fair third ahead of The Image.

K Satheesh-nurtured High Reward, though neglected in the betting ring, gave a spirited performance to register the third win of his career. Apprentice RS Jodha kept High Reward (David Livingstone – Ultrasonic) close on the heels of leader Star Cruise till the field straightened for home and stormed into the lead leaving his rivals struggling behind. With favourite Fara and Bash On Regardless not able to match strides with the winner, it was rank outsider Sergeant Reckless who came with a devouring run to finish runner up. Fara and Bash On Regardless took the other two minor places on the judge’s frame.

The powerful riding effort of Akshay enabled the on-money favourite Nugget to emerge unscathed from the fiery assault launched by Southern Act. With a little over a furlong left for the winning line, Nugget (Excellent Art – Elouana) was hard-ridden to snatch the lead from Wind Sprite but Deshmukh’s ward encountered a strong challenge from Md. Ismail-piloted Southern Act, who came from way behind and almost stunned the favourite with his scintillating run. Nugget held on grimly and won by a head. Dream Station ended in the money ahead of Wind Sprite, who had a good forward run.