Leading saddle artiste, Suraj Narredu is on a roll. Fresh from his success on Synthesis in the Deccan Derby at Hyderabad, the top pro added another classic victory to his distinguished list, Touch Of Grey from his father Satish Narredu's yard emerging the best colt, winning the second classic of the season, the Jayachamaraja Wadiyar Golf Club 2000 Guineas in resplendent style. Now that Synthesis is back at his best and Touch Of Grey has stormed into the classic circle, the Narredus will hold a whip hand in the blue riband of the season, the betway Mysore Derby later this month. 

Despite the fact that Touch Of Grey failed to display his true potential on the opening day of the season, the talented grey was consistently producing impressive performances on the trial track suggesting that all is well and he is looking forward to the big classic clash. The Narredus were bullish of his chances and the followers of form also preferred him in favour of the other two leading contenders, Auspicious Queen and West Brook. The filly from Narayan Gowda's yard who finished third in the 1000 Guineas went lame during the showdown at sundown and was not in the hunt halfway from home, while West Brook from Sulaiman Attaollahi's yard found the champion colt too hot to handle. 

Suraj settled the overwhelming favourite nice and easy behind the three early leaders, Star Concept playing the role of a pacemaker to stablemate Touch Of Grey, West Brook and River Of Gold. The pacemaker piloted by Prabhakaran shifted out while negotiating the final curve and this provided a dream run to Suraj on the rails and the top pro quickly packed punch on the star performer to assume command and put the issue beyond doubt in the final furlong. Prabhakaran in fact jumped out awkwardly and shifted into the path of West Brook drawn in the next box., Akshay guiding the fortunes of the Sulaiman ward did well to avoid contact on both the occasions and hung on to finish second ahead of the Faraz Arshad-trained Magnum, while Red Falcon from the stables of Irfan Ghatala completed the classic frame. 

Suraj earlier booted home Fearless Joey to an impressive win in the upper division of the Justice P Medapa Memorial Trophy run over a mile. A facile last start winner, Fearless Joey looked a picture of fitness at the parade ring before she justified her top billing in style.Serai from  Aravind Ganapathy's yard followed Fearless Joey home, while another smart last start winner Mystical Merkabah finished  a game third despite shouldering 62 kilos. 

The lower division of the event produced a thrilling finish, the even-money favourite Armory from Narayan Gowda's yard, Sharath Kumar-trained Thewhisperquietly and the second in demand at the betting ring, Avicena under the care of Arjun Manglorkar locked in an intense battle before Armory gained the day, a `neck' separating her from the Sharath Kumar ward who edged out  Avicena. by the shortest of margins to gain the runner-up berth. 

Like on Thursday, the first race on Friday provided a shock result, rankoutsider Valkyrie from Monnappa's yard in the hands of four-kilo claimer Faiz making every post a winning one. Lesser fancied Maybury followed the rankoutsider home, while the two fancied contestants, Blooming Lily and the favourite Victoriano much to the disappointment of the followers of form finished behind the first two in that order. The winner paid a handsome dividend of Rs 212 on a tenner at the tote window. 

On the strength of her suggestive last essay and the fact that she looked best in the paddock parade,  Prime Abbess from Imtiaz Khan's yard garnered the maximum support in the Maj.Sardar L Mahadevaiah Memorial Trophy run over a sprint and the top fancy in the hands of the talented G Vivek cantered home an easy winner. Black Coffee who led the pack for most part of the six furlongs trip pegged back the belated effort of Mystic Eye, while the topweighted Golden Time only managed to finish a poor fourth. The winner is in good form and is set to provide an encore. 

Janeiro from Michael Eshwer's yard strongly piloted by Saqlain came up trumps in the G Nityanand Memorial Trophy run over a distance of seven furlongs. The winner at one stage looked beaten, Sparkling Night looking set to score before Saqlain in a never-say-die bid packed punch and the Michael ward to the delight of her supporters finished on gamely to score close home. Dame Fonteyn from Vinesh Naik's yard finished on fastest at end and is one for the note book. The ten  to one shot was heavily supported in place and he justified the confidence reposed in him, finishing second behind the winner. The fact that his supporters who invested in place on the tote only got their money back was a sad reflection of how bad the tote dividends are and why the punters chose to wager with the bookies and shy away from the tote. Dame Fonteyn was offered at (6/4) in place at the bookies ring which effectively means that people who invested 1000 in place on Dame Fonteyn got Rs. 2,500, while at the tote it was money back. 

Catalina from leading trainer Rakesh's yard proved too good in the concluding event, the Dupont Plate run over a sprint. The winner piloted by Antony Raj produced a winning gallop at the distance post to forge ahead and put the race to bed in the final 100 metres. Natural One finished second ,while last start winner Jaguar did well to save money in place.