Last-outing winner Splendour on Grass ran true to his name on promotion and went on to oblige his supporters in the Shiv Kumar Lal Memorial Cup, which featured Tuesday’s card. Akshay Kumar astride KSV Prasad Raju-trained Splendour on Grass (Kingda Ka – Bullseye) played the waiting game as Wind Sprite went ahead with slow-starter Dyanoosh being brushed up to join him. Shortly afterwards, apprentice Ajay Kumar brought Juramento with a big run wide into the straight to engage Wind Sprite, who gave up without much ado. Before Juramento could enter the comfort zone, Akshay switched gears on Splendour on Grass and soon engaged the former after receiving the desired response from his mount. The resistance from Juramento didn’t last long as Splendour on Grass asserted his superiority in the last 100m and sped away for an easy victory. Juramento ended second while Adbhut finished a tame third after S. Saqlain, for some strange reason kept looking to make his run from the inner rails when the field was entering the home stretch. With barely any room to manoeuvre ahead, Saqlain’s unsuccessful bid allowed the favourite to expedite his move and land the spoils. Dyanoosh had wasted all his energy in brushing up early into the race and ended fourth.
 
In one of the few close finishes witnessed this season, Nugget was skilfully ridden by Akshay in the lower division of the Venus De Milo Plate which enabled her to ward off favourite Icicle, Nightmare and Carlisle at the all-important end. The LVR Deshmukh-saddled filly raised some eyebrows when hitting the front on this occasion with Nightmare racing alongside whilst Carlisle and Icicle were in close tow when they entered the home stretch in that order. Nugget (Excellent Art – Elouana) stretched out in the last furlong and half but Akshay had to pull out his whip to counter the offensive launched by Carlisle from the inner rails. Meanwhile Ashhad Asbar asked Icicle for an effort following which the grey mare got into her stride and unleashed a brilliant run. But the relentless pressure applied by Akshay saw Nugget emerge unscathed from the scuffle. Icicle fell three-parts of a length short at the wire and was separated by a short-head and neck from Nightmare and Carlisle respectively.
 
The five-year old mare Malaala defied the penalty incurred for her runaway victory in the lower class to achieve an encore in the hands of apprentice Ajay Kumar. Trainer Laxman Singh’s decision to exploit the 5kg allowance claimed by Ajay once more was spot on as it came in handy whilst Malaala fought a grim battle with Rival in the closing stages of the first division of the Venus De Milo Plate. The speedy mare took off smartly from the blocks and Ajay stepped up the speed at the final turn to establish a substantial lead which proved to be crucial in the end. Rival came through the shortest way home but changed course in the dying moments of the sprint and yet inched closer as Akshay drove him out. Malaala, however, stayed on course to counter her rival’s fierce challenge. Top Secret was interfered by Rival in the last lap forcing Kuldeep Singh Sr. to pull out the aged gelding towards the outer lane. Top Secret could not recover the lost ground yet finished third ahead of Bangor On Dee.
 
Trainer Srinivas Reddy led in a brace of winners – Classical Music and Golden Gazelle, who were both knocking at the doors of success recently. Classical Music ran without success four times this season after apprentice Gaurav Singh was banned following the filly’s controversial defeat last season. The bay daughter of Top Class out of Harmonica was finally in her elements as she made every post of the six-furlong journey a winning one. Apprentice Kuldeep Singh hit the front with Classical Musical who then showed a clean pair of heels to her rivals. Akshay-partnered favourite Pancho sought to throw a challenge opposite the stands but failed to progress and ended a poor fourth behind Jack Daniels and Thunder Knight, who ran thereabouts. The most disappointing performance in this event came from Windsor, who never seemed to be in the hunt and ran far below expectations to finish fifth. The rest were there just to make the number for a decent field.
 
Asbar-piloted filly Golden Gazelle found an easy victim in Indian Sniper on her way to victory in the Charminar Cup. Neelesh Rawal-trained Brooklyn Beauty was a 15 to 1 longshot when she pursued winner Mandela in vain last month but, surprisingly, on this occasion she was a joint favourite with Indian Sniper. As it turned out to be, the enthusiasm about her prospective success displayed by Brooklyn Beauty’s admirers was misplaced. The Santosh Raj-ridden filly tried start to finish tactics but she ran out of fuel in the last furlong and half where Golden Gazelle and Indian Sniper joined the issue. Golden Gazelle (Authorized – Deauville Diva), after lying in the mid-bunch during the early phase, made rapid improvement with a sustained run in the straight to range alongside Suraj Narredu-steered Indian Sniper. The latter had no answer to the blazing run unleashed by Golden Gazelle from Srinivas Reddy’s yard as she cruised away for an authoritative victory. Ashwa Gajraj ran on to finish third, a neck ahead of Role Model, who was separated by an identical distance from Brooklyn Beauty.
 
Suraj had tasted his lone success aboard the on-money favourite Decoy early in the day when he helped the MR Chauhan-saddled juvenile to achieve an encore. Suraj kept Decoy (Smuggler’s Cove – Szable) within striking distance of Think of God and Bash on Regardless till the turn and came through the shortest way home. Apprentice Kuldeep-ridden Bash on Regardless offered some resistance for a furlong or so but found Decoy a hard nut to crack as the favourite got stronger at the finish. Capriati, the recent migrant from Bangalore, finished an easy third, way ahead of Cosmico.
 
K. Satheesh-nurtured gelding Challenger managed to graduate from the maiden ranks at the age of five when taken on a successful start-to-finish mission by apprentice Ekram Alam. A lot of smart money was wagered on Samrat, who had planted in the gates in his last appearance eight months ago, but it all went down the drain after he failed to improve his gate manners. The Jasbir Singh-groomed grey colt was once again badly off from the gates and finished a poor fifth despite recovering some of the lost ground halfway through the six-furlong journey. Meanwhile, Challenger (Net Whizz – Formidable Quest) raced merrily in front and won warding off bottom-weighted It’s My Life. Deccan Daisy made her bid close home but couldn’t do better than finishing third ahead of Faiz.