The Telangana Race Horse Owners Association (TRHOA) Trophy, Monday’s main event at Malakpet, had twelve horses declared to start and it was no less than a minefield, a destructive proposition bettors were expected to deal with. The twelve-horse minefield consisted of four contestants trained by Leo D’silva; three from Neelesh Rawal’s string; two each contributed by RH Sequeira and K. Satheesh and a solitary one from MR Chauhan. Rawal declared champion rider Akshay Kumar to ride Beauty Blaze, which was taken as an indication of the trainer’s first preferred horse and thus the filly was installed as the first favourite.

Incidentally, both Akshay and A. Imran Khan both reported sick after the fourth race. Md. Ismail and Mohit Singh substituted Akshay astride Beauty Blaze and Best Buddy respectively while Abhay Singh and AA Vikrant replaced Imran atop Soloist and Miss Marvellous. Whether the riders substituting the two top jockeys at this racing centre were of the same calibre or not is a question, which has to be answered necessarily by the Hyderabad Race Club authorities.

Interestingly, Rawal-saddled City of Bliss (Green Coast – City of Destiny) had won the TRHOA Trophy run earlier in February during the winter season. Ridden by apprentice Ajay Kumar, City of Bliss went sailing into the lead as the gates flew open and the mare was never headed as she made every post of the six furlong event a winning one. Beauty Blaze, who was unfavourably placed in the early part of the sprint, rallied only when the race was in the safe-keeping of her stable-mate. Soloist and Kingston progressed in the straight to take the minor places ahead of several horses who finished close behind.

Before being indisposed Imran had a back-to-back double when he steered Maverick, who was a rage in the betting, and well-fancied Deccan Ranger to victory. MR Chauhan-saddled Maverick was backed as if defeat was out of question and the dark bay gelding gave duly obliged. Imran allowed Tripurari to make the initial running and had Maverick (Lord Admiral – Silver Cruise) settled on his tail till they were about to turn for home. Maverick was still on the bit when he passed Tripurari and stepped up the pace as the winning post came into sight. The half-money favourite then drew clear of his rivals to romp home in style. Colt Pistol ran on to finish second ahead of Pontefract, who was hard-ridden to deny Tripurari the third place.

Imran achieved a back-to-back double when he piloted Deccan Spirit to his maiden win in the seven-furlong handicap race for maidens. A lot of wagering was done on both Brooklyn Beauty and Toffee leading to the odds against favourite Deccan Spirit drifting out slightly. Brooklyn Beauty assumed her usual front-running role and showed the way to Deccan Spirit and Nav Lakhaa in the early part of the race. Deccan Spirit moved smoothly when Imran gave him his head and joined the issue with Brooklyn Beauty. With a furlong and half left for the winning post to arrive, MS Parmar-trained Deccan Spirit (Declaration of War – Alamshara) surged ahead and had an easy passage to victory. Brooklyn Beauty ran second whilst Toffee finished a tame third ahead of Final Judgement.

It was trainer Parmar’s turn to lead in a back-to-back winner when Sound Echo scored a fluent win in the hands of Vivek G. Backed to the exclusion of his six rivals, Sound Echo (Crimson China – Analyst) gave no anxious moments to his supporters as the bay filly darted ahead from the gates and left her rivals stranded close home. She won by a widening margin of over nine lengths. It’s My Life fought hard to wrest the runner-up slot from Creative Art.

Earlier in the day, Imran had partnered the even-money favourite Gretsy, who was unbeaten from three career starts this season. But the law of averages seemed to have caught up with the filly saddled by Chauhan. Last-outing winner The Akhanda from trainer B. Mukesh Kumar’s stables shot into the lead with apprentice Santosh Raj in the saddle and sustained the advantage to register an encore. The Akhanda (Declaration of War – Parade Queen) was engaged by Reigning Beauty in the straight but he kicked on gamely to stave off the danger posed by his rivals. Gretsy showed some spark momentarily but then plodded to finish third ahead of Hero of the East. Gretsy may have found the 7kg penalty she incurred for her hat-trick success too harsh to defy not to mention that the burden of the public purse did not make her task easy. Akshay-ridden Worcester was second-in-demand only to Gretsy but he ran disappointingly to finish down the field after chasing the winner into the straight,

With none of seven runners in the Loyal Manzar Plate carrying any solid current form, Aerial Combat became the favourite on sufferance as his connections hired the services of Akshay to guide his fortunes. However, Aerial Combat was a trifle unlucky as he was denied a clear run close home when riderless Advance Guard raced ahead close to the inner rails with Capital Gain running abreast. Capital Gain, who raced in the same colours as The Akhanda, had the race for his asking when he tackled leader Sucker Punch about 300m from home. But, instead of steering clear of the riderless horse ahead and making the left-handed use of his whip due to which Capital Gain shifted in towards the inner rails, Tograllu could not avoid the obstruction caused by Advance Guard. While Capital Gain and Aerial Combat were disputing the issue among themselves, Satheesh-groomed Grand Duke (Multidimensional – Scarborough) scorched the turf with a blazing run when encouraged by apprentice Ekram Alam at the top of the straight. Grand Duke swooped down on his rivals ahead in the last few strides to fetch handsome returns for those who thrive on inside information. Capital Gain had to settle for the second berth, a neck behind the winner. Sucker Punch ended third after a renewed effort while Aerial Combat ran a close fourth.

The concluding event of the day saw an exciting finish which resulted in the first dead-heat of the season. The judges could not separate Laurus and Sun Dancer in the photo-finish as they flashed past the winning post together. Earlier, the odds against Best Buddy went astray after Akshay dumped the ride and then some smart money flowed the way of The Inheritor. Best Buddy went to the front but was probably ridden into the ground as the Mohit Singh-ridden grey lost pace much before the race came to a boil. Angelita stormed ahead after The Inheritor faded out in the last furlong and half but was soon overtaken by RH Sequeira-saddled and Santosh Raj-ridden Laurus. Meanwhile, Afroz Khan brought D’silva-schooled Sun Dancer with tantalizing run and almost stunned Laurus on the post before the judges declared a dead-heat. Its On flashed on to the scene to finish third ahead of Miss Marvellous.