Although Champions Way received maximum support in the betting, few race-goers would have thought that the challenger from Bangalore would reduce the Golconda 2000 Guineas (Gr.2) to a one-horse race. Regardless, the Satish Narredu-trained bay colt proved far too superior for his opponents as he cantered away with the second classic at Malakpet. Suraj Narredu eased Champions Way (Sanus Per Aquam – Castle Queen) into the lead as the nine-horse field took off for the mile event and brooked no threat from his rivals as he skipped away for a bloodless victory. Shadow of the Moon chased the winner all the way and ended thus. Siddharth, who raced towards the inner rails till the final turn, forced his way ahead by switching lanes and then made his bid. But Champions Way was home and dry and Siddharth could only beat Huntingdon for the third place. High Command ended a close fifth after being prominent when entering the straight. Bred at the Kunigal Stud Farm, Champions Way is the joint property of Mr Teja Gollapudi and Messrs Blazing Saddles (PF).

Debutant Lashka was the shortest priced runner of the day to have obliged the punters. LVR Deshmukh-groomed Lashka turned out to be the fittest of six two-year old contestants, who had lined up for the Dodla Pratap Chander Reddy Memorial Million. No wonder Lashka (Dali – Lucky) raised no sweat as she hit the front with Antony Raj in the saddle and won as she liked over the five and half furlong trip. Second favourite Star of Night managed to take the second berth beating Flying Fury by a short-head. The rest of the three runners including Suraj-ridden Mountain Touch struggled behind.

Punters, especially those who believed that they could strike it rich right at start of the day with trainer Magan Singh Parmar’s wards – Blazing Gun and Tripurari who had the services of Suraj Narredu in the saddle, were in for a rude shock as both favourites bit dust. Blazing Gun was backed as if defeat was out of question but suffered a shocking defeat at the hands of Happy Soul. Suraj allowed the Deshmukh trainee Happy Soul (Smuggler’s Cove – Halle) to make the initial running over the seven-furlong journey and kept Blazing Gun in close attendance. It appeared that Blazing Gun would go surging clear as he reached the haunches of Happy Soul when Suraj made his bid. But apprentice Kuldeep Singh drove Happy Soul plain hands and heels as opposed to Suraj, who whipped Blazing Gun excessively in his desperate bid to get him going. Leaden-footed Blazing Gun however had to eat a humble pie as Happy Soul won sparing a length at the wire. Quality Warrior and Alpine Girl ended third and fourth respectively.

Suraj was also engaged by Parmar to guide the fortunes of his ward Tripurari, who was bidding for a hat-trick, but he got outwitted by another rookie rider. Donald Netto-schooled Exotic Dancer, who was enthusiastically backed by those in the know, shot into the lead with apprentice Shivansh aboard and held on grimly to land the spoils. The leeway given to Exotic Dancer by Tripurari half-way into the sprint proved hard to bridge though Suraj went all out astride the favourite. Tripurari put in a strong run in the last furlong but found Exotic Dancer kicking on gamely in response to Shivansh’s encouragement. Tripurari fell short by a neck at the winning post. Nightmare ran a game third with Top In Class finishing fourth. The rest of the contestants seemed to be out for an airing.

Rubbing salt into the wounds of the punters, Parmar-saddled long-shot Its On overshadowed the three-old quartet – Kenna, Alexina, Verrocchio and Gretsy to lift the KR Arvind Reddy Memorial Cup. Kenna led narrowly from the start and was followed closely by Alexina, Verrocchio and Gretsy as the bay filly entered the straight. Gretsy went in chase of the leader in the home stretch but A. Imran Khan stopped his effort astride the hot-favourite from Netto’s yard in the last half furlong and the filly fell back gradually to finish last. It is likely that top-weighted Gretsy may have burst her blood vessels during the race. Meanwhile Kuldeep Singh (Sr.) piloted Kenna appeared to be cruising home as Alexina and Verrocchio failed to progress after Gretsy faded out. However, it was the five-year old mare Its On (Stardan – Chitrita) who unleashed a sparkling run when shown daylight by G. Naresh and finished on strongly to overwhelm Kenna close home. Alexina ended close behind with Verrocchio finishing fourth.

It was Imran’s turn to stun the punters when he piloted rank-outsider Only The Brave to victory in the next race. SSF Hassan-saddled Fly Me, whose previous defeat led to a three-month ban being imposed on Akshay Kumar, was expected to make amends and was once again installed as the favourite. But the Mohit Singh-assisted filly ran hopelessly throughout and failed to figure on the judge’s board. KSV Prasad Raju-trained Only The Brave (Win Legend – Auryn) was given a couple of cracks by Imran to seize the initiative as the start was given and relished his front-running role to the extent that he went on to win comfortably over the five and half furlong scurry. Subha came well from the wide draw to chase the leader but failed to quicken and finished fourth. Ashhad Asbar-steered Calista Girl, who fell back after receiving a check in the initial phase of the race, came with a good run to finish runner-up ahead of Dali’s Destiny.

Last-outing winner Brooklyn Beauty (Whatsthescript – Sudestada) defied the handicapper to register an encore in the day’s concluding event. Mohit Singh kept Neelesh Rawal’s ward a handy third behind Cosmico and Classy Dame as the field set sail for the seven-furlong event. Cosmico came into the straight with a good lead but Brooklyn Beauty was hard-driven by Mohit and easily got the measure of the leader in the last half furlong. Carnival Lady came from way behind under the whip to edge out Cosmico for the second berth whilst Rochelle ran an easy fourth. Favourite Miracle Mary was off to a sluggish start and raised no hopes for her supporters at any stage of the race as she finished down the field.