The Turf Authorities of India Cup for Class I horses, the Derby day’s supporting event, witnessed an annihilation of the fancied trio – Siddharth, Huntingdon and Shadow of the Moon, as Akido steamrolled the young brigade with a devastating gallop in his run-up towards the finishing line. Till that moment, Candy Girl was in charge of the running and only to be tackled by Malaala in the last furlong. Malaala flattered briefly after being hard ridden by Trevor but could not resist the onslaught of K. Satheesh-groomed Akido (Outstrip – Gift Wrap), the 15 to 1 longshot, who endured the same amount of whipping from RS Jodha which Arkadian was subjected to in the Derby, was simply unstoppable once he gathered steam close home. Malaala retained the second place, a neck ahead of Huntingdon who came from way behind to finish third whilst Siddharth ended fourth. The last-named also graced the wrong end of the field till entering the straight. Well-backed Shadow of the Moon could not recover from the interference he and stable-mate Huntingdon suffered from Strauss soon after at the start.

Hilton Sequeira, who spent nearly two months on the sidelines for the violation of medication rules, celebrated his return to work by saddling a lucrative back-to-back double through Sugar and Miss Maya. Had favourite Star of Night not played truant in the first race, Sequeira would have achieved a treble. Star of Night was making her second appearance after a gap of over two months following her maiden success on the inaugural day of the current season. Her rustiness was quite visible when she struggled to collar One N Only in the straight. The Donald Netto-trained and Kuldeep Singh (Sr.) partnered One N Only (Akeed Champion – Magical Night) tracked Normui till the field straightened for home and skipped away clear to register an encore. Star of Night and High Heels both finished a faraway second and third respectively with Freedom Touch following them home. 

The astute placement of his ward Sugar by Sequeira helped the three-year old filly make amends for her previous failure enroute her third career success. Pitted against seasoned campaigners in Class IIIwhere she was carrying negligible weight on her back, Sugar raced towards the rails in the fifth spot, waiting patiently for the field headed by no-hopers Trishul, Shah of Iran, Ashwa Gajraj and Yesterday to spread out at the turn. As the heads turned for home, jockey BR Kumar made his bid from the outer lane and sent the chestnut filly in pursuit of the leaders. Sugar (Dreamfield – Conceptual) made steady improvement to seize control of the running after overtaking the front-runners inside the last furlong. Kumar drove Sugar relentlessly thereon to ward off the threat posed by runner-up Silver Act, who tracked the winner all through the straight. Carnival Lady ran on to be third while favourite White Pearl was given too much to do by Akshay Kumar when the race came to boil and could do no better than finish fourth.

 Interestingly Akshay was seen in action in the very next race astride Miss Maya, Sequeira's second winner. The ace jockey had clearly warmed up after discharging his duties aboard White Pearl and drove Miss Maya like one possessed. The favourite met interference when The King N I swerved to his left from the gates,making contact with Midsummer Star and Miss Maya both. The latter was brushed up to recover lost ground and was racing abreast of leaders Best Buddy and High Reward at the turn. As the field moved into the straight, Gretsy was brought into contention by Kuldeep (Sr.) even as Miss Maya seemed to have lost momentum. Gretsy slipped into the lead after taking the gap between Satheesh’s two runners racing ahead but soon found Miss Maya breathing down her neck. Akshay was not willing to give up easily and asked for a renewed effort from Miss Maya, who responded by lunging forward to overwhelm Gretsy and then held on grimly to keep late-finishing Midsummer Star at bay. Baisa ran a game third ahead of High Reward.

Shortly afterwards, a similar effort from Akshay enabled top-weighted Minecraft to outclass the front-running duo, Gatiman and Calistoga. Trainer B. Mukesh Kumar-groomed Minecraft jumped out smartly to overcome the wide draw and was soon racing on the tail of bottom-weighted Gatiman and Calistoga. With a furlong and half left for home, Akshay released the brakes on Minecraft following which the son of Gusto out of Gossip swooped down on both Gatiman and Calistoga and sailed clear for his fourth career win. Gatiman got to keep the second place ahead of Calistoga and Espionage, who ran green in the final stages of the race.

Mukesh had earlier led in last-outing winner The Thunder, who raced in the same colours as Minecraft, whose stunning upset provided Alex Rosario a winner in his first attempt at this centre. The Thunder raced on the heels of speedy Adbhut, who showed the way to the big field from the barriers, and stole a march over her rivals inside the final furlong and half. The lead established by The Thunder (Declaration of War – Days of Thunder) proved crucial as she hit the wire before Suraj-piloted Maverick, who came with a blazing run in the last furlong, could play spoilsport. A neck separated them at the post. Ragnarok and favourite Imperia, who found this company too tough to handle, ran third and fourth respectively.

Leo D’Silva-schooled Only My Way finally found his way to the winner’s enclosure after a wait of nearly two years when he scored a runaway win in the hands of Vivek G. Only My Way had trailed the field in both his previous outings prompting the stipes to advise him for a better performance on both occasions. In a remarkable change of fortunes, Only My Way (Smuggler’s Cove – Winning Fortune) hit the front soon after the start and then chose to follow Sucker Punch till the heads turned for home. The bay gelding soon cruised past his rival and raced in solitary splendour as Vivek G had more on hand when passing the post well clear of Voice of a Dream, Wandring Warrior and Sadiya. Wandring Warrior was installed as the favourite in anticipation of an improvement over his last run where he finished runner-up to Char Ek Char. However, the favourite wandered aimlessly in the rear bunch and woke up from his slumber when it hardly mattered.
 
Char Ek Char, who was entrusted to Akshay after his defeat at the hands of Master Touch which is reportedly under scrutiny, let down his followers once again as Robin Reddy-trained Politico found her mark in the hands of B. Nikhil. The filly had been improving with each run this season and she finally had her say in a three-way finish. Earlier, the winner’s stable-mate Soorya Vahan made a start-to-finish bid and brought the field into the straight with Deccan Ranger in hot pursuit. As the latter threw in his towel in the last two furlongs, it was favourite Char Ek Char and Politics who challenged the leader with Blue Pantheress (earlier named as Rochelle) also trying to join the issue. As Politics (earlier named as Duck Hawk) stretched out to collar Soorya Vahan, even Akshay seemed to have given up on Char Ek Char who seemed to be going nowhere at that stage. Nikhil gave Politics (David Livingston – Miss Quality) a flawless ride and drove the filly vigorously to shatter her stable-mate’s winning hopes. Meanwhile, Blue Pantheress got into her stride close home but it was too late as the winning post had already come to the rescue of Politics, who won sparing a head. Soorya Vahan finished third, a nose behind Blue Pantheress while Char Ek Char ended a pitiful fourth.