The Pesi Shroff-nursed four-year old filly Democracy marked her return to competitive racing by storming home in the Hyderabad Race Club on Friday. Her two recent runs after recovering from a back surgery, which kept Democracy out of action for nearly eight months, gave no indication of what lay in store for her four rivals over the seven-furlong trip for the Class I event. Trevor Patel eased her to the back of the field as Cellini bolted ahead and was followed by Coeur De Lion, Christophany and favourite It’s My Time. As Cellini reached the limits of his ability and started dropping back to join Coeur De Lion in the rear, Christophany began to dominate her two rivals. Like a silent killer, Democracy came with a smooth run in the final run-in to first tackle It’s My Time, who was going nowhere when Akshay Kumar asked him to accelerate, and then had Christophany on her target. Democracy (Acclaim – Choose) didn’t let Trevor expend much of his energy as she swooped down on Christophany to finally assert her class and superiority when winning more comfortably than the official verdict. Christophany was followed home by It’s My Time with Cellini and Coeur De Lion trailing behind.

Trevor had earlier piloted Constable to an emphatic win over the six-furlong sprint for the Behram A. Engineer Salver. After he failed to strike over longer trips, Shroff decided to revert Constable back to the distance over which he had scored his maiden victory, which brought the desired result. Constable raced in the rear till approaching the final turn as Art Collector made the initial running with Star Romance, Aperol racing in a close bunch. Trevor showed Constable the daylight when the field had straightened for home following which the bay colt unleashed an explosive run to go surging past Art Collector inside the last furlong. Shroff-trained Constable (Multidimensional – Winds of Fortune) won untroubled thereafter. Fontana finished runner-up with Aperol who, after failing to gain momentum in the straight, ended a tame third, a nose ahead of Lord Vader.

Debutant Fourth Wing from Aman Hussain’s yard provided Trevor the first of his three winners during the day in the Topspin Plate. Served well by the innermost draw, Fourth Wing slipped into the lead soon after the gates opened and made every post of the six-furlong journey a winning one. Between The Lands tried to match strides with Fourth Wing (Sanus Per Aquam – Centrestage) in the initial stages before making way for stablemate and favourite Among The Stars to throw her hat into the ring. But, despite Yash desperately trying to get her to step up her pace, Among The Stars failed to raise a winning gallop and had to play the bridesmaid’s role. The rest of the field was simply outpaced as Neptune finished a faraway third and had Touch of Mystic in tow.

Malesh Narredu found some succour in the next race following the failure of Among The Stars failure when Quicker upset the applecart of the on-money favourite Zendaya. Collateral shot into the lead from the barriers and had Trillionaire and Quicker in pursuit whilst Zendaya lacked initial speed and graced the wrong end of the field. With just over a furlong away from the wire, Quicker (Speaking of Which – Quaker Ridge) slipped into the lead with rookie Aditya Waydande scrubbing him all the way till hitting the wire, nearly four lengths ahead of favourite Zendaya, who suffered a humiliating defeat. Spirit Bay finished a neck behind the favourite while Arbitrage ran fourth.

Another rookie to taste success later in the day was S. Siddharth, who confidently piloted favourite Credence to victory over her main rival Chelsea. Unlike her previous two efforts where she hit the front, jockey R. Ajinkya astride PS Chouhan-saddled Chelsea allowed Credence assume command soon after the starter’s flag came down. Shazaan Shah-schooled Credence (Excellent Art – Maleficent) gleefully accepted Ajinkya’s largesse and went on to land the spoils for her connections. Ajinkya’s effort to catch Chelsea in the final run-in came to a nought and the maiden filly was eventually separated by a length from the winner at the wire with Running Star finishing an identical distance behind. Mojo ran on to be fourth.

Narendra Lagad-groomed Daulat Mai’s weight-reducing mission that lasted over a year finally came to an end when she reached the lowest class and immediately brought home the bacon. Entrusted to S. Zervan, Daulat Mai raced towards the rails in the third spot behind She’s A Teaser who teased the field with her front-running role, which she enjoyed till the two-furlong marker. Zervan then got busy astride Daulat Mai (Phoenix Tower – Costa Esmeralda), who seized control of the running and stretched out under the whip to win from fast-finishing Operation Finale and Dagger’s Strike with Between Friends and Sorrento Secret in close tow.

The 12 to 1 longshot Red Dust emerged victorious in a thrilling three-way finish witnessed at the start of the day’s proceedings. Earlier Karthik Ganapathy-saddled Swarovski, the longest priced runner in the six-horse field, went into the lead with apprentice Bharat Singh in the saddle. Swarovski refused to give up when challenged by favourite Bhawani Singh-ridden Daianne in the home stretch and fought stride for stride with her stablemate. While they were involved in settling the dispute, Amyn Merchant-partnered Red Dust came with a flourishing run to join the issue. Faisal Abbas-groomed Red Dust (Roderic O’Connor – Only For Gold), who was the last horse to enter the straight, finished with a powerful burst to catch both Daianne and Swarovski unawares on the post. The first three finishers were separated by a shorthead each while Malboro Man ended three-part of a length behind. The Flutist and Madison were not too far behind and finished a neck away from Malboro Man.