Emulating her stablemate High Command’s dazzling display earlier, the bay filly Lashka from LVR Deshmukh’s yard gave a spirited performance in the Prayagraj Plate on Wednesday, the concluding day of the Hyderabad Winter Season 2024-25. A racing season which saw the quality of the sport deteriorating to hit a new low at the Hyderabad Race Club (HRC) and, well, less said about the club’s regulators who regale themselves with the discovery of sharp molars, worthless notes for future references and the so-called disciplinary actions taken against professionals when the integrity of horseracing is breached by the usual suspects.

Coming back to Lashka’s victory, the filly ridden by Ashhad Asbar stayed on the haunches of Brooklyn Beauty while the favourite Mikimoto raced prominently behind. Asbar and Kuldeep Singh (Sr.) both made their move about a furlong and half away from home with Mikimoto showing good aggression to nose ahead briefly. When reminded of her unfinished task by Asbar, Lashka gave a valiant response and her tenacity found Mikimoto in a spot of bother and she kept tormenting her rival till hitting the wire, three-part of a length in front. Lashka (Dali – Lucky), who was conceding 4kg to Mikimoto thus ended the latter’s winning streak. Detective gained ground in the final stages to displace Brooklyn Beauty from the third spot whilst Golden Gazelle, who was ridden by BR Kumar in place of Akshay Kumar, was outclassed.

Top-weighted Espionage found Arion One garnering more support in the betting largely because Donald Netto’s ward was carrying a back-breaking burden of 61.5kg on his back and conceding 6kg to his main adversary. However, Espionage not only made light of the heavy impost but also made his rivals look like novices when he stormed into the lead soon after gates opened and gave them no opportunity to get closer to him at any stage of the scurry. Espionage (Gusto – Ainra) drew away from the pack to win by a wide margin over least fancied Briar Ridge and Warwick, who ran second and third respectively whilst Arion One laboured hard before finishing fourth.

Leo D’Silva had the credit of achieving a hat-trick right at the start of the day, leading three winners in a sequence. The three-year old filly Calabasas showed the expected improvement on her previous two performances in the Time And Place Plate, the day’s curtain raiser. Dashing Charm bolted ahead with Foxy Girl and American Affair in pursuit while Akshay-ridden Calabasas followed them. Foxy Girl tried to tackle Dashing Charm in the last furlong but Akshay ignited a brilliant run in Calabasas and the bay filly flew in the finals stages to stop both Dashing Charm and Foxy Girl in their tracks inside the last hundred metres. Calabasas (Leitir Mor – Isabella) went on to register her maiden win with Beast Master finishing on fast after taking some time to find his rhythm but had to settle for the runner-up berth. Foxy Girl ended third while Dashing Charm faded out to be fourth.

Running with the benefit of three runs held Gold Giver in good stead as he scored a thrilling victory over Pride Aside and favourite Arabeska, who was fancied to make a winning debut. A furlong after the starter’s flag came down, Gaurav Singh hit the front with Pride Aside with the no-hopers Faizah and Aquatone chasing her initially. Pride Aside brought the field into the straight and surprisingly kicked on as Arabeska, after a sluggish start, improved gradually to challenge the leader. Meanwhile, Ajeeth Kumar got Gold Giver going and came with a flourishing run in the final furlong to collar the two front-runners and in his final surge snatched victory from Pride Aside in the last stride. Arabeska was clearly short of a run as she failed to find the acceleration when she looked poised to grab the lead and eventually finished third, just under a length behind the runner-up. Second favourite Lake Michigan never showed up at busy end and his belated effort was of no consequence as he ran a tame fourth.

Hurricane Wave (formerly named Final Judgement) scored a fluent victory, his first under D’Silva’s charge, despite conceding chunks of weight to his rivals. Lights On darted ahead and was well clear of her nearest rival In Proposito when she entered the final stretch. Hurricane Wave lacked initial speed but started improving from the top of the home stretch as Akshay applied pressure on him. Once he gathered momentum, Hurricane Wave (Planetaire – Landmine) came with raking strides to overhaul the pair ahead and the winner was sighted with a furlong still left for the winning line. Runner-up Cherished Lady rallied in the last furlong but it was too late an effort. In Proposito managed to retain the third place, way ahead of Golden Inzio, as none of the runners could figure in the finish.

S. Sreekant-groomed Golden Unicorn gave an improved performance to score an upset win in the Triveni Sangam Plate, a six-furlong sprint for maiden horses four years old and above. As the start was given, favourite Peanut swerved violently to his left leaving the punters in despair. Meanwhile, Eminency seized the initiative at the start with Noorian and Kantha going in chase. P. Sai Kumar-ridden Golden Unicorn, who came within striking distance of the leaders opposite the stands, galloped resolutely to close in on Eminency and Kantha and spurted nicely to snuff out aggression shown by the latter, Peanut’s stablemate. Eminency held on to the third spot while Jim ran on late to be fourth. Dream To Fly and Total Control, who were lesser fancied than only Peanut, struggled throughout and failed to grace the judges’ frame.

The outcome of the other two races in the day’s card was a testimony of the newly transformed version of clean and fair racing conducted under the watchful eyes of the HRC’s professional stewards. Trainer MF Ali Khan virtually pulled out a rabbit out of his hat with Tiger Ruby, a recent migrant to his stables. Despite having failed twice earlier to take a level jump when saddled by his new master and having a little-known jockey P. Uday Kiran in the saddle to guide his fortunes, Tiger Ruby was backed as if defeat was out of question. Khan’s gamble paid off and brought windfall gains for Tiger Ruby’s connections. Tiger Ruby bided his time in the rear as Sargent headed the pack pretenders and all Uday had to do was pull his mount out of the crowd and show him the daylight. Consequently, Tiger Ruby (Phoenix Tower – Rubyanne) set the track ablaze with a lightning run to barge ahead about a furlong and half from home and the race was over bar the shouting there and then. Sargent, Varaneek Gold and Rani Ruckus headed the rest of the pack, who followed the winner in a procession.

Ananta Vatsalya-trained Reining Queen, who had finished down the field just two days ago, left her rivals and the punters in a tizzy with her stunning performance in the last race of the day. Blame her success on the poor quality of participants but Sk. Rafique-partnered Reining Queen raced well up alongside Niloufer The Great and Master Touch before approaching the final turn and then took charge of the running. Deccan Ranger tracked the mare all the way but despite being hard-ridden by Uday, Reining Queen (One Lucky Dane – Rathvin Raven) held on stubbornly to stave off the threat posed by late-finishing Exponent, Deccan Charger and Silver Arrow ended close behind.