Arjun Mangalorkar-trained Astounding Gallop gave the owners, Mr. S.T. Shivaprasad and Mr. Rajeev Deepak Raut their first taste of a ‘Classic’ victory. The Gaswar-Slovania colt won the Golconda 2000 Guineas, 2010 (Gr.II), at Hyderabad on Sunday afternoon. A field of 11, all of them from the masculine gender, lined up for the second classic of the season, six of them being assigned to foreign riders.

The local challenger, Kohinoor Wish garnered all the attention in the betting, after his stunning second behind Xisca in the Derby and his subsequent victory in a lead-up race, early this winter. On paddock looks, Star Warrior was most impressive with Ciel Indienne and Astounding Gallop also getting a second look. Astounding Gallop was ignored in the betting as he had nothing worthwhile to speak of in his career graph, with a fourth behind Immense in the Mysore 2000 Guineas being the best. Going into the race, Ciel Indienne, was quick to grab the initiative to head the field. Approaching the half-way stage, Astounding Gallop moved to join the leader, with Star Warrior racing off the pace in the last position. Ordained One had fallen back after a forward position and Kohinoor Wish was being jostled around in the rear.

Entering the straight, S. John took Astounding Gallop to the front and held the prime position till the wire. Star Warrior and Ordained One came with a big run in the final 200 metres, with the former unleashing a terrific burst of speed but failed to get to Astounding Gallop by a slender ‘head’. Ordained One finished third while Clear Mandate and Kohinoor Wish finished behind them. The first four places were bagged by horses from other centres, once again denying the Hyderabad horses a reason to toast. Speaking to Indiarace after the race, John, who rode Astounding Gallop to victory, said, “My horse is a one-paced runner, and I had to keep him out of trouble. When I rode him to the front on top of the straight, I knew that my fellow had it in him to make it.” Mr. S.T. Shivaprasad, part owner of Astounding Gallop was there to see his horse run and sounded quite optimistic before the race when Indiarace got to have a word with him. With a small string of horses, this was the first taste of victory in a Classic race for Mr. Shivaprasad. An elated Mr. Prasad said, “Our horse has not had many opportunities to prove his worth. He was balloted out a couple of times and missed a run in Bangalore, when races got cancelled due to a strike.

I am delighted by this win.” Shehzad Abbas-trained Aloisia (Gaswar-Titanium) lifted The Hyderabad Cup, a sweepstakes race for horses in category II. Approaching the final bend, Aloisia was in about eleventh position and as they showed up on the straight, the top-weighted filly had a wall of horses in front. Daniel Grant was quick to realize the predicament and shifted in to take the first available gap and once shown the daylight, Aloisia galloped with magical strides to emerge clear. Hard Kingdom fought on with Rosemead for the runner-up berth. Leo D’Silva’s Clever Ploy (Libor-Foliage) was probably assigned the job of a pace-maker to stablemate Davenport but surprisingly kicked on to win The Lingapur Cup. Davenport and Ave Maria finished together three parts of a length behind the winner and the judge not being able to separate them in the photo, declared a dead-heat for the second place.

Trainer Laxman Singh led in a lucrative double, with P.A. Culhane driving home Bright Spectrum (Sunday Doubt-Chapman’s Peak) to a nail-biting win and apprentice Harinder Singh winding up the day with Silver Rose. Dazzling Princess was on a start-to-finish mission in the higher division of The Own Vision Plate, for maiden two-year-olds and had a sizable lead, 150 metres from home. Bright Spectrum kept gaining ground towards the closing stages of the race, narrowing the gap with every stride and managed to put his nostril ahead of the ‘Princess’ at the wire. Silver Rose (Razeen-Silver Toy) shot past the tiring China Pearl to win the lower division of The Banarsilal Gupta Memorial Cup. Grey Shot, Victory Signal and Geography filled the frame. K. Satheesh’s Silk Route (Sunday Doubt-Celestial Star) won the lower division of The Own Vision Plate. Imran Khan had to get a tight hold of Silk Route to avoid leaning over Inspiring Tunes in the last 100 metres of the race. The favourite Zacrandia was denied of a clear run along the rails in the final furlong and rallied in late to take the second spot. P.S. Chouhan added one more point to his ever-swelling tally, with a start-to-finish victory on Over Taker (Sir Bordeaux-Entourage), in The Bobbili Plate. Sun Bird warmed up late to finish second, in front of Caladium and Illustrator. Donald Netto’s Queen Of Sheeba (Puerto Madero-Welsh Garden) was all alone in front, on the home stretch and won by a big margin, in the higher division of The Banarsilal Gupta Memorial Cup.

The opening race of the day, The Flying Treasure Plate, was won by Prasad Raju-trained Maximum City (Inner City-Classic Liaison). The stablemate Golden Sabot had a useful lead on entering the straight but jockey P.B. Beggy worked his way on the favourite, to get past the leader. Nandanvanaa, as is her habit, started to gallop late and took the second spot ahead of Kohinoor Fairytale.