Michael Eshwer-trained Blue Thunder (Alnasr Alwasheek-Blue Horizon) was ridden by Y.S. Srinath for an effortless victory in the Victory Zone Cup (Div.I). Jumping out from the innermost draw, Blue Thunder surged ahead to hit the front and made every post a winning one. Srinath had an armchair ride on the favourite, over the six-furlong trip. Bullish Luck moved in late to get past the tiring lot behind the winner, to take the second slot. It was a memorable day for Eshwer – Srinath combination, returning home with a rich haul of three winners.

The duo had earlier in the day won on Iron Marshall and Billo Rani. The two-year-old Iron Marshall (Placerville-Rivage) made a smashing debut, in the opener, The Bird Sanctuary Plate. Aerial Acrobat was cutting the wind till the last 250 metres with Iron Marshall waiting along the inner rails. With two cracks from Srinath, Iron Marshall picked up momentum and lengthened his strides to score a comfortable win. Aerial Acrobat held on in second position while Mom in Law came in late to take the third spot. Billo Rani (Brave Hunter-After Glow) lifted the lower division of The Victory Zone Cup, to make it her second successive victory this season. Rashida was making an all-out effort in front from the start and Billo Rani was pulled out from the rail side to pose a challenge. Black Knight also showed some promise near the 300 metres but faltered early.

Rashida and Billo Rani had a brief duel for about half a furlong and the latter surged clear by a length towards the finish. Gambit was withdrawn before the start. Haute Appeal (Royal Gladiator-Bruges) kept inching closer to the leader Azazel and managed to beat him by a ‘head’ at the wire, in the lower division of The Nandidurga Plate, the third race of the day. Sauce Piquant was in contention throughout the straight and finished half a length behind in third position. The siren was sounded and the red cone went up immediately after the race and a steward’s enquiry was also ordered into the running of the race. Azazel, after jumping out of the gates, had moved in sharply, disturbing the running of a host of runners immediately on his inside, which included Haute Appeal, Visual Element, Halo Of Splendour and Sauce Piquant. The rider of Sauce Piquant had to check his mount to avoid getting trapped between Azazel and the inner rails and raised an objection against the rider of Azazel for the infringement.

The Stewards after due deliberations disqualified Azazel and the original placing were revised. Haute Appeal retained the first place while Sauce Piquant moved up to take the second place and Visual Element was declared as third. Diva was withdrawn after the rider, C. Krishnan, hurt himself when the horse reared up inside the gate. Gara Fluid (Barood-Alisa) stretched out well in the final furlong, after leading from the start, to score an easy victory in the higher division. Nishi Girl was positioned in the rear till the top of the straight and was found to be the fastest moving, ending up an impressive second. Saddler took the shortest way to take the third place. The favourite Beautiful Delight was never in the hunt. Chinab and Panchakshari (Tecorno-Knowing) shared the favouritism in The Rajendravilas Plate and with the former being withdrawn before the start, it was left for the other to complete the formality. Jockey Vivek did not find difficulty in doing so, stretching out by a good margin. Equador rallied along the rails to occupy the runner-up berth ahead of the early leader Jugnu. Dinesh Pujar, who trains the winner, led in Hitz (Conquering Hero-Natural Spell) in The Suvarnavathy Plate, to complete a double. Jockey Chandrashekar settled Hitz in third position till the final bend, while Perfect Bond did the early running in front. Inside the last 300 metres, Hitz took charge and won well from Tina’s Triumph, who was finishing on.

Perfect Bond finished third. This was Chandrashekar’s second win of the day, having won earlier on Haute Appeal. Rota Rooa (Mazilier-One Eyed Wonder) got to the front from the word ‘go’ and held on from Nano Blue and Win Pretty Baby at the finish, in The Pertigalete Plate. The four kilograms allowance helped Rota Rooa to pull it off. K.P.G. Appu rode Nano Blue as the declared jockey S. John could not do the allotted weight. Euphoria (Aljabr-Barqaa) went start-to-finish in The Taj Mahal Plate, the concluding race and held on from Suave, who was making steady progress from the rear. On Call fell back to finish fifth after a brief duel with Euphoria, while Admiranda finished third ahead of Blood Stream, who had lost considerable ground at the start.