Donald Netto trained Victory Parade produced a splendid performance, winning the 1400 metres H P Mistry Memorial Cup, a terms race for four-year-olds and over, the feature event of the penultimate day’s racing of the Hyderabad Winter Season held at Malakpet on Saturday in a record time. Victory Parade eclipsed the 12-year old record held by Oasis Star by a fraction, clocking a time of one minute 23.073 seconds.

Victory Parade had such imposing form that he went to the post as a short-priced favourite. Jockey B R Kumar who came as a substitute for the originally declared jockey K Mukesh Kumar had Victory Parade handily placed well into the final furlong before getting the progeny of Top Class to unleash a vintage performance. Victory Parade flew past Ace Ace Ace after covering plenty of leeway to win by a margin of two lengths. Highly Acclaimed who was denied the opportunity to run freely in front could only finish third, half a length adrift of the runner-up. Titus ran on late to finish fourth.

The consistent Pontius Pilate from the stables of Srinivas Reddy who ran into one better on a regular basis broke the winless sequence with a comfortable win in the 1200 metres Smt Teegala Sulochana Reddy Memorial Cup (Div I), a race for horses rated 60 to 85. Apprentice jockey Surya Prakash brought Pontius Pilate with a well-timed run to get the better of front-running Trump Girl in the waning yards of the race. Shandaar and Guiding Force too closed with a rush and occupied the next two slots behind Trump Girl finishing in close order. Vittal Deshmukh trained Yours Forever had won impressively last week and that form indicated that the four-year-old gelding had the ability to record an encore. He did not disappoint with a powerful run down the final furlong in the hands of jockey Surya Prakash to get the better of front running Happy Together close to home in the lower division of the race. Southern Legacy ran on late to take the third position ahead of Makram.

The pace of the race was such that those in front all packed up and the ones who were ridden off the pace made a mark in the 1600 metres Delhi Race Club Plate (Div I), a race for maiden three-year-olds. Spicy Star who was in the rear bunch was switched on the wide outside in the stretch to get a clear run and the progeny of Sedgefield produced a big effort to go storming clear in the final furlong to win at big odds. Sweet Melody went in the chase and managed to keep the second position by a whisker over Crazy Horse who too covered acres of ground in the final stages of the race to save place money. Favourite Lighting Power made no show. Trainer Arjun Anne who had failed to win a single race during the season finally managed to open his account through Queen Daenerys who led the field all the way and skipped clear in the final furlong to win by a widening margin of five lengths. Make My Day was in futile chase of the front-runner all the way and was under pressure to keep the runner-up which he managed to do so at the expense of late rallying stablemate Team Player by a neck.

Laxman Singh trained Palace On Wheels showed total reversal of form in the 1400 metres Red Knight Place, a race for horses rated 40 to 65 with a start to finish effort, winning with a measure of comfort from late rallying favourite Private Empire. Meka’s who rallied well along the rails saved place money. Palace On Wheels had run more than 14 lengths behind the runner in her last effort. This winning performance came after a longish wait of 509 days.

Last start winner Gusty Note went at a scorching pace in front in the 1200 metres Falaknuma Cup (Div I), a race for horses rated 20 to 46 that the four-year-old packed up after bringing the field into the final furlong. The fancied Blazing Speed who was handily placed then shot ahead and shaped like a winner but her hopes were dashed by Mind Reader who came from way off the pace with a blistering turn of foot to nail the front-runner in sight of the post. Silver Set ran on to take the third position. Shezad Abbas trained Monte Rei finally broke the maiden’s rank in his 15th attempt when he held off the late challenge of favourite Linewiler to win the lower division of the race. After Stepper set a fast pace and led till the final furlong, Monte Rei shot ahead and held on gamely to thwart the late bid of Linewiler who made a big rally only to find the winning post coming a wee bit early. There was a cavalry charge from way behind with Angelo Tesoro snatching the third position from Sputnic.

Arjun Anne had the second winner of the season when Augenstern recorded her first win of the career in the 17th attempt with a thrilling win in the 1200 metres Ballerina Star Plate, a race for horses in the lowest category. Augenstern covered plenty of ground in the final stages of the race and held off the threat of a host of horses to land the spoils as a fancied runner. Khan Sahib, Arcadian Angel and Bedazzled finished almost in a line occupying the slots behind the winner. Jockey Naresh rode the winner.

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Spicy Star (Aneel up) winner of the Delhi Race Club Plate (Div-I)

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Palace On Wheels (Santosh Raj N R up) winner of the Red Knight Plate

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Queen Daenerys (Irvan Singh up) winner of the Delhi Race Club Plate (Div-II)

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Yours Forever (Surya Prakash up) winner of the Smt. Teegala Sulochana Reddy Memorial Cup (Div-II)

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Monte Rei (Koushik up) winner of the Falaknuma Cup (Div-II)

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Pontius Pilate (Surya Prakash up) winner of the Smt. Teegala Sulochana Reddy Memorial Cup (Div-I)

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Victory Parade (B R Kumar up) winner of the H. P. Mistry Memorial Cup

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Mind Reader (Nakhat Singh up) winner of the Falaknuma Cup (Div-I)

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Augenstern (G Naresh up) winner of the Ballerina Star Plate

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