Srinivas Reddy trained Arabian Queen showed good improvement and decisively won the 1400 metres Godolphin Barb Million, a terms race for three-year-olds, the feature event of the races held at Malakpet on Monday. Sensibility who was widely expected to make amends after losing out by a whisker last time out, ran green and posed considerable problems to jockey Ajeeth Kumar and ended up falling short.

Sensibility was made the firm favourite to win the race as her finishing effort plus her experience was reckoned to stand her in good stead. All the other runners including Arabian Queen were quoted at nourishing odds. After London Bells led deep into the straight, Arabian Queen stormed ahead and opened up a lead of more than four lengths over Sensibility who was hard-pressed to pick up speed. By the time Sensibility began to find her bearings, Arabian Queen had already reached the safety of the winning post. The style of the running of Sensibility suggested that the filly needs more ground to make her presence felt as she was clearly beaten for lack of speed. Last start winner Essential ran on to finish third.

Shiraz Sunderji trained In Contention showed vast improvement when recording an encore in the 1600 metres Astonish Plate, a race for horses rated 40 to 65. In Contention and Maximum Glamour were both strongly fancied to win, the latter on the basis of her noteworthy effort in the Golconda Oaks besides her string of wins. In Contention who raced up with the field, was brought the shortest way home by jockey Ajinkya. The progeny of Leitir Mor showed speed and resolution to storm ahead and had the race sewn up a long way from home. Bandit King was second ahead of November Rain. The heavily supported Maximum Glamour did not find her bearings and gave a disappointing performance much to the chagrin of her supporters.

Prasad Raju trained Scramjet appreciated the step up in distance while winning the 2000 metres 1 EME Centre Rolling Trophy, a race for horses rated 60 to 85. Scramjet had mostly won over six to seven furlongs but his performance over the extended trip was a revelation. After Skipton set a fast pace and weakened in the stretch, Scramjet who was in the chase was pushed to take over the running by jockey T S Jodha. Scramjet easily overhauled the front-runner and went sailing clear to win with a measure of comfort from late rallying favourite Kesariya Balam. Summer Night was third.

A couple of runs perhaps had helped Leo D`Silva trained Ayr to show out sharper in the 1100 metres Brave Hunter Plate, a race for maiden three-year-olds. Ayr bolted out to the front from the outer draw and provided jockey Kuldeep Singh with an arm-chair ride to success. Ayr won by more than three lengths. True Icon was second while the well-backed Crimson Rose was flat-footed and finished a poor third.

Ravinder Singh trained Thunder Road who has often let down his supporters was strongly supported to win the 1200 metres Agostini Plate (Div I ), a race for horses rated 20 to 45. Thunder Road lacked early speed but jockey Akshay Kumar was able to bring the favourite into contention down the final furlong. Thunder Road went into a good lead in the final furlong and shaped to win but was shocked by long shot Royal Grace from D`Silva`s yard. Royal Grace came from way off the pace, was angled out in the final 100 metres and produced a blistering turn of foot which enabled the long shot to shock the favourite in the closing strides of the race. Seven-year-old Lockhart finished on strongly to finish a close third. Ananth Vatsalya trained Drd was backed to the exclusion of the rest in Division II of the race. Jockey Akshay Kumar pushed Drd to take charge with a furlong left in the race and drove out the favourite to contain the late challenge of Sea Wolf. Sacred Lamp was third. The Division III of the race also went the way of favourite Top In Class from the stables of trainer S S F Hassan. Top In Class showed out on the wide outside in the final furlong and stormed clear to win by a widening margin of three lengths from NRI Magic and Hashtag.

The last race of the day, the 1200 metres Mount Everest Plate, a race for horses rated 20 to 45, was delayed due to several horses being fractious. Three horses were withdrawn at the gates. The race was won by long shot Furious Fun from Prasad Raju`s stables. Furious Fun managed to stave off the late bid of favourite Angelita who gave immense problems to jockey Ajeeth Kumar. By the time the jockey got his act right, Furious Fun was in the vicinity of the post. Theo`s Choice was third.