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Laxman Singh trained Saffron Art won the 1400 metres Tiger Roll Plate, a race for horses rated 40 to 65, at the expense of late rallying favourite Scramjet in the feature event of the races held on Saturday at Malakpet. On the face of the day, the card looked easy for those chasing the favourites but as it turned out, a number of at long odds won throwing their calculations topsy turvy. However, the ones which won also had credentials but the flow of money was ill-directed.
Prasad Raju trained Scramjet had scraped home on the last occasion over a sprint but over the more suitable extended trip, the four-year-year gelding was expected to maintain the winning form. Saffron Art, despite her forward run, was allowed to run at long odds. Jockey Ajit Singh brought Saffron Art into contention in the final furlong and the filly shook off the challenge of Mirana and forged ahead. Scramjet, as is his wont, made a late rally but this was not good enough. Saffron Art won by half a length but the win appeared more convincing than the verdict. Mirana weakened to finish third.
Trevor Patel who was back in action after a four-day carried forward suspension at Bangalore, had luck with lesser fancied runners but both his money favourites flopped. Vittal Deshmukh trained Due Diligence who had won against the run of expectations last time out, maintained her winning form with a narrow win over N R I Sun under a strong drive by Trevor. NRI Sun could not completely bridge the lead that was conceded going into the final furlong. NRI Blue who raced up with the field stayed on to finish third.
Ravinder Singh trained General Atlantic brought off an upset win in the 1200 metres Red Rum Plate (Div I), a race for maiden three-year-olds. Donald Netto trained Spectacular Cruise was widely expected to have a bold show with notable support coming for Reigning Queen. In the event, General Atlantic who had the first run on his opponents held on grimly to the lead from Reining Queen who put up a strong show but found the winning post coming to the rescue of the front-runner. Spectacular Cruise was never in with it, having conceded ground which was hard to make up and finished a tame third. Hilton Sequeira trained Top Diamond who was quoted at a short price had no problem in making good ground in the stretch to record an easy win in the hands of Akshay Kumar in the lower division of the race. Quality Warrior and Joy O Joy occupied the next two slots without showing any spark in their efforts.
Jockey Kiran Naidu proved equal to the task while steering the fancied Mystery to a narrow win over joint-favourite NRI Magic in the 12000 metres Fighting Force Plate, a race for horses rated 20 to 45. Mystery appeared ready for the task as he raced strongly in front and had enough gas to see off the challenge of the equally well-fancied NRI Magic. Angel Tesoro managed to snatch the third spot in a cluster finish.
Trevor Patel was successful on Lifetime in the 1100 metres Sir Ivor Plate (Div I), a race for horses rated 20 to 45. Lifetime was not hard-pressed to win as the filly shot ahead in the final furlong and was hailed a winner a long way from home. Four One Four kept the second position ahead of Beauty on Parade. The strongly backed Kingston was poorly positioned and failed to quicken when the race came to a boil and finished poorly. Sreekant trained City of Bliss, in the hands of jockey Mukesh Kumar, recorded an encore when she defied the top weight with an aggressive running effort in front and held off the strong bid of Amyra. Show Me Your Walk was third. The well-backed Ashwa Jauhar was in with a chance but apparently lacked the fitness to sustain the challenge in the final furlong. The other fancied runner The Prospect veered out at the jump and was out of contention from the word `go`.
Earlier, in the first race itself, strongly backed on-money favourite Secret Command had played truant with a timid performance. Long shot Hurricane from the stables of Robin Reddy provided apprentice jockey Abhay Singh with an easy win by a widening margin of four lengths. Acadian Angel nosed out Hashtag to get the runner-up berth.
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Hurricane (Abhay Singh up) winner of THE MAMMA`S MINK PLATE
Top Diamond (Akshay Kumar up) winner of THE RED RUM PLATE (DIV-II)
Mystery (Kiran Naidu up) winner of THE FIGHTING FORCE PLATE
Due Diligence (Trevor Patel up) winner of THE BHISHMA PLATE
General Atlantic (B Nikhil up) winner of THE RED RUM PLATE (DIV-I)
Lifetime (Trevor Patel up) winner of THE SIR IVOR PLATE (DIV-I)
Saffron Art (Ajit Singh up) winner of THE TIGER ROLL PLATE
City Of Bliss (K Mukesh Kumar5 up) winner of THE SIR IVOR PLATE (DIV-II)
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