Srinivas Reddy trained Veloz put to shade Silver Phantom with an emphatic performance in the 1600 metres C Satyanarayana Memorial Cup, a terms race for three year olds, the feature event of races held at Malakpet on Sunday. The belief that Silver Phantom would prove too good for a more suitable trip of a mile was belied as Veloz swept past his opponent inside the final 100 metres.

There was very little to choose between Silver Phantom and Veloz who finished fourth and fifth respectively in the Deccan Derby with just a whisker separating them. Silver Phantom was the preferred horse by virtue of the fact that this son of Verglas had established his credentials over a mile and Veloz had beaten the former narrowly over the Derby trip of 2000 metres. Jockey Imran Khan took Silver Phantom on a start to finish mission with Veloz shadowing him throughout. When the time came to resolve who was the better horse, Veloz proved the better of the two as he was drawing from his opponent in the closing stages of the race. The two are set to renew their clash in the 2000 Guineas.

Pradeep Chouhan who drove out Veloz to victory was also successful on two other rides. It looked like Black Bolt who led from the start could make things difficult for favourite Movie Moghual in the Chief Justice Cup (Div I), a Category I race but under the strong riding of Chouhan, the latter picked up great speed and showed enough resolution to draw away and win in convincing fashion. Power Drive was in the hunt till the final furlong but weakened to finish third. Vittal Deshmukh trained Magical Spell who is in great form, chased Elenor well into the straight before storming clear in the final furlong to win the lower division of the race in fine style. Azaiba got the better of Elenor to get the runner up berth in the closing moments of the race gaining ground from the penultimate position at the final bend.

Faisal Hassan trained That`s My Darling easily overhauled the front running Mighty Swing with a furlong left in the race and provide her jockey Chouhan with an easy win the 1100 metres Vegavathi Plate, a race for maiden two year olds. Escalante showed some spark towards the finish to edge out the long time leader Mighty Swing for the second spot. Milton Keynes dropped his rider Kuldeep Singh at the final bend.

C Eleven who was the shortest priced horse of the day duly obliged in the 1100 metres Medak Plate (Div I), a Category II race showing tremendous acceleration in the final furlong to cover the leeway and then go clear to win easily from Flames of Forest and Coral Springs. Favourite Rosemonde gave hopes for her supporters till deep into the straight before she started to plod and eventually finish third in the lower division of the race. Symbol of Glory emerged clear inside the distance post and won capably from Gaarswood.

Deep Shanker drove out Leo D`Silva trained Exclusive to stave off the challenge of Rob Roy to win the 1100 metres Bhagmati Cup, a Category III race. Favourite Rajkumar did not find an extra gear and plodded on to be a tame third.

Apprentice jockey S S Tanwar pushed lesser fancied Vijays Splendour to take over the running from Killer Instinct inside the final two furlongs of the 2000 metres Grace Hanover Plate, a Category III race and steadily went beyond the reach of the rest. Shades of Victory gave a futile chase while favourite Vijay Viashnavee failed to produce anything extra despite coming under immense pressure from her jockey.

Prasad Raju trained Sprint Legend carried the weight of money in the 1200 metres Bakranangal Plate, a Category III race and jockey Nilesh Rawal did not take any chance as he had the favourite dictate the pace from the word `go` and skip away from the rest in the straight to win by a widening margin of five lengths over Clinching Evidence. The latter was surely out sprinted and probably needs more ground to find his rhythm.