Jockey Pradeep Chouhan who seems to have hit a purple patch was mainly instrumental in getting the fancied Fire Power to prevail in a thrilling finish in the 2000 metres B Marideswara Rao Memorial Cup, a race for horses rated 40- to 65, the feature event of races held at Malakpet on Monday. Fire Power who had placed in classic races hadn`t won for more than a year but a clever tactical riding by Chouhan helped the Vittal Deshmukh trainee to break the winless sequence.

Ashwa Raudee was the favourite with the odds expanding on Fire Power close to race time. Bold Bidding came for noticeable support close to race time to end up as the second favourite. Truce Icon too was also well fancied in the small field and barring Bold Bidding who faded out after Akshay Kumar, perhaps sensing amiss, pulled his horse back, the others in the betting were involved in a cluster finish.

After a hesitant start, Fire Power was pushed to take over the running within the first 100 metres, and he was followed by Bold Bidding, Ashwa Raudee, True Icon, Akido and Just Incredible. Chouhan got busy on Fire Power on turning for home and immediately established a sizeable lead which proved to be the winning one. Bold Bidding raised hopes of a strong fight but dropped back. Ashwa Raudee, True Icon and Akido finished with a rattle but the front-runner had enough cushion to pull it off. Ashwa Raudee was a short ahead of Ture Icon with Akido another neck behind.

Donald Netto trained Lagos recorded an encore in smashing fashion in the 1200 metres Mica Emperor Plate, a race for horses rated 80 and above. Lagos was strongly backed to oblige in the hands of jockey Suraj Narredu with some punters opting for Scramjet to play spoilsport. Suraj relaxed Lagos in about the fourth position as Wakeful set a fast pace with Skipton for the company. Though Suraj had to come wide into the straight, it posed no problems to Lagos who cruised past those in front with the jockey hardly having to exert himself. Lagos kicked clear to win with a measure of comfort from Scramjet perhaps even relishing the rain during the race. Premier Action was third more than five lengths adrift.

The 1200 metres Bhupalpally Plate, a race for horses rated 20 to 45, saw Netto trained Exotic Dancer and Sequeira`s Laurus attract support in equal measure in the betting ring. In the event, Exotic Dancer in the hands of Suraj Narredu made it no contest as the fancied runner took charge from the inside draw from the word `go`, enjoyed a healthy lead and skipped beyond the reach of the rest to record an easy win. Above The Law who chased the eventual winner all the way managed to keep the second position from Laurus who was poorly positioned and did not have the turn of foot to make a match of it and finished a timid third. Laxman Singh trained Malaala readily justified the strong favouritism by thwarting the bid of second favourite OK Boss quite competently. Mukesh pushed Malaala to take charge from Visionary inside the final 300 metres and the favourite readily responded. OK Boss went in the chase but found the favourite unrelenting and had to settle for the second spot. Visionary stayed on to take the third position.

Leo D`Silva trained Speaking of Love who had been a big disappointment having finished dismally at Bangalore during the summer season found her bearings against the modest local opposition in the 1600 metres Bakhtawar Plate, a race for maiden three-year-olds. The progeny of Speaking of Which perhaps also relished the fast pace as also the soft under conditions as evidenced by the quality of the win. After Rovaniemi ran freely in front and ran out of gas on turning for home, fancied White Roses overhauled the front-runner and surged ahead. It was a short-lived lead as Speaking Of Love who was in a handy third position, picked up speed in a trice and got the better of the front-runner with a minimum of exertion and drew clear to win by a widening margin of five lengths. Hero Of The Ease ran on to finish second behind White Roses. Speaking of Love thus broke her maiden`s rank in her sixth attempt.

Jockey Pradeep Chouhan`s perseverance paid off in the 1400 metres Shamirpet Cup as the second favourite Nugget recorded an encore, staving off the challenge of favourite The Akhanda who was also a start winner over an identical trip. The Akhanda was running after 162 days but had been well prepared with the benefit of a mock race. The noteworthy workouts also perhaps could be the reason why The Akhanda ended up as a favourite over Nugget who had recorded a hard-fought narrow win 18 days ago.

Indian Temple led the field till the final bend before The Akhanda who was tracking the front-runner took charge. Pradeep Chouhan on Nugget too made smooth progress and came alongside the favourite. Jockey Abhay Singh was unable to prevent The Akhanda from drifting out and the favourite carried Nugget along with him. Both these horses drifted out badly but both drifted towards the rails in the final furlong after considerable efforts by the jockeys. A strongly driven Nugget managed to gain the upper hand close to home and won with a measure of comfort over The Akhanda. Exclusive Luck ran on along the rails to take the third position. The Philanthropist who was in the betting did not take a good jump and was out of contention at the start itself.

The 1400 metres Brown Jack Plate (Div I), looked like a minefield with a host of horses being in the betting. In keeping with the race of this nature, long shot Aiza prevailed in a close finish over lesser fancied Amalfitana. The latter shaped like a winner in the hands of jockey Pradeep Chouhan but Aiza who perhaps relished the underfoot conditions came home with a strong effort to get the nod in the closing strides of the race. This was the maiden win for Sreekant-trained Aiza from 15 starts.