Arabian Knight won the grueling 3000 metre Gr.1 Stayers’ Cup at Hyderabad on Saturday (March 1) in emphatic fashion, clipping nearly six seconds off the existing record, with the rest of runners including favourite Orochi proving a mismatch. The victory of Arabian Knight brought cheer to the Kunigal Stud Farm as its new stallion Brave Act recorded his first Grade I success in India.

The progeny of Brave Act had failed to fire in the manner expected which was cause for great anxiety to the promoters of the farm but the victory of Arabian Knight has confirmed the widely held belief that it pays to campaign the progeny of Brave Act over longer trips especially since most mares covered by the first season stallion, had stamina as its forte.

The Gr.1 Stayers’ Cup turned out to be a tame affair as the son of Brave Act, who showed out in the paddock parade, came into full boom over the grueling trip winning from end to end. Jockey Samuel Fargeat took Arabian Knight on a start to finish mission with Maximise in chase attendance followed by the rest. The order remained unchanged till the end. Arabian Knight, who came into the straight well clear of the rest, kept on increasing the lead to win in great style. Orochi was well placed till the final turn but failed to quicken when the pace picked up and faded out of contention well before the race came on the boil. Angelique ran on from behind to finish third ahead of Azureus and favourite Orochi.

Cassandra, who had won the Gr 2 Golconda Juvenile Million, finished a close second in the Hyderabad Juvenile Multi-Million on Sunday (March 2). The daughter of Tejano, Cassandra finished full of running but found the front-running Common Knowledge reach the safety of the winning post a few fractions earlier. Common Knowledge spurted into a decisive lead at the final turn even as Cassandra took time to warm up and this held the front-runner in good stead as the Kunigal produce covered plenty of leeway only to miss the berth narrowly.