Hyderabad Monsoon Races 2018 Race No 110
Desert God trained by S Padmanabhan with A Sandesh up wins The President of India Gold Cup Grade-2 2018 at The Hyderabad Race Club
The prestigious President of India Gold Cup (Gr2) has always been an exciting race with stalwarts competing from around the country each year. Desert God the multi-classic winner from astute trainer S Padmanabhan’s yard was the favourite and the centre of attraction to the large local crowd. Hyderabad has always been a happy hunting ground for Desert God, who has never lost on this turf. He came here first as a three-year-old and won the hearts of the sporting Hyderabad crowd by winning the Deccan Colts’ Championship Stakes (Gr3) and followed that up with a splendid Classic double bagging the Deccan Derby (Gr1) in 2015. The following year as a four year old he won the President of India Gold Cup beating Alaindair in a close finish.
He was back again and the favourite to win this years edition of the President of India Gold Cup (Gr2) and he thrilled them all over again. There was a hush as Sandesh guided him to the front to dictate the pace of the 2400m race right from the start. He was carrying the top weight at 62 kilos yet he galloped freely making his own pace and letting them follow him all round the course.
He entered the straight with a tidy lead and started to accelerate. Sandesh kept him going at a good clip, however, Reunion started to get closer approaching the distance post and a possible fight seemed brewing at that stage. That was not to be as Desert God put on a sustained bid right up to the wire leaving no chance to Reunion or the others to even get to sniffing distance. Desert God won handsomely adding another group race to his rich tally and scripted another glorious return to his name.
