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In the end what was hyped as the greatest contest turned out to be a no contest Bangalorebased trainer Prasanna Kumars colt War Hammer inflicted a crushing defeat on his 19 rivals and lifted in style the exquisite gold trophy of the Grade 1 Kingfisher Ultra Indian Derby the fourth and final Classic of the Mahalaxmi season 201920Jockey Suraj Narredu is having the greatest season of his career Suraj had notched up 2000th career win a month ago The Derby crowd gave a standing ovation to the equine and human superstars hereEasy breezySuraj settled War Hammer closer to the pace as Consigliori P Trevor up essayed his customary frontrunning role followed by Wizard Of Stocks L Roche up with War Hammer keeping company to Royal Crystal S John up with Juliette C ODonoghue up nearly 15 lengths behindConsigliori threw in the towel approaching the 400m marker as Roche astride Wizard of Stocks assumed command with Royal Crystal running at his best speed to stay in the same place Just then Suraj smoothly switched War Hammer to the outside and after a brief fight overpowered Wizard Of Stocks and sailed away for a comfortable victory of over seven lengths over Trouvaille N Mackay up who finished well to take up the runner up berth ahead of Wizard Of Stocks who just about held on from a fastfinishing JulietteSeventh heavenSurajs father Satish was ecstatic He waited in the weighing room for his son to alight from War Hammer lifted him like a baby and kissed him on his cheeks I am in seventh heaven He Suraj has done everything that a father can hope for and be proud of he told midday with tears of joyWar Hammer maintained his unbeaten status adding his eighth straight success from as many starts He silenced doubters who openly expressed surprise when his trainer shouted from the rooftops that he was bringing in a horse who would prove too good for his rivalsDominant displayWar Hammers victory was astounding for another reason No horse in Indian Derby history had ever treated such a large field comprising eight regional Derby winners with such contempt and with such a margin over seven lengths The unbeaten colt took home R10929500 in prize moneyThe Air SupportSoviet Lake fouryearold colt was bred at Kunigal stud farm After the Invitation Cup next month this horse deserves to race abroad and make the country proud Dr Dinesh of the Kunigal stud farm saidThe winning quartetOwners of War Hammer a quartet of friendsmdashDr CA Prashanth Gautam Basapa B S Manjunath and P Apana Subaiyamdash were a happy bunch We all sat together last Sunday night after War Hammer won the Bangalore Derby thought a lot and then decided to travel to Mahalaxmi they saidWar Hammer justified their decision and howJockey Sandesh rides 1000th winnerMatheran boy A Sandesh rode his 1000th winner at Mahalaxmi on Sunday astride Flying Visit who won a thrilling battle with P Trevor astride favourite Cosmic Ray In a quick felicitation ceremony arranged by the race club to celebrate the ace jockeys landmark Sandesh thanked trainer Rehanullah Khan who took him under his care and had saddled Pepe Junior Sandeshs first winner mdash PGCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates hereAlso download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates