Desert God with A Sandesh up wins The Golconda St-Leger Gr-2 2018

Hyderabad Monsoon Races 2018 Race No 174
Desert God trained by S Padmanabhan with A Sandesh up wins The Golconda St-Leger Gr-2 2018 at The Hyderabad Race Club

Desert God (Burden of Proof – Running Flame) bred at the Kunigal Stud Farm, added the Golconda St Leger (Gr2) to his rich Classic tally while blowing away his two younger rivals with remarkable ease. Desert God has now conquered the St Leger four times in his glorious career – Pune (2016), Bangalore twice (2016 & 18) and now his latest at Hyderabad, an incredible feat indeed.

Desert God got straight down to business and led the field of three soon on start and dictated the pace all through. Reunion tagged a couple of lengths behind, while Salazaar was well behind, off the pace. They raced in the same order until into the straight, but by then the race was all but over. Desert God had a sizable lead turning for home and he sped away without needing to be coaxed by jockey A Sandesh, who relied on just hands and heels to nurse the Padmanabhan trained horse to coast along and complete the formality without giving a semblance of a chance to his two rivals. Neither of them was up to it either, as they surrendered meekly to the might of the Kunigal bred thoroughbred, owned by Mrs Sharmila Padmanabhan, representing the Radiant Bloodstock Pvt Ltd, Mr S Padmanabhan and Col Swapan Bhadra.

Desert God is the highest earner in the history of Indian racing in his illustrious career spanning over four years, winning 15 races from 23 starts. He has earned a whopping Rs 78,469,058/- to date. He is way ahead of the second placed Quasar (Rs 66,391,873/-) in terms of stake money earned.