Ranquelino, trained by Darius Byramji, produced a splendid gallop opposite the Mahalaxmi grand stand to win the HPSL Indian Derby (Gr 1), on Sunday, giving Matheran boy A Sandesh his first victory in the coveted race. In the process the Manjri-bred Fiero - Sunset four-year-old also created a unique record of winning the Bangalore Derby and the Indian Derby in a span of only seven days!

Sandesh settled Ranquelino in mid-bunch as Imperial Star (SJ Sunil up) shot to the front to open a five-length lead over African Gold, with the rest way behind. Approaching the halfway mark, Billy Lee astride African Gold suddenly decided to take charge, passed the leader in a trice, and started running like a scalded cat to open a dozen-length gap over the rest. African Gold turned for home all alone, still about ten lengths ahead of the field, when Duke Of Tuscany (P Trevor up), Pyrite (Mukesh Kumar up) and Ranquelino (Sandesh up) sensed danger and made their moves. However, they couldn`t make much impression until a tired African Gold started shortening his strides nearing the two-furlong post. Thereafter, Sandesh and Ranquelino only got stronger at the finish, sparing a length to Pyrite, with Positano (Akshay Kumar up) and Thalassa (Imran Chisty up) improving to claim the third and fourth spots ahead of Duke Of Tuscany.