L.V.R.Deshmukh trained Super Duper (Keltos-Supercal) which had not raced for over eleven months, made a gutsy come back while winning the Independence Cup, which featured the Indian Independence Day’s races at Hyderabad. A dozen horses lined up for the seven furlongs trip for horses in the highest category. Deshmukh’s Super Duper and D’Silva trained Ocean Side, ridden by P.S.Chouhan and Suraj Narredu respectively, were the top two market fancies, with not much difference in their quotes.

Jumping out smartly from draw one, Super Duper settled in third easily, behind Days of Thunder and Silver Crown. As the field traversed the final turn, Super Duper made a quick move to get into a striking position behind Days of Thunder. Ocean Side took the turn about four horses wide and improved swiftly to be in contention. Inside the last 250 metres Chouhan started to ride out Super Duper strongly and forged past the leader passing the distance post. Ocean Side was also brought with a big run by Suraj but the grey in front kicked on to be the winner by three parts of a length.

P.S.Chouhan rode a treble on the day, the other two being Deshmuk trained Vijays Best and Srinivas Reddy’s Military Cross. Suraj Narredu and L.D’Silva combined to pull off a double through Vocation and Bloody Mary.

D’Silva’s Vocation (Multidimensional-Cacophony) which had run three races at Bangalore without much success won the 1400 metres terms race for 3 year olds, the K.Mahipathi Rao Memorial Million with an impressive margin. Golden Arrow and Riverdale disputed the lead early, with the pair of Golden Phantom and Nano Belle about a length behind. Vocation was a close fifth and the other runner in the race Fairy Emperor tailed off last. Turning for home Riverdale had taken charge and Suraj improved Vocation along the rails to move to second. Striding out well, Vocation accelerated readily to take charge in the last furlong and drew clear to win by four lengths. The favourite Golden Arrow which was under pressure all through the last 400 metres managed to beat Riverdale for the second position.

Bloody Mary (Mr Mellon-Cats Concert) thwarted the strong challenge of Da Xia towards the closing stages to win the higher division of the Classic Story Plate. With an advantageous inner most draw, Bloody Mary jumped out well and led the field. Mr. Khoashteep and Rose Queen were being urged on the outside as the set out for the final run on the straight while Bound For Glory was looking for the shortest way. Da Xia moved fiercely from behind with a strong challenge and tried its best to collar Bloody Mary but Suraj’s urgings saw D’Silva’s ward get to the winning post a ‘neck’ in front. Commanche Gold rallied on the wide outside to take the third place from Mr. Khoashteep.

S.S.Faisal Hassan trained Dream Deal (Placerville-Desert Lightning) won the lower division. The last win of Dream Deal was on the same day last year and in the same race. The coincidence is that it was also the lower division of the race. Dream Deal was then under the charge of trainer M.Satyanarayana. Racing third behind Price Warrior and Drum Beat, Dream Deal made its move between them even as Drum Beat started to drift out under pressure. Price Warrior was relentless for sometime till the last 100 metres but a determined apprentice Akshay Kumar kept urging his mount and Dream Deal forged ahead despite veering out. Price Warrior held on to the second place by a ‘neck’ from Drum Beat.

M.V.Narayana Rao trained Rob Roy (Hymn-Final Cut) came out of its maiden ranks in the Tenacity Cup. Sprint Saloni held on to the lead till the last 500 metres with Rob Roy and Deccan Queen on its haunches together. As they entered the straight Sprint Saloni gave up and Rob Roy rushed to the front with Deccan Queen putting pressure. Throughout the last two furlongs Rob Roy travelled the better with jockey M.Mark riding out and ended up three parts of a length ahead of Deccan Queen at the finish. The Best Man and True Scholar filled the frame.

P.S.Chouhan piloted L.V.R.Deshmukh’s Vijays Best (Shaniko-Hazel Eyes) to victory in the B.Marideswara Rao Memorial Cup, the first race of the day. Vijays Best which had failed as the favourite to Ocean Side early this season, made amends to beat the small field. Hidden Destiny, Elenor and Vijays Best set off together over the 5 1/2 furlongs dash. Al Sarraah and Indian Epic braced the rear about five lengths behind.  On entering the final straight Hidden Destiny packed up early and the two top market fancies Vijays Best and Elenor surged forward. Indian Epic started to close up from the rear and challenged Vijays Best strongly but Chouhan’s urgings got Vijays Best 1 1/4 lengths in front at the finish. Al Saraah finished third in front of Elenor.

Chouhan repeated his winning performance on M.Srinivas Reddy trained Military Cross (Eljohar-Star Divine) in the next race, the division I of the Treasure Wind Plate. After a good jump at start Military Cross let Amazing Weapon call the shots and settled well in second. Approaching the last 400 metres Military Cross headed to the front and with a few hard backhanders from Chouhan kicked on to keep at bay the late challenge of Alastor. Kohinoor Desire and Hometown Hero filled the frame.

Short priced Rahul’s Diamond (Black Cash-Czarina) from  R.H.Sequeira’s stables bounced back to winning ways with a thumping performance in the lower division. Tracking the leader Roma Rouge till the top of the straight, Rahul’s Diamond moved forward with utmost ease under N.Rajesh and stretched out to extend the margin of victory to over six lengths. Aware finished the best of the beaten lot, ahead of the long time leader Roma Rouge.