Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall and Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All The King's horses and all the King's men couldn't put Humpty Dumpty together again. Yes that's exactly what happened to the favourite punters.who lost out big, making princely investments on the favourite horses and favourite jockeys, who bit the dust. 13 favourites including half dozen on-money public choices failed to justify their top billing in the races, eight at Hyderabad on Monday and an equal number in Bengaluru, next day. At Malakpet, Almas and Corfe Castle were the only two public choices to oblige in the eight-event card on Monday and it more or less remained the same scene at Bengaluru, seven of the eight favourites tumbling down like Jack and Jill. The big punters admitting that they had lost their shirts disclosed that they need a break. A break to take stock of the financial strain and a break from posting the many debit entries in the horrific balance sheet. It was a total disaster from the punters point of view and punters believe me are running scared, more scared than the feared Omicron virus.

The Prasanna Kumar-trained Obsidian and De Villiers from the stables of Sulaiman Attaollahi were rightly fancied the most in the Indian Army Day Trophy, the plum event run over a sprint.  In their last head-to-head clash over seven furlongs, Obsidian had beaten De Villiers by more than six lengths and on that count he was strongly supported to score despite the fact that the Prasanna ward had performed below par in the 2000 Guineas and De Villiers in his next essay over an identical trip had romped home by five lengths. Well on paper it was clearly a race between the top two fancied stars. But that was not to be and it was Rule Of Engagement from Pradeep Annaiah's yard, who reigned supreme, while the `big jodi' to the delight of the bookmakers went out of the window. Obsidian finished second behind the winner piloted by Trevor Patel, while De Villiers failed to even save money in place. Though the result hit the followers of form hard, one cannot take credit away from the winner, who smartly jumped out and called the shots before putting the issue beyond the two market leaders in the final furlong.

In the next event, the Sriharikota Plate, the Prasanna Kumar-trained Analect, a ten to one long shot cruised home ahead of her strongly fancied even-money favourite stablemate Lords Of Legend much to the chagrin of the punters, who punted big on the runner-up. The winner piloted by Antony Raj, clearly was not fancied, the Prasanna camp, hot on Lords Of Legend on the strength of his satisfactory showing behind the talented Setareh in his earlier start. And if that was not enough, another Prasanna Kumar hopeful, Defining Power, a on-money favourite in the concluding event, the upper division of the Nagarjuna Sagar Plate finished a tame third behind the winner Peyo and the second in demand at the betting ring, The Inheritor from the stables of Sharath Kumar. Darshan, who punched home the Satish Narredu schooled outsider Peyo produced his best on the Lokanath Gowda-trained He's The One in the opening event, edging out the lesser fancied Iconic Princess by the shortest of margins at the shadow of the winning post. Altair from Sharath Kumar's yard garnered the maximum support in the event but the public choice in his attempt to make every post a winning one found the first two too hot to handle at end and had to rest content with the third spot.

Hope Island from leading trainer Arjun Manglorkar's yard  topped the betting board in the Arkavati Plate run over a mile, but the well backed favourite failed to match strides with the lesser fancied Jack Ryan from Neil Darashah's yard, who was ably piloted by Vishal Bunde. Now that the winner has resumed his winning ways, it will pay to follow and support Jack Ryan again in his next essay. But the same does not apply to Hope Island, who is always only hoping and not delivering the hopeful result. Capable in this event, like the many Sharath Kumar runners had her fair share of followers but the mare only managed to finish third.

After the strongly backed Disruptor was withdrawn at the gates, the lesser fancied Last Wish from Neil Devaney's yard partnered by Dhanu Singh Deora came up trumps in the Becket Plate for three-year-old maidens run over a sprint. The winner comfortably beat Star Admiral, who did well to gain the runner-up berth despite looking a trifle gross at the parade ring. Flaming Falcon, who attracted support after Disruptor was withdrawn, clearly needed this outing and it will pay to persevere with this Prasanna youngster in the months ahead.

Eco Friendly helped Sharath Kumar post a win, winning the lower division of the Nagarjuna Sagar Plate  in the hands of Sai Kumar. The favourite Arathorn in this event, it appeared was never in the hunt and eventually finished in the ruck. Perfect Justice from Azhar Ali's yard finished second ahead of Star Domination. And the one and only favourite to win in the eight-event card was Tactical Command who produced a good turn of foot in the hands of apprentice jockey Chandrashekar to edge out Twilight Fame close home. The quietly fancied runner-up piloted by another apprentice Siddaraju in this no whip race, stole a march at the distance post and looked set to score before Tactical Command in a never-say-die bid gained the day.