It was an ominous start for punters on Sunday as their drubbing started at Malakpet with the inexplicable defeat of Young Diana in the curtain raiser at Malakpet less than an hour before they were to get mauled during the Pune races which were conducted simultaneously. Pontefract was another juvenile who proved to be an expensive failure. Jockey Trevor Patel, who had travelled to Hyderabad to guide the fortunes of Arc De Triomphe in the Nizam’s Gold Cup, had three other assignments during the day too but he succeeded only aboard Australia.

The field competing for the Nizam’s Gold Cup (Gr.2) was reduced to three following Monteverdi’s withdrawal from the fray. Adhirajsingh Jodha trained Arc De Triomphe was the odds-on favourite to claim the feature but he was humbled by Suleiman Attaollahi trained Fire Power (Speaking of Which – Roses In Bloom). S Saqlain ridden Fire Power was badly off from the gates but covered the ground soon to lie a handy third behind Kalamitsi and Arc De Triomphe. The latter was eased into the lead by Trevor as the three horses took the final turn whilst Saqlain too launched his assault at this juncture. Arc De Triomphe could not break free from his rivals and found Fire Power moving resolutely on his outside. Fire Power nailed Arc De Triomphe after a brief tussle and went on to win convincingly. Kalamitsi trailed behind.

Trevor had a disastrous start astride Laxman Singh saddled Young Diana, who found the moneybags entrusting her with their money despite her failure at Bangalore last month. Young Diana was backed as if defeat was out of question but the punters ended up burning their fingers once again as the bay filly was upstaged by Precious, who had finished a good nine lengths behind her when they last met at Bangalore. Precious raced alongside Kenna till over two furlongs left to go for the wire and took command as soon as Saqlain put her into top gear. The RH Sequeira groomed filly kicked on gamely even as Trevor got Young Diana going in the straight. The late rally of the shortest priced runner of the day did nothing to alleviate the heartburn of her followers and could only reduce the margin of defeat. Bold Beauty was a faraway third ahead of Fayola.

The hopes raised by Leo D’silva nursed Pontefract when she ran second behind Alexina earlier this month turned out to be false in the race won by Only The Brave. Afroz Khan piloted Pontefract failed to match strides with the winner and was outpaced throughout. KSV Prasad Raju trained Only The Brave was swiftly off from the barriers on this occasion and won untroubled all the way home in the hands of Santosh Raj. Thunder King was in a futile chase throughout and ended second with debutant Veneno finishing on to be third ahead of the disgraced favourite.

Laxman and Trevor offered some solace to punters when on-money favourite Australia shed his maiden status and treated his rivals disdainfully on his way to victory. Australia (Knight’s Tour – Sunflower) raced in a striking position behind no-hoper Flashing Memories and Windsor who called the early shots over the mile trip. Australia moved up gradually to join the leaders when they turned for home and Trevor then pressed the favourite into the lead. The winner got stronger in the final furlong and scored a facile victory over Stunning Art, Queen Empress and Maverick, who followed him home in a single file.

West Brook, the challenger from Bangalore who had recently graduated from the maiden ranks at home, went out as the joint favourite in the Independence Cup, a Class III event. Attaollahi’s ward was forced to carry 3.5kg extra as Trevor could not make the 50kg handicap assigned to West Brook. The chestnut three-year old filly gave a gallant performance but found the top-weighted Ashoka a hard nut to crack. Despite running after a long layoff of over ten months and carrying an imposing 61kg on his back, MR Chauhan saddled Ashoka (Gusto – Epsilon Orionis) gave a gutsy performance to claim the top honours. Jockey A. Imran Khan had Ashoka racing on the heels of Candy Girl who was accompanied by Mr Perfect. Ashoka ranged alongside Candy Girl to wrest the lead about two furlongs from home and showed no rustiness as Imran guided him towards a gratifying comeback victory. West Brook, after racing in the rear, came through the shortest way and gained good ground but Ashoka was in no mood to relent. Candy Girl held on to the third spot with Huntingdon finishing fourth.

K Satheesh saddled Power Ranger justified his favouritism when earning his first career bracket. Power Ranger (Win Legend – Odetta) came with a big run down the straight when alerted by RS Jodha as the heads turned for home. He swooped down on the leader Classical Music, who had earlier thwarted the attempt of Indradhanush and Pancho to overhaul her. Power Ranger then scampered home to oblige his supporters. Classical Music ended runner up with Pancho and Indradhanush taking the remaining two minor places.

Despite running more than a distance behind winner Enabling over a sprint earlier this month, Lady Danger showed remarkable improvement to achieve her maiden success over a seven-furlong trip. DS Deora settled MS Parmar’s ward in the rear to avoid the crowded field in the front which was headed by Silver Lining. Lady Danger (Stardan – Almarada) made steady progress as she travelled towards the inner rails and was brought into contention by Deora when the field entered the home stretch. The bay mare was hard ridden before she found her rhythm with less than a furlong left for her destination and put the issue to rest after snatching the lead from Silver Lining. London Bell ran thereabouts to finish second ahead of favourite Exclusive Luck and Silver Lining.

After playing hide and seek with the winning post since her debut last year, Prasad Raju nurtured Honourable Lady (Kingda Ka – Shalamanka) also earned her maiden victory in the last race of the day. It was a perfect case of ‘money makes the mare run’ as Honourable Lady gave an energetic performance and unravelled a smooth run to land the spoils for her connections. Honourable Lady travelled on the bit as P Sai Kumar steered her past the leaders in the straight and kept her going to keep Sweet Talk at bay. Canterbury and Dream Jewel figured on the judge’s board on sufferance.