Competing in the K. Srinivas Reddy Memorial Cup,  trainer Ravinder Singh-trained five-year old mare Calista Girl blew away her rivals with a splendid turn of foot in Tuesday’s feature event. None among sixteen horses in the line-up had a clear-cut chance though She Can and Romantic Grey attracted a fair share in the betting ring for a race which wore an open look. As the field took off for the six-furlong sprint, Pontefract showed the way to the field even as Calista Girl overcame the wide draw to be alongside Blissful quickly and that move brought her in close touch with the leaders. Both Romantic Grey and She Can raced in the mid bunch and were not favourably placed when Pontefract brought the field into the straight where Gaurav Singh made his move and asked his mount for an effort. Calista Girl (Cougar Mountain – Incandescent) responded instantly by leaping forth and then sped away to leave her rivals struggling. Pontefract latched on to the second place whilst Shadow Fax and Warwick took the third and fourth spot respectively. Romantic Grey and She Can did not figure in the finish and missed the judges’ board.
 
Another resolute ride by Gaurav enabled lesser-fancied Detective from Srinivas Reddy’s stables to strike immediately after electing to run in the lower class. Detective stayed on the outer flank throughout as Briar Ridge sped to the front with Linda and Star Forever in hot pursuit. Detective (Sedgefield – Translation) displayed tremendous acceleration when shown daylight by Gaurav to go surging ahead of Briar Ridge and was home and dry by the time Sugar, who languished at the wrong end of the field till the final turn, could warm up to her task. Star Forever ended in the money with Emperor’s Charm failing to make any impact when finishing way behind. Favourite Linda flopped badly and dropped out of contention at the bend to finish in the rut.
 
Magan Singh Parmar-saddled Petra Act was another fancied runner to flop during the day as the 10 to 6 on favourite too failed to make it to the judges’ board. The race was won by second favourite Vital Sign (Arod – Mirfield) who took charge from Star Medal inside the last two furlongs and the filly from Hilton Sequeira’s won convincingly from Star Medal, Exclusive Luck and Dino. K. Mukesh Kumar-partnered Petra Act, who was backed to the exclusion of her rivals, was under pressure  throughout when chasing the winner in vain before being overtaken by Exclusive Luck and even debutant Dino in the last furlong.
 
Get Lucky was one of the few first favourites to oblige as the K. Satheesh trainee won warding off the late challenge of NRI Ultrapower close home. Get Lucky went straight down to business over the seven-furlong trip and was driven confidently by Ekram Alam to repel the fierce assault launched by Varun-ridden NRI Ultrapower, who found her rhythm only in the final furlong. Get Lucky (Sedgefield – Santamarija Festa) survived to win by half-length. Only My Way finished third ahead of China Town.   
 
The three-year old filly Petaluma, who had shed her maiden status with a runaway victory at Bangalore recently, carried that form to Hyderabad to claim the Godavari Cup. Unlike her previous two efforts, Petaluma lacked the early pace and found herself racing behind My Challenge, who seized the initiative from Misty Night and Mystical Dawn with Ayushman also showing urgency to join them ahead. As My Challenge was done with his front-running on reaching the two-furlong marker, Kuldeep Singh (Sr.) eased Ayushman into the lead but found G. Vivek-steered Petaluma breathing down his neck. Both Ayushman and Petaluma fought a pitched battle in the last furlong with Vivek managing to get the latter to pin down her rival in the last fifty metres. Leo D’Silva-schooled Petaluma (Deauville – Peninsula) was a length clear of Ayushman at the wire and this duo was well ahead of Racing Ruler, who came with a long-stretched run to finish third whilst Mystical Dawn failed to quicken and plodded into the fourth spot.
 
Vittal Deshmukh-mentored Arabeska finally graduated from the maiden ranks in her fourth career attempt in the day’s curtain raiser. Ashhad Asbar had Arabeska settled behind Marissa and Pride Aside, who disputed the lead in the initial stages of the seven-furlong journey, and changed gears when the latter assumed command as soon as the field straightened for home. The on-money favourite Arabeska (Dreamfield – Connemara) picked up momentum when pressed by Asbar to collar Pride Aside and cruised ahead for a fluent win. Pride Aside had to settle for the second place, well in front of Honey Luna and Divine Faith.
 
Deshmukh ended his day with a double when bottom-weighted Bien Pensant scored her first career win at the age of six in the concluding event. Hilton Sequeira-groomed Natu Natu was installed as the firm favourite but the debutant raised no hopes for his followers at any stage of the race. Surya Prakash-partnered Bien Pensant (Ampere – Pure Elation) came with a sustained run in the straight to tackle Most Beautiful about a furlong and half away from the winning post and drew away for an emphatic win. Genie was second with Fortune Art, after dropping back momentarily, took the third spot with a renewed effort. Natu Natu was strongly driven by G. Naresh but she could only finish fourth.
 
The 20 to 1 longshot Shadow Baby scored a stunning upset in a “No Whip” event. A. Imran Khan-saddled Shadow Baby (Excellent Art – Meohmy) raced well up with leader Rolls Royce and had favourite Shooting Star close behind. Shadow Baby (Excellent Art – Meohmy) was entrusted in the hands of Md Ismail for obvious reasons but the lesser-known rider was not willing to let the opportunity to score slip as he drove his mount purposefully to collar Rolls Royce inside the final furlong and beat Shooting Star fair and square by two lengths. Rolls Royce was third with the rest of the runners finishing way behind.