The bay filly Imperia, the crown jewel in trainer Ananta Vatsalya stables, reached the pinnacle of her career when winning the Governor’s Cup against a host of speedy competitors. As the classy field of thirteen rushed out from the starting stalls, Decacorn, who had reeled off four consecutive victories at Mysore, hit the front with an imposing 62kg on his back with local aspirant Lashka coming well from the widest draw to join him. By the time the field reached the halfway mark, the five contestants – Decacorn, Lashka, Darling Boy, Imperia and Vivaldo, had broken away from the pack. Akshay Kumar-ridden and P. Ruban-saddled Decacorn and LVR Deshmukh’s ward Lashka with BR Kumar in saddle remained locked in a keen tussle till inside the last furlong and half. Apprentice Ajay Kumar-partnered Darling’s Boy shifted out under pressure while coming into the straight and hampered Imran Chisty-piloted Vivaldo’s run when they both were poised to launch their assault. Before Darling’s Boy and Vivaldo could regain their stride, Ajeeth Kumar-steered Imperia was poised to threaten Decacorn and Lashka.
 
In a surprising and adventurous move, Ajeeth decided to change course and bring Imperia through the opening between the two front-runners. In doing so, Imperia made contact with Decacorn and squeezed him out of the contest. Meanwhile, Vivaldo had his neck ahead of Lashka but Imperia (Declaration of War – Azurite) stormed ahead in the final hundred metres and was simply unstoppable thereafter. In a fitting tribute to her master’s craft, Imperia won the seventh race of her career sparing a length and quarter to Vivaldo, who was an identical distance ahead of Lashka whilst Darling’s Boy ran three lengths away in the fourth spot. Imperia has finished off the board only twice that too at the start of her career when Vatsalya was still experimenting with use of equipment on her. He got it right in the fourth start of Imperia’s career and the filly has not looked back thereafter.
 
With two races from Monday’s race meeting, which was cancelled due to paucity of runners, nine races figured on Sunday’s card. Both events added to Sunday’s meeting were won by favourites, however, punters experienced a roller-coaster ride as three races had unexpected winners. The lower division of the Bhupalpally Plate proved to be a virtual gift for RH Sequeira-saddled filly Divine Secret, the money-back favourite to win the seven-furlong race. Divine Secret waited patiently behind Classical Music and Elegant Lady who set the early till they came into the straight. BR Kumar astride Divine Secret (Dali – Vallee Secrete) soon stepped up the pace to tackle the leader and the filly drew away from the feeble set of opponents for her second straight success. Elegant Lady, Classical Music and Caraxes were spread out when following the winner home.
 
Robin Reddy-groomed Perception was the half-money favourite to win the first division of the Bhupalpally Plate but the bay gelding was stretched to the hilt when making it two in a row within a fortnight. Gaurav Singh took My Challenge on a pillar-to-post mission and almost made it before G. Naresh went all out astride Perception (Sedgefield – Providence), whose last surge saw him win by a neck. Catch The Worm was outclassed in the straight and finished a tame third with Sadiya taking the fourth spot.
 
Star Forever, who ran a forward race before finishing third over seven-furlongs last week, was heavily backed to win the B. Marideshwara Rao Memorial Cup, a six-furlong sprint for horses in Class III. P. Sai Kumar-ridden Star Forever (Excellent Art – Forever Glory) showed a clean pair of heels to her rivals though the KSV Prasad-saddled filly was given some reminders when she started to relax in the last furlong but won comfortably in the end. Glorious Power chased the winner in the straight but failed to progress beyond finishing runner-up while Warwick improved late to be in the money ahead of Arion One.
 
Another on-money favourite to complete an encore was Dubai Touch, who claimed the Salar Jung Cup, a Class III event run over five and half furlong scurry. Rolls Royce showed plenty of initial speed to seize control of the running and was hotly chased by Pacific Heights and High Heels whilst Dubai Touch raced in the fourth position. Rolls Royce succeeded in thwarting Pacific Heights’ attempt to tackle him but failed to contain Dubai Touch’s onslaught. Neelesh Rawal-groomed Dubai Touch (Perfect Stride – Light Dubai) spurted well under Ashhad Asbar’s strong urgings in the last furlong and half before swooping down on Rolls Royce and then keeping High Heels at bay. Hard-ridden Exclusive Black improved late and finished third by edging out Rolls Royce near the post.
 
Sequeira-trained NRI Ultrapower, whose previous defeat as a favourite saw jockey Varun incurring the wrath of the stewards, obliged in the hands of Akshay in the Northern Dancer Plate. NRI Ultrapower and last-outing winner Noble Heart were the joint favourites and they went on to dominate the finish. Armstrong called the early shots ahead of Colt Pistol and NRI Sport whilst both Noble Heart and NRI Ultrapower raced behind. Noble Heart made swift progress to be in the reckoning at the top of the straight and overhauled Colt Pistol when Kuldeep Singh (Sr.) launched his bid. NRI Ultrapower (Saamidd – Captain’s Lover) was under severe pressure and Akshay had to drive her out before the mare found her rhythm in the final furlong. She soon caught up with Noble Heart and skipped away for a fluent win over her adversary with NRI Sport and Armstrong figuring in the final frame.
 
The four-year old filly Safala from Magan Singh Parmar’s yard had only one career run under her belt but she came in for sustained support in the betting ring in the day’s last race. Ilene fought for her head before hitting the front while K. Mukesh Kumar had Safala comfortably settled behind her. Safala (Dali – Sheer Elation) came with a smooth run soon after entering the final run-in and went sailing past Ilene in a trice to win untroubled thereafter. Cape May finished runner-up, almost a distance behind the winner while Ilene faded out to be third ahead, just half-length ahead of Niloufer The Great.
 
Totally unfancied in their respective events, Onslaught from Raza Shehzad stables and MF Ali Khan-groomed Shubrak went on record logic-defying victories. Onslaught succeeded in the set of maiden juveniles while Shubrak won in the lowest class. Onslaught, who was slowly out on debut and finished down the field about thirty-five lengths behind the winner only three weeks ago, took a level jump and was soon heading the field of eleven in the Silver Phantom Plate. Onslaught (Air Support – Jezzabelle) was joined by La Quinta in the straight but jockey RN Darshan made free use of his whip to repel the latter’s assault and eventually prevailed by a length. Real Thalaivaa managed to finish third ahead of Konaseema. Favourite Pride Aside ran far below expectations and failed to finish in the first four.
 
Natu Natu, who had let down a large following on debut last month when saddled by Srinivas Reddy, was once again installed as the favourite. Ridden by G. Naresh and sent out by Laxman Singh on this occasion, Natu Natu slipped into the lead when the gates opened while Shubrak raced well up with the favourite while his stablemate Jim and Most Beautiful were close behind. Natu Natu packed up shortly after leading the field into the home stretch allowing Shubrak to assume command. AA Vikrant-partnered six-year old Shubrak (Top Class – Scuderia), who had finished a whopping forty-five lengths behind the winner after his hood came off at the start two weeks ago, scampered away under the whip to register a stunning upset and taste his first career success. Runner-up Most Beautiful, Aos Si and Battle finished in that order in close proximity behind the winner.