It is an accepted line and it's true. After the Derby the favourites play truant at this centre and it happened again this week-end. All four favourites took a back seat on Saturday and bar the solitary short-priced favourite, Duke Of Tuscany and two well supported  joint favourites Lex Luthor and Sling Shot, the rest including the two piping hot, on-money favourites, Preview and Deep Respect, piloted by leading pro Suraj Narredu failed miserably, reminding the punters that winner picking gets tricky after the song and dance on D-day and the followers of form need to exercise caution till the curtain is drawn on the summer season. 

The Darius Byramji-trained Regal Beauty was the first favourite to bite the dust. Competing in the Karnataka Police Trophy, which was included in the seven-event card framed for Sunday, Regal Beauty on the strength of her impressive victory in her last essay and the fact that she was consistently blazing the track in the morning trials was backed to the exclusion of her eight rivals, but to the dismay of her supporters, the Darius trainee piloted by leading pro Antony Raj, much to the chagrin of the followers of form produced a dismal effort and failed to even save money in place. This pushed the punters, who were looking to start on a winning note, back against the wall from which they never recovered and after the five to one shot Vibrant Queen showed a clean pair of heels to her eight rivals including Deep Respect, who was touted a moral certainty in the concluding event, the railbirds walked back home with no money for beer and in no mood to cheer their favourite teams later in the World Cup soccer final. 

The Gregory Sandhu-trained Jailer topped the betting board in the lower division of the Bold Gesture Plate, which was also fitted into the Sunday card following a thunder shower which forced the stewards to cut short the proceedings on Saturday. The strongly supported top fancy met a tartar in Honeypot from Narayan Gowda's yard, who successfully made every post a winning one without extending herself. Jailer put many of his supporters in jail, failing to match strides with Honey Pot, while the Arjun Manglorkar-trained Khazana is yet to find the 'Khazana' she is looking for all through the season. 

The Praveen Jesu-trained Sling Shot and Dr Colchester from the stables of Shoban Babu shared favouritism in the lower division of the Amazing Grace Plate run over a sprint. While Sling Shot  in the hands of Vivek produced his best to enter the winners' circle, Dr Colchester failed in his mission to make a race of it and eventually finished in the ruck. 

The upper division of the event on cards promised an intense struggle for supremacy between the two joint favourites, Lex Luthor from Kishan Thomas' yard and the Shoban Babu schooled Double Scotch. The latter piloted by veteran jockey Imran Chisty streaked ahead at the distance post and looked set to score before Antony Raj astride Lex Luthor in a never-say-die bid brought the Thomas trainee into contention and after a ding-dong battle gained the day to the delight of his supporters.

The Sulaiman Attaollahi-trained Perfect Dream despite a bad wide outside draw (12) was fancied most in the Mamma's Mink Plate run over a sprint. Trevor Patel, back after recovering from a shoulder injury was listed to partner the Sulaiman ward, who only raced in patches and finished off the frame, much to the disappointment of the Sulaiman camp, who were very bullish of her chances in this juvenile event for maidens. Debutant Eminent Gold from the stables of Darius, piloted in copybook fashion by Antony Raj stole the limelight edging out the lesser fancied Teak and the second choice Personal Legend in a cluster finish. The runner-up, who appeared a trifle gross at the parade ring with this good run under her belt is certain to go one better next time out.

A facile last start winner, Absolute Force from the stables of Joseph Awale was tipped to provide an encore while justifying favouritism in the Raja Of Bobbili Memorial Trophy run over a distance of seven furlongs. Aquamatic from Azhar Ali's yard too was fearlessly supported and he in the hands of Akshay Kumar powered home in convincing style. Invincible followed the winner home ahead of the Aravind Ganapathy schooled Star Comet, while Absolute Force on this day looked a spent force even before the race came on a boil. 

Champion trainer Pesi Shroff who enjoyed a dream run, winning all three classics including the Zavaray Poonwalla summer Derby and some of the major plums, signed off in style, the public rage Duke Of Tuscany providing Vivek an arm-chair ride to success in the Governor's Cup run over a distance of 2400 metres. 

A winner on debut, Preview under the care of James McKeown was backed to the exclusion of her rivals in the lower division of the Flirting Vision Plate and all she did was take many green sacks down the drain, finishing a poor third behind the top weighted winner Doncaster Belle and the runner-up Rocking Star. All credit to Darius for sending out Doncaster Belle in fine shape. The filly despite making a comeback after seven long months produced a fine effort to make her entry into the winners' circle and on the strength of this fine effort is tipped to score again, when saddled next.