Shiraz Sunderji trained Menilly was surprisingly off-colour in her previous outings but bounced back to her prime form when decimating the opposition in the 1200 metres Hyderabad Cup, a race for horses rated 40 to 65, the feature event of races held at Malakpet on Monday. Menilly who had recorded an impressive win early in her career at Mumbai did not perform to expectations in the five outings that she had on the Malakpet track but showed the spark of old when winning after 344 days.

The inspired betting on Menilly close to race time perhaps was an indication of the shape of things to come. Though Menilly was not well-positioned till turning for home, having been settled in about the 10th position, the daughter of Leitir Mor started to improve swiftly in the stretch and by the final furlong, was hailed a winner. Menilly won with ease from Amyra and late finishing Hashtag. Mark My Day who was the second preferred horse made no show.

Without any appreciable forward run, Prasad Raju trained Blast In Class came in for big betting in the 1200 metres Auxiliary Plate (Div I), a race for non-winners, rated 20 to 46. Close to race time, Sunderji trained Farrell also was thumped in the betting ring to eventually end up as a favourite. Blass In Class struggled to overhaul the front-running Quality Warrior with a furlong left in the race and looked a beaten cause. Farrell who produced good acceleration at around the same stormed ahead of Quality Warrior to record an easy win. Ambitious Star was third ahead of Blast In Class. The aggressively ridden Georgia Peach just about managed to get the better of NRI Millennium in the waning yards of the race to land the spoils in the lower division of the race. The latter came in for strong betting in the ring to become the favourite ahead of the original favourite Georgia Peach. It was the eighth career start for Georgia Peach. Its On nosed out Cash Register to get the third slot.

Shashikanth trained Ashwa Shirwal had no problem in trouncing the opposition in the 1200 metres Saroornagar Plate (Div I), a race for maiden three-year-olds. With the ante-post favourite Sergeant Reckless having been withdrawn from the fray, Carnival Lady was widely believed to have the best chance. In the event, Ashwa Shirwal had no rivals as he sped away from the field to win by a margin of over four lengths. City Cruise took the second spot ahead of Dynaoosh who nosed out Carnival Lady to save place money. Leo D`Silva trained Bangor On Dee broke into a big lead in the final furlong and this held the lesser fancied runner in good stead to thwart the late bid of long shot Desert Sultan in the lower division of the race. Jockey Mukesh Kumar was astride the winner. Favourite Sweet Dancer was a disappointing third.

Sequeira trained NRI Superpower readily justified the strong support in the 1600 metres Malvado Plate, a race for maiden three-year-olds. NRI Superpower had things under control all the way and won by a widening margin of seven lengths over Voice of a Dream. The latter missed the kick at the start but that made no material difference. Favourite Bellagio was also never in the hunt.

Jockey Mukesh Kumar rode a peach of a race, showing good reflexes and anticipation while guiding favourite Ashwa Sultan to a narrow win over NRI Ruby in the 1400 metres Dream Girl Plate (Div I), a race for horses rated up to 25. Ashwa Sultan was in danger of being blocked along the rails approaching the final furlong but Mukesh quickly angled his horse out and managed to find his way between horses to deliver the goods. Story Teller was third. Lesser fancied NRI Gift from the stables of Shashikanth won the lower division of the race at nourishing odds easily accounting for Diziztymtowin. Favourite Good Tidings was a tame third.