Sulaiman Attaollahi trained Fire Power easily beat his only serious rival Arc De Triomphe to claim the Gr 2 Nizam’s Gold Cup, a terms race for four-year-olds and over, the feature event of Sunday’s Hyderabad races held at Malakpet. The race which once used to enjoy a premier status of the monsoon calendar has lost its sheen, with a handful of outstation runners vying for honours. Ironically though this year’s winner was Fire Power who mostly raced under locally-based trainer Vittal Deshmukh before moving to Bangalore.

There were just four runners in the fray and out of the four, Monteverdi was withdrawn on veterinary grounds. That meant that there were two runners from Sulaiman Attaollahi’s yard and one from Adhirajsingh Jodha yard. Arc De Triomphe enjoyed favouritism. After Kalamisti weakened to go out of contention, Arc De Triomphe held the fort but could not sustain a strong effort by Fire Power who was so good to the field that despite losing enormous ground at the start due to a lethargic beginning, gradually covered the leeway and overhauled the favourite with a great deal of ease and won comfortably in the hands of jockey Saqlain.

The practice of allowing jockeys to carry 3.5 kgs overweight in a handicap race is something the Stewards should not entertain. The onus is on the trainer to find a jockey to conform to the handicap failing which the system itself is bound to fail. Jockey Trevor Patel was allowed to carry an overweight of 3.5 kgs on West Brook who won had won a maiden’s race at Bangalore. The well-performed Ashoka was also in serious betting despite running after a long layoff. The M R Chauhan trained Ashoka was handily placed at the top of the straight and jockey Imran Khan was able to have the second favourite take charge early in the straight. Ashoka bounced clear and by the time West Brook could warm up to the task, the race was in the safekeeping of the front-runner. The one-length margin clearly indicated that if the jockey had not carried overweight, the result could have been different. Ther punters in such situations feel cheated. Candy Girl was faraway third.

Prasad Raju trained Only The Brave was well fancied to win the 1100 metres Mica Emperor Plate (Div I), a race for maiden three-year-olds. The favourite though was Pontefract who had finished a faraway second to Alexina in her previous effort. Only The Brave simply swept the others off their feet as he led the field from the start by lengths and had no problems in maintaining dominance all the way to the post. Thunder Knight ran on with a purpose to finish ahead of Veneno while Pontefract was never in the hunt. Young Diana from the stables of trainer Laxman Singh was the short-priced favourite to win the lower division of the race. After tracking Kenna into the straight, Precious in the hands of Saqlain quickly established a big lead over the favourite whose finishing effort went in vain. The front-runner had enough cushion to take care of the late rally of Young Diana. Bold Beauty was third.

Trevor Patel who otherwise had a poor day at the office was astride runaway winner Australia in the 1600 metres Hyderabad Plate, a race for maiden three-year-olds. Australia quickly assumed command on turning for home and brooked no opposition as he won by a widening margin of six lengths over Stunning Art and Queen Empress. The early pace-setters Flashing Memories and Windsor failed to sustain their effort and finished poorly.

There was a change in the pattern of winners saddled by trainer Satheesh in that Power Ranger was strongly backed to win the 1400 metres Shamirpet Cup (Div I), a race for horses rated 20 to 45. The trainer has made a habit of winning only at long odds. Power Ranger was able to overhaul the front-running Classic Remark in the final furlong and then went clear for an easy win. Pancho was third. Magan Singh Parmar trained Lady Danger burst into the lead inside the final furlong, won the lower division of the race in the hands of jockey Nikhil at lucrative odds. London Belle was second while favourite Exclusive Luck failed to gather steam in the final furlong and ended up a tame third.