Southen Empire avenges Indian Derby defeat
By Alibaba

Mar 12, 2007

Southern Empire was first and the rest were nowhere in the 2400m Indian Turf Invitation Cup (Gr.1), the showpiece event in the Indian racing calendar held on Sunday. The victory of the S. Ganapathy trained horse also settled the score with his stablemate, Diabolical, who had stopped the 10 successive-win streak of the Placerville-Stunning son in the Indian Derby over a month ago.

The race was run at a hot pace with Red Apache dictating terms over Diabolical till the 1200m marker. Southern Empire was fifth behind Super Speed and Man Of The Match, while Silver Print was last. The race took a serious turn passing the 1000m when Diabolical took charge of the running. Jockey Colm O'Donoghue, atop Southern Empire, however, waited for a while before making his final move. Nearing the 800m post O'Donoghue alerted the 6-10 favourite and shot into the lead approaching the final turn. Thereafter, the race was over for all practical purposes. Southern Empire drew away from the field and won the way he liked.

Ganapathy's other ward, Secret Memory, downed his stablemate, Haunting Memories in the Maj. P.K. Mehra Memorial Super Mile Cup (Gr.1). The winner, also ridden by O'Donoghue, made his own running from the start and won comfortably, though he was seen shifting-in nearing the distance-post. Haunting Memory, on the other hand, was ridden off the pace and jockey Y.Srinath brought her the shortest way home. Srinath, however, failed to capitalise on the good run along the rails and switched the course when the shifting-in Secret Memory narrowed the galloping room.