Malakpet Race Course in Hyderabad opened in 1970. It is the only racing facility planned and built in the post British Raj era. Yes, there was a great deal of fanfare and praise all around. I was there in 1970 though I do not remember a thing with one exception. There was a long line of eager fans at the first enclosure entrance waiting for the gates to open.

Secunderabad had hosted racing in Hyderabad for a long time. The monsoon campaign would get underway in August. The Nizam’s Gold Cup was the crown jewel in the Hyderabad racing calendar. The meeting would end before the three major centres took over in early November. Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata were the three big venues. Yes, Chennai was healthy and vibrant. Kolkata offered good racing and the Calcutta Gold Cup was the one race that every owner in South India wanted to win. Mumbai’s Classics were the private domain of trainer Rashid Byramji. He was the dominant force in Western India. In 1973, Bangalore opted to go ahead with a winter campaign. Along with its salubrious climate, Bangalore was a metropolis offering eminently liveable conditions and not polluted yet by unmanageable traffic and congestion caused by a burgeoning population.

Hyderabad had taken a giant step forward. It was trying to achieve parity with the other clubs. Chennai was falling apart. Kolkata, with the Maharajas on the decline and a conspicuous lack of people interested in horse ownership, was losing its vitality. With a diminishing fan base and the absence of a viable horse population, Kolkata slid into a financial crisis. Things are looking up and the Invitation Cup in 2007 offered abundant evidence that the Royal Calcutta Turf Club is on an upward curve. The leadership of Cyrus Madan has been the primary reason for Kolkata’s revival.

With fortunes waning and rising at major clubs, Hyderabad was determined to go in only one direction. Malakpet kept moving forward. With an innovative team, the Hyderabad Race Club paid attention to every minute detail. Everything was built around what a fan would want for an enjoyable day at the races. Under the stewardship of Surender Reddy, the Chairman, HRC has set on an inexorable march toward meeting three goals. Give the fan a good product, provide the right environment in which to enjoy the product and do everything possible to create, sustain and nourish ‘consumer confidence.’

I was at Malakpet in 2003 for the Invitation Cup weekend. Looking back, I can say without hesitation that it was a great weekend of racing. It was especially rewarding because my fancy in the Invitation Cup, Zurbaran, trained by S Padmanabhan, landed the spoils.

Noble Eagle had shocked the fans in the 2003 Indian Derby at Mahalakshmi. He made it all and kept running when others came at him. Noble Eagle was back at Malakpet but Zurbaran, who had gone in futile chase in the Derby, was back in the fray and more importantly, had a new jockey. Trainer Padmanabhan had brought in Martin Dwyer, a relatively unknown English rider.

Martin Dwyer took the trip behind the pace-setting Noble Eagle but was on the move early in the stretch to engage the latter to a duel. The pace had been anything but pedestrian and it was clear halfway down the Malakpet homestretch that Zurbaran and Dwyer were winning the argument.

It was Zurbaran that set Martin Dwyer on the path to greater glory. He won three races at Epsom Downs on Oaks Day in 2003. I vividly remember looking at the horses and riders in the first race and Martin Dwyer was on a filly called Aldora. No second thoughts for me. Aldora won at 3-1. In the second, Dwyer was aboard Passing Glance and it was win number two. The fifth race was the Oaks and Martin Dwyer was on Casual Look who was at 12 to 1 and over. Casual Look, owned by William Farish, the US ambassador in the UK, had the last laugh.

There was no stopping Martin Dwyer then on. In 2006, in a four-part photo finish, Dwyer drove Sir Percy through the narrowest of openings along the wood, to win the Epsom Derby. At the moment, Dwyer who rose to prominence with Zurbaran in Hyderabad five years ago, is one of the top riders in England.

This year’s renewal has several interesting angles. Can Hotstepper step up again and confirm his superiority? Noble Prince, despite negatives, was pacing on and there are those who believe he would have won the Indian Derby had he been a trifle fitter. Sweeping Success was glorious in defeat and is a major player. Bourbon King poses a dilemma to the fans. Can he bounce back? I have heard many say that Colm O’Donoghue gave his mount too much to do. Retribution did enough in Mumbai to keep his fans’ optimism going.

In 2006, Mystical was beaten in the Derby. He redeemed himself in the Invitation Cup. In 2007, Southern Empire was humiliated by Diabolical, a stablemate in the Indian Derby.  In the Invitation Cup, Southern Empire won unchallenged. Will Bourbon King, the beaten favourite in Mumbai, do the same?  The one big difference this year is that the Invitation Cup field will not be dominated by Dr Ramaswamy’s horses. There are other exciting possibilities.