The Poonawalla Mysore Derby has the look of a minefield. With Fantabulous King and Spectacular Quest not being in the fray for one reason or the season and the specter of uncertainty haunting the participation of Adesina, winner-picking is a hazardous proposition. Logically, Full Speed who finished third in the Bangalore Derby should have enjoyed the pride of position under the circumstances but the son of Burden of Proof blotted his copybook with a listless performance and has a lot of reputation to redeem. Three contenders go into the race without any fitness problem and they are Queen of Fashion, City Zip and Berlioz. But with a lot of questions being raised either about their class or staying power, one may have to wait till the conclusion of the race to get the answer.

Adesina who is trained by Darius Byramji ran Spectacular Quest close in the Mysore 2000 Guineas and though her celebrated full brother River God never did well beyond nine furlongs, her class is considered good enough to tackle the 2000 metres trip as the opposition she is facing apparently is poor. However she is reported to have had a hoof puncture but the connections have preferred to take their chances by electing to run her. The punters are thus put in a dilemma as is the habit with the stable. Can one expect Adesina to perform to full potential? Whatever the outcome, one thing is sure: She has missed the decisive piece of work that would have kept her in top fitness.

Full Speed was sluggish at the start in the Guineas and his jockey no doubt rode a poor race and contributed to his pathetic performance. Since then, Full Speed has had a mock race but that run was not promising. There has to be a sea change in Full Speed’s form and fitness for him to be a force to reckon with. All said and done, he will be ridden by Silva Storai who though has a Derby win to her credit, does not measure up when it comes to as big an event as the Derby.

Queen of Fashion has not done anything spectacular to warrant great support. She ran behind Adesina in the Gr 3 Bangalore Summer Million and was beaten again by Camarioca in the Gr 3 Mysore 1000 Guineas. Though her full sister Allaire was a winner of a Derby, Queen of Fashion is not in the same league. However, it is quite possible that the poor quality of filed in the fray might just enable her to lift the level of performance.

City Zip goes into the race with a solid lead up race over nine furlongs where he came from behind to get the measure of Fantabulous King and Yutai. He will get the trip fine but whether he has the requisite class to win the Derby is something one cannot be sure of.

Berlioz has the class but he was a doubtful starter for the race because his owners believed that his breeding restricts his ability to get the 10 furlong trip effectively. He is a well performed horse, having earlier won the Gr 3 Nanoli Stud Million. His run in the 2000 Guineas has to be ignored because he did not handle the ground and stumbled thrice during the race. He is not a good work horse and as such, jockey Malesh Narredu has preferred to ride Allectus who was beaten by a modest performer like Lanark in his last essay. Narredu is not known for his ability to make the right choice when confronted with a problem and as such, one cannot read too much into his preference. The final workout of Berlioz was quite satisfactory and with jockey Srinath to guide his chances, he is indeed a frontline contender. The trainer is quite optimistic about Berlioz getting the 10 furlong trip effectively. That leaves us with Staranzano and Ministrel Heights. Starnzano will be ridden by jockey Pesi Shroff who will perhaps be making his last appearance as a jockey on this track. The celebrated jockey, who has 30 Derby wins to his credit in his illustrious career, has decided to call it a day at the end of the Pune season and take up license as a trainer. Ministrel Heights has only a nuisance value.