The Indian 2000 Guineas, Gr.1 is a race which has seen it all. It has had a dead-heat (the only one in an Indian Classic) when the camera failed to separate Buland and Our Select; it has had a successful objection when Spellbound took the race away from on-the-track winner Bright Hanovar; there has been a match (rather, a mismatch) between Royal Tern and Ajaya; there have been brilliant victories of Princess Beautiful, Her Majesty, Alijah, Bade Miya, Royal Tern, Almanac, Sir Bruce, Enrico, Super Brave, Flaming Star and Continual where the field was left out with the washing and there has been the blanket finish of 1945-46 when Namdar, Flying Home, Goodwill and Priority were separated by a shd, a hd and a neck. 

There are 21 horses still left-in for Sunday's renewal and if all of them are declared to start it will be the biggest field for the race, matching the number that the starter despatched in Royal Crusader's year in 1947-48. As it stands, seven are boarded with Pesi Shroff/Shyam Habbu, Shirkes have five with three different trainers and Mallesh Narredu has four. Though some will inevitably bow out, it should be a good-sized field.  

Now the two highest rated contenders in the field, Commander and Hachiko, are likely to have plenty of support. There are many similarities between Commander and Hachiko. To begin with, both are gelded sons of Noverre born at the Sohna Stud and both are Gr.1 winners. Their dams were initially imported by the Chettinad Stud, neither had produced a black-type winner before their 2010 foals and both are no longer at stud. Neither Commander nor Hachiko has won a mile race, though Commander has won over longer. 

Commander (Noverre - Momentarily), rated five points better than Hachiko, is trained by Bezan Chenoy who has won this race four times previously. Two of those winners, Enrico and Autonomy, had a prep race before the 2000 while the other two, Capricorn and Astonish, went straight into the Classic. Capricorn and Astonish, like Commander, had won the Pune Derby. The common link between Commander and Hachiko is the former's stablemate Neona. In the S.A. Poonawalla Multi-Million, Gr.2 in Pune, Neona had held on to win by three-parts of a length at level weights. This term, Neona was beaten a length by Hachiko when she was giving 2 kgs. to the gelding. That brings Commander and Hachiko very close indeed. Neona, after taking up the running in the 1000, ran on to keep her number in the frame. It suggests that Hachiko and Commander should take a hand in the finish. Commander has had a mock race in Mumbai and has been working regularly since. 

Hachiko (Noverre - Indira) is trained by M.K.Jadhav and will carry the Shirke colours. "M.K.", who has been training for over four decades, is the senior most trainer with a runner in the 2000 on Sunday and the Shirkes have trained with him since they entered racing, though they now have horses also with Pesi Shroff most of which are part-owned with the Dhunjibhoys and Mr. Berjis Desai. "M.K." hasn't won an Indian 2000 Guineas in his long career but has sent out two fillies to win the 1000. Both those fillies, Destined Queen and Thumbelina, had had a prior run and the trainer has given one to Hachiko. Hachiko completed an unbeaten hat-trick when he picked up the Poonawalla Breeders' Multi-Million, Gr.1 and was then narrowly beaten by Blue Ace and Borsalino who were both in receipt of 5 kgs. After a disappointing summer campaign in Bangalore, he was rested during the Pune season and given a mock race towards the end of it. He has demonstrated his fitness with his win over Neona last month. His four wins have all come at Mahalakshmi and he clearly thrives on the track. 

The highest rated contenders are Maximus (Royal Kingdom - Marquisa) who vanquished Machiavellianism (Jazil - Empress Jesse) on his home turf to lift the Deccan Bookmakers' Golconda 2000 Guineas, Gr.2 at Malakpet. That one victory saw his rating zoom by 58 points. He had just four starts, all at different tracks, in his career so far and so is open to greater improvement than others who have raced oftener. He is the fifth Classic winner of his sire and highlights how unfortunate the fertility problems of Royal Kingdom have been. His dam won three races upto 2000 m. and is a daughter of the grossly underrated Storm Trooper while the next dam by Razeen was a smart sprinter. If the race and the two way travel to Hyderabad haven't taken too much out of him, Maximus ought to add pep to the finish.    

Same trainer, same jockey, same colours; different horse, different mission. Having planted the Hyderabad standard on the Mahalakshmi turf with Vijays Pride just last Sunday, L.V.R. Deshmukh and P.S. Chouhan will be back with Machiavellianism, retribution on their minds. They seemed to have the Deccan Bookmakers' Golconda 2000 Guineas, Gr.2 in their satchel so recently when Maximus surprised them. Nothing will be sweeter than an "away" victory over Maximus. It is difficult to say why Machiavellianism lost at Malakpet. "Off-day-at-the-office" explanation is always acceptable. On the other hand, that very plea lessens the chances of turning the tables within a fortnight. Perhaps, they never took Maximus into their calculations; maybe, Chouhan took it up trifle too early. Rest assured that Maximus will not be disregarded now and that Chouhan will make his bid later. Both Machiavellianism and Maximus come from behind and therein lies the danger in a good sized field. Meet traffic problems at a crucial juncture and the race is gone. 

Silver Birch (Indesatchel - Safinaz), the only grey in the field, will also don the Shirke colours though he will be saddled by Shroff. A product of the Sohna Stud like Commander and Hachiko, Silver Birch is a winner of four races at three different tracks, all over 1400 m. The highpoint of his career so far has been placing third in Bangalore Colts' Trial Stakes, Gr.1 and Kingfisher Derby Bangalore, Gr.1 in the summer. The recent eclipse of Borsalino and Machiavellianism has devalued that form line a bit but Silver Birch won his prep race beating seasoned performers like Vittoria and Cent Per Cent. The grey likes to run freely and while that will suit Hachiko, Shroff's ward will be running for himself. Shroff's previous winner of the race came in the same colours through Jacqueline whose Glory of Dancer foal called Primogeniture, in training with John Oxx, is one of the 406 entries for the 2014 Investec Epsom Derby, Gr.1.  

Shivalik Hero (Rebuttal - Mullagh) went down to Commander in the Nanoli Stud Pune Derby, Gr.1 by only a short-head after a spirited duel. Earlier, he had been three-parts of a length behind Machiavellianism in the Bangalore Colts' Championship Stakes, Gr.1. That's top form and he doesn't require phenomenal improvement to get the better of his conquerors especially as the mile is likely to see him at his best. Like Commander, he has not raced this term and will be relying on his regular work-outs to strip fit for the fray. He looks a better chance than his stable-mate Maximus provided he has a better jockey than Jones or Sreekanth riding him. 

There is no outstanding runner in the field as there was in the years when Mystical, Southern Empire and Bourbon King won and the winner may not necessarily emerge from the sextet discussed so far. An Acquired Taste became the "talking horse" after winning the Bangalore Summer Million, Gr.3 by more than a dozen lengths. He has changed stables since and has twice failed to live up to the expectations of his fans. He is modestly bred and will be saddled by a trainer who is yet to win an Indian Classic. The public needs a "talking horse" and as An Acquired Taste faded from the focus, Franklin (Ikhtyar - Rahy's Serenade), a three-parts brother to Calcutta Derby winner Bruckner, became the subject of hype. He has won his only start while Montezuma (Placerville - Amazing Princess) has won both of his. These two, along with Blue Ace and Sumo, are course and distance winners. Franklin and Montezuma will come on for the run and are better prospects for the Derby in February. And, lest he is forgotten, there is Ascot Magic, a half-brother (actually, he is 5/8 related) to the triple Gr.1 winner Excelebration. He was beaten as a 4/10 favourite last time out and it unlikely that the trainer will work his own magic to win a Classic with him on his very next start. 

This race is far more open than the fillies' contest. It was a surprise last Sunday for Portia to go out as the favourite while Vijays Pride, who had beaten her earlier, was available at 5/1. Maybe it was Richard Hughes who was being backed rather than the filly. The Champion Jockey of England is bound to attract a large fan following and some of his mounts will end up starting at shorter odds than they should. Vijays Pride was certainly better value on pure racing form. Ten years ago, Classical Act won the Kingfisher Derby Bangalore, Gr.1 on what was only his second career start. Classical Act was ridden by Pesi Shroff. This Sunday, Shroff will attempt to emulate that feat with Franklin, this time as a trainer. If Franklin is ridden by Richard Hughes, he will be well backed. It will be worth considering if his odds reflect value vis-a-vis his form. 

PAST THE POST 

The smallest field for the Indian 2000 Guineas in its history of 69 years went to the post in 1978. There were just two runners. Royal Tern (Royal Gleam - Sea Song) and Ajaya. The Goculdas horse won easily by a distance. Royal Tern, a free running horse, is more often remembered as the victim of a brilliant, tactical coup which the Dr. Ramaswamy camp pulled off in the Indian Turf Invitation Cup, using two pacemakers and paving the way for Own Opinion's victory. It hardly does justice to one of the all-time greats of the Indian Turf. 

Bred by the owners at their own Sewania Stud, Royal Tern won 26 races from 32 starts over four years of racing. Actually, he was first past the post in Ahmed Rahimtoola Gold Cup but the race was declared void because some disgruntled syces had invaded the track when the horses were just entering the Mumbai straight. What places Royal Tern among the greats is that 22 of those 26 wins were black-type races. That figure of 22 is not bettered by any other horse be it Brave Dancer, Own Opinion, Almanac, Squanderer or Chaitanya Chakram. 

Royal Tern and Own Opinion came up against each other nine times and trainer Bal Lagad's champion finished ahead of his adversary on seven occasions. Own Opinion's two successes were in the Indian Turf Invitation Cup which he won by half a length and in the Indian St. Leger where Royal Tern finished nine and a half lengths behind in third place. On the other hand, Royal Tern beat Own Opinion by six lengths in the Bangalore Colts' Trial Stakes, by two in the Bangalore Derby, by a length and quarter in the President of India Gold Cup and four lengths in the Guindy Gold Cup. In these four races, Own Opinion was second. Royal Tern also won the R.W.I.T.C., Ltd. Invitational Trophy where Own Opinion was last of four, 11 lengths behind the winner. Both of them were beaten by Everynsky in the Nizam's Cup and President of India Gold Cup in 1981 with Royal Tern finishing second and Own Opinion third. Both were retired as stallions but while Royal Tern sired two black-type winners, Own Opinion had none to his credit. 

Another curious fact about Royal Tern is that such was his dominance that he scared away the opposition. He won seven of his races beating a solitary rival.