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EVEREADY CALCUTTA DERBY, Gr.1

By Major Srinivas Nargolkar (Retd.) | 11 Jan 2013 | KOLKATA


Major Srinivas Nargolkar (Retd.)

Last year, it was the local hero Dandified taking on the invading filly In The Spotlight for honours in this race. The scenario this year is somewhat similar and the numbers are bigger. There are three Calcutta-based runners, all home-breds, taking on three 'got-abroad', outstation challengers. Dandified had not raced anywhere but at Calcutta as have Malpensa and Snowscape this year while the filly Silverina has had only one start away from Hastings. So it is looking like a good contest in the offing between the home team and the visitors.

As it eventually panned out last year, the match between Dandified and In The Spotlight was a one-sided one, the filly slamming the colt by almost a distance and taking the first giant step in her triumphant trail blazing. Four days after this year's renewal and almost exactly a year from the date of her last appearance at Calcutta, In The Spotlight will carry her owners' colours and the hopes of the entire Indian racing fraternity when she steps out at Meydan, Dubai.

This year's field doesn't contain a runner with a record as impressive as the one which In The Spotlight had on the morning of 15 January. She was rated 110 and was a winner of five races, all black-type, and they included four Classics. Her trainer S. Padmanabhan has this year his own-bred Borsalino. Borsalino's three wins from 10 starts include two Gr.1 Derbys over 2000 m. That should have made him a cinch for this race had it not been for the fact that he has been beaten, somewhat tamely, in his last two starts. His victories in the Kingfisher Derby Bangalore, Gr.1 and the Vijay Textiles Deccan Derby, Gr.1 were gained on rain-affected tracks; his two recent defeats have been on good going which is what is expected to prevail on Sunday. Borsalino (Choisir - Running Flame) did not have a quiet festive week for he was out on track on five of the six mornings around Christmas even if he was given easy work. He has worked regularly since then. That is unusual for someone who had run the Guineas not long ago. One has to grant that Padmanabhan is a trainer for the big occasion and surely knows what he is doing. Yet,  Borsalino's front running style and the possibility that he is at his best only when the track that has some give in it makes him a tad vulnerable.

There is nothing that can be held against the filly Silverina (China Visit - Silver Print) though her having tested positive for Atenolol in the post-Oaks sampling has cast a certain shadow. Atenolol is a drug administered to those who have high blood pressure. It is a sedative. If she won the Oaks while under the influence of the drug, she ought to be even better without it.  She has beaten Malpensa twice in their last two meetings and also scalped Snowscape in their last encounter. She is the only course and distance winner (albeit in rather a poor time) in the field. She came off the pace in the Calcutta Monsoon Derby, Gr.3 while she didn't hesitate to take it up round the bend in the Calcutta Oaks, Gr.3. Suraj Narredu, who rode in her those two races, seems to understand the filly well. The same jockey was aboard her dam when she won the Queen Elizabeth II Cup, Gr.3 over 2800 m. Steinbeck and Razeen as successive damsires have added a stamina quotient to her damline which was earlier a speedy one.

Like Silverina, Snowscape (China Visit - Snow Tiger) is an Usha-bred and like the filly is out of a mare by Steinbeck from a daughter of Razeen. The progeny of China Visit take their distance aptitude from their dams. Snow Tiger's two wins were gained at 1200 m. while the Snowscape's full-brother Snow Blaze scored twice over a mile. The Snow branch of the Amber Forest family is at its best around a mile and Snowscape is likely to find a couple of others in the field who stay better. Last year, Dandified went into the Derby with a winning run over 1600 m. Snowscape, who has the same connections, is being aimed likewise. He pulverised a mediocre lot over a mile recently. When he won the Calcutta Million, Gr.2 in his first season, Silverina finished second and Malpensa was fifth. Recently, though, both Silverina and Malpensa have proved to be superior.

Malpensa (Hurricane State - Northern Frontier) has improved with each of his dozen starts. He failed to win in his first six outings and then has had four victories in his next six, the last of which was in Calcutta 2000 Guineas, Gr.2 where he came with  a spledid stretch run to snatch the victory close home. Earlier in the Calcutta Monsoon Derby, Gr.3, he had led from the start and gone down fighting only in the closing stages. Like Silverina, he seems versatile in his style of running. In terms of staying ability, he is a bit like Ratham. By a speedy sire who was bred to get longer out of a classy, staying family. His damsire Northern Park was a dour stayer and his dam is balanced inbred to Northern Dancer. Hurricane State is by Miswaki. (Ratham's run in Bangalore Oaks, Gr.2, unfortunately, failed to give a convincing answer one way or the other). The Northern Dancer-Miswaki affinity is well known with Galileo and Sea The Stars being prime examples. Malpensa and Silverina are owned by "small" owners (meant as a compliment) and they will have their legion of supporters who don't like to see the big races monopolised by the usual suspects.

L.V.R. Deshmukh has won Classics at Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai during the last few months. His foray to Calcutta with Tintinnabulation (Intikhab - Tourmalet) didn't bring joy as his ward ran a poor race though he was within five lengths of the winner Malpensa. Unless something had gone wrong then or Tintinnabulation has improved dramatcially, a winning run on Sunday is hard to envisage. From a rather weak branch of the Pearl Maiden family and inbred 3x4 to Roberto, Tintinnabulation has enough elements in his pedigree to suggest that he can tackle the distance.

That brings us to the Prince of Denmark. Hamlet (Motivator - Rubyanne). He has had just two starts so far. An easy, educational outing in Pune and then a good win over 2000 m. in Mumbai. That win was gained with a very smart timing against a poor opposition. What a horse has beaten is more important than the winning time. He gets pitched into the deep end now. His sire won the Epsom Derby and has had four crops to race so far. Though not an outstanding success as a sire, Motivator's progeny stays and progresses well and he has sired black-type winners including a Gr.1 winner. Rubyanne, the dam of Hamlet, won once over 1000 m. in England from 3 starts.  She was bred, in partnership,  by Ian Deane, who is already associated with one Classic winner this year in Vijays Pride. This is a top class family (that of Storm Cat, Royal Academy, Pancho Villa, etc) but it is hard to find a 2400 m. black-type winner on Hamlet's catalogue page. A talking horse demands as much caution as a Trojan horse. Hamlet will be ridden, in all probability, by Richard Hughes. Hughes has had four rides in India this racing year, all on favourites and he hasn't won a race. Of course, he is a much better jockey than that.

It must be mentioned that Malpensa and Borsalino are final entries. The small field has two grey colts, Snowscape and Malpensa. In 1988-89, two greys, Aphroze and Zara Shah,dead-heated and shared the Calcutta Derby. Aphroze, lest it is forgotten, was a filly !

PAST THE POST

The Calcutta Derby, Gr.1 of 1996 was won by Dr. M.A.M. Ramaswamy's grey filly Misty Melody (Aztec - Thundery) who beat Brave Patriarch and the favourite Supreme Choice. A 12/1 outsider despite having won the Calcutta Oaks on her previous start, Fallon took her to the front passing the Victoria Memorial and she held on in the closing stages to repel the challenge of the colts by three-parts of a length and neck. Richard Alford had saddled her for the big race.

It is her sire Aztec who singles out Misty Melody. Aztec was a great grandson of Hyder Ali who established, rather briefly, the most successful Indian male line. Hyder Ali was imported to India by Sir Sultan Chinoy of Manjri Stud and proved to be an extremely successful sire, especially of colts. Apart from the Indian Derby winners Star of Gwalior and Alijah, Hyder Ali sired three other Classic winners in Rais-ud-daula, Ali Baba and High Party. Both Star of Gwalior and Alijah stood at the Manjri and the former sired eight Classic winners including the Indian Triple Crown winner Loyal Manzar. Loyal Manzar in turn got the Indian Turf Invitation Cup winner Loyal Prince. Loyal Prince was the sire of Indian 2000 Guineas winner Sea Mist.

Jaandaar, a son of Star of Gwalior, did not win a Classic but was a brilliant sprinter-miler. His son Aztec won the Stayers'  Cup twice, setting a new track record both the times. Prince Pradeep and Rock of Gibraltar were two very successful stallions to stand in India and while both had plenty of sons who retired as stallions, none of them quite matched the longevity the Hyder Ali male-line enjoyed. It is no surprise at all because Hyder Ali's younger full-brother Khaled achieved outstanding success in America.

With geldings being permitted to run in Classics for the past several years, there is very little chance of another Hyder Ali emerging in the near future.