Southern Regent is easily one of the best horses to have graced the Indian turf in recent times. The versatile son of Razeen has been an outstanding performer, having won the Gr 1 Indian Derby and Gr 1 Indian Turf Invitation Cup last year. Interestingly, Southern Regent hadn’t won over a mile trip till last month but he will still go into the Sunday’s Gr 1 Maj P K Mehra Memorial Super Mile Cup as an overwhelming favourite. It is because Southern Regent towers over his contemporaries and the present lot of four-year olds certainly don’t measure up to his caliber. Five-year old Southern Regent earned the right to participate in this race by virtue of his win over Algeciras in a mile long race in a smart time of one minute 36.7 seconds. Southern Regent came very close to toppling Berlioz in the Indian 2000 Guineas last year over a mile but fell short in a thriller of a race. He then went on to win the Indian Derby and the Invitation Cup, swamping the opposition. He faltered in the Gr 1 Indian St Leger and Gr 2 Bangalore St Leger but thereafter redeemed his reputation by winning the Gr 1 President of India Gold Cup and twice during the ongoing Mumbai season. The mile long trip may be sharp for his style of running as he takes time to get into stride, the fact that he has more class than his opponents, should help him overcome all the disadvantages. The terms of the race also favour him. Vinayak trained Algeciras who had won the Super Mile at Mumbai two years ago, has not lost his zest despite his training schedule having been an interrupted one due to one reason or the other. The seven-year old gelding sports quite a few equipments but none of these has deterred him except on occasions, his pilot has let him down. He is bound to prove a handful. Spectacular Quest won this event last year at Chennai but he has not done anything of note during the current season. He will go into the race with the benefit of a race run in the Sprinters Cup and quite often, those who have failed in the Sprinters Cup have redeemed themselves in the Super Mile. Spectacular Quest is no mean contender and capable asserting his class notwithstanding the lack of race form diminishing his chances. Kolkata’s Aristotle won the Gr 1 Calcutta Derby in a splendid time and the connections have decided to have a go at this Grade 1 race as he is sure to find himself out of depth in the Invitation Cup. Amazing Power is one of those highly rated horses, not having been exploited to the full. The handicap does not favour Parthenon while Red Orchid may have left the best behind him. Curiously, Onnu Onnu Onnu who has won over 20 races over sprint is also in the fray. Perhaps this could be his swan song.