There are four Gr.1 "invitation" races to be run over the week-end as usual. In the 21st century, 56 have been run and the stats are illuminating. Three Calcutta-based horses - Appeaser, Aperitivo, and Arktouros - and two trained at Hyderabad - Swiss Don and Tintinnabulation - have won at a strike rate of less than 10%. You can draw your own conclusions.

A clean sweep of all the four "invitation" races by an owner, a trainer, a jockey, a sire or a stud farm would be the ultimate dream but so far no one has been able to achieve it. By the time the Invitation Cup week-end arrives, some of the foreign jockeys wintering in India have gone back. Despite a depleted team, the foreign team has two clean sweeps to their credit; at Hyderabad in 1983 and the following year at Mumbai. The home team, always at full strength, has registered a clean sweep nine times. 

Since their staggered inception, the three Gr.1 races on the under-card have been run exactly a 100 times and have been won 36 times by a favourite and the Classic crop has won 44 of them. As far as the Stayers' Cup is concerned, it has been run 34 times with 15 favourites (44 %) and 26 older horses (76 %) winning. There is a strong possibility that this year the winner could be a favourite but not an older horse.

One possible reason why the Classic crop does not have a good record in the Stayers' Cup is that the race is rarely a target for a four year-old. They are all aiming for the Indian Derby and then the Invitation Cup. Very few owners are pragmatic enough to accept that their horse is not good enough to win the Derby or the Invitation and perhaps stands a better chance in the longer race. And, even if they are, there is the consideration of the stakes on offer. A second in the Invitation Cup is as good as a win in the Stayers' Cup. 

Take the case of Tiger Tops. The filly has run very consistently and was perhaps unfortunate not to put it across Quasar in the Eveready Calcutta Derby, Gr.1. She has been nominated for the Invitation Cup by R.C.T.C. and the Stayers' Cup by R.W.I.T.C. Of the eight four year-olds to win the Stayers' Cup, four are fillies - Tiger Lily (1989), Moment of Glory (1998), Bay of Angels (2003) and Yana (2009). All four of them had impeccable Classic form. Moment of Glory was unbeaten that year having won the Golconda 1000 Guineas, Golconda Oaks and Golconda Derby; Yana had won the Indian Oaks only to be disqualified while Tiger Lily and Bay of Angels had placed in the Indian Oaks. Running four races in a space of 44 days, Tiger Tops has the Calcutta and Indian Oaks against her name and she was second in Calcutta Derby as well as the Indian Derby. That is a very impressive record. She is bred to stay and having had a bit of rest, is all set to make her presence count. In her absence, the Classic crop will be represented by second stringers as Bold Majesty is taking his chance in the Invitation Cup. 

It is presumed that Snowdrift will run on Sunday in the Invitation Cup. In sparkling form this year at Calcutta, he had a better chance of winning the Super Mile. Even in his absence, the older horses have formidable representation spearheaded by Tintinnabulation, Ocean and Beyond, Astapi and Wind Stream. Tintinnabulation, too, carries a double nomination and has the incentive of becoming the first horse to win the Invitation Cup twice. That would be difficult for a six year-old who has not ventured out of Hyderabad for almost a year and a half. A winner of the Bangalore as well as the Golconda St. Leger in his time, he has the class and the stamina to get seriously involved in the longer race. What goes against him though is that it is a long time since he raced in a really competitive race. Ocean and Beyond is as game as they come and won the Queen Elizabeth II Cup a couple of years ago. However, it would appear that he was probably at his best around 2000 m.

That would leave the way clear for Astapi (Placerville - Blurr) and Wind Stream (Steinbeck - Artwork), first and second in this very race last year, to lock horns once again.  Astapi was third to Highlander and Rodeo on his last start in the Byculla Club Cup over 2800 m. He was giving 7.5 kgs. to both the horses that finished ahead of him and as all three of them will be carrying level weights on Saturday, he has an outstanding handicap chance of reversing the verdict, especially as he was not given a hard race and the verdict was just three-parts of a length and half a length. Astapi is also a winner of the Suresh Mahindra Trophy over 3200 m., the longest race in the country. His stamina credentials are thus unimpeachable and this race is obviously the one for which he has been trained. Native Knight failed last year to win back to back Stayers' Cups; Astapi has the chance this year to do so and join the other two “A"s - Aztec and Ardiles - who have done it earlier. 

Trainer Altamash Ahmed also has An Acquired Taste entered for the race. The gelding won the 2013 Indian St. Leger, Gr.1 with some verve, beating Tintinnabulation by almost a distance and breaking the track record. He hasn't won since and neither has he raced recently. At his best, he is a live threat to all but when a trainer fields two candidates, it is hard to know where the confidence lies.

With four winners of the race, Placerville has the best record in this race. He is followed by Razeen with three winners, just ahead of Riyahi and Steinbeck who have two each. Steinbeck's two winners, Alameda and Star of Windsor, won their races establishing new race records and the latter's time of 3.7.42 has not been under threat in the last 10 years. Steinbeck’s son Wind Stream warmed up for Saturday with a comfortable victory in the Stayers' Trial Stakes over 2400 m. at Bangalore earlier this month. Wind Stream looked like winning the race last year but Astapi headed him right on the post.  Two years ago, Wind Stream was strongly supported in what was a very open market for the Indian Derby won by Super Storm. He had been taken to Mumbai well in advance and was being steadily prepared. He was to have a mock race but dropped the rider, bolted on the way to the start and couldn't be caught. In the actual race, he was badly buffeted but still finished only a length and quarter behind the winner. He is due better luck at Mahalakshmi.

In 2012, trainer Shehzad Abbas made a bit of history by winning this race with Swiss Don and thus planting the Malakpet flag away from home after a long time. Swiss Don had finished second to Southern Bay in the Golconda Derby that year and was nominated for the Invitation Cup as well as the Stayers' Cup. Shehzad Abbas made the rare - and as it turned out a very wise - decision of going for the longer race. This year, the trainer is headed for Mumbai with Right Dimension (Multidimensional - Flowersoftheforest). Like Swiss Don, Right Dimension is bred to stay but his fourth in the local Derby this year was not a particularly suggestive effort. He had won over 2200 m. earlier. The performance of Authentic (Tejano - Auberge) in placing a good second to Bold Majesty in the Bangalore Derby, Gr.1 is more worthy of note. Authentic is in Mumbai and has a better chance in this race than in the Invitation Cup. He is entered in both the events.

PAST THE POST

The Dr. S.C. Jain Sprinters' Trophy, Gr.2 is a race that has influenced the result of the Sprinters' Cup, Gr.1 in recent years. A few years hence, the Byculla Club Trophy could attain a similar status. The Byculla Club Cup is the second oldest race in India after the Queen Elizabeth II Cup run at Calcutta. For a number of years, it was run in April at the fag end of the Mumbai season and attracted small fields of tired horses. In 2008, it was brought forward to be run in January as a 'trial' for the Stayers' Cup and since then it has had a new lease of life. We are quick to come down on racing authorities with a ton bricks when they tinker needlessly with traditional races. This is one instance where they deserve all accolades.

In the seven renewals since the Byculla Club Cup was run in January, two of the winners did not participate in the Stayers' Cup. Two - Maseeha and Native Knight - won it while Native Knight was fourth once. If the Byculla Club Cup is run with the same terms and conditions as the Sprinters' Cup, its impact will be more profound in the coming years.