The 1990 Indian Derby was run and won; the presentation ceremonies were over and the bigwigs had drifted off for high tea on Members' Lawn. The usually crowded Stewards' Tea Room above the Weighing Room was empty save for one man staring vacantly in his tea cup. That man had bred winners of six Indian Derbies and in the race just finished, horses bred at his farm had finished second, third and fourth. Somebody walked into the Tea Room and congratulated him for three on-the-board. The man looked up, smiled and said, "Doesn't count. I would gladly exchange all three for the winner. That's the one that matters." The man was late Maj. P.K. Mehra of Usha Stud and it was Desert Warrior's Derby. This true story encapsulates the difference between winners and those who follow in their hoof-beats. Sometimes, though, the runner-up needs a bit of bolstering up.

The Indian Derby -- or any Derby for that matter -- comes but once in the lifetime of a horse. It's a fleeting moment and it has to be caught because it never comes again. Those connected with a horse -- owners, trainers, jockeys and the breeders -- have, mostly, other opportunities in the coming years. Some of them may already have won an Indian Derby earlier and so in their case the defeat is not so tragic. When it comes to seconds, no one has more than Dr, Vijay Mallya whose horses have beaten everyone else but the winner on seven occasions though, once it was when he also had the winner. He has won the race five times and so some of the earlier seconds may not have been too disappointing. Incidentally, none of the Mallya winners have been in his first colours.

Dr. Mallya is a big owner and has had a runner -- sometimes more than just one -- in most of the Indian Derbies over the last thirty years. Mr. Haresh Mehta has pruned his racing operation but even when it was going blast, his string of horses was smaller than those Dr. Ramaswamy or Dr. Mallya or Mr. Khaitan. He has had three seconds in the Derby but no winner. His first was Holding Court and when that son of Royal Kingdom was holding the favourite Mystical at bay, a victory for him seemed likely. But there is that saying about best laid plans; Velvet Rope flashed on the outside and foiled the coup. A big owner in his own right down south was Mr. Al. M. Muthukaruppan Chettiar though he never raced with the king-sized strings of the Maharajas or their successors, the industrial czars, of the later years. He was among the first to set his sights on the Indian Derby in which his horses twice ran second -- State Bank in 1961 and Mount Everest in 1963. The controversial failure of the photo-finish camera in 1963 would undoubtedly have added to his anguish. He never sent his horses for the Indian Derby after that.  

Tragi-comic circumstances had led to Her Majesty -- known fondly on the course as "Apdi Ghodi" -- being beaten by Bucephalus. Her Majesty's own bracket mate and pacemaker, Equity, broke down around the mile post. Her Majesty who was racing just behind, cannoned into him and was brought down to her knees. It was a miracle that jockey Billy Evans kept Her Majesty on her feet and gathered her though she lost a of ground. Despite being badly bruised and wounded, Her Majesty ran gallantly to finish second to Bucephalus. She went on to reverse the verdict in the Indian St. Leger to win her fourth Classic. But for her mishap in the Derby, there is little doubt that she would have achieved the unique distinction of winning all Indian Classics. She was owned by Mr. A.C. Ardeshir, later to be the first Indian Chairman of the R.W.I.T.C., Ltd. Mr. Ardeshir part-owned Star Prince some years hence who was second in all the three Triple Crown races. He also owned a filly called Lalla Rookh which he sold to Kashmir. Kashmir re-named that filly Sunny Downs who was second to Canny Scot in the 1958 Indian Derby. Mr. A.C. Ardeshir, it would seem, was not destined to win an Indian Derby.

H.H. The Maharajadhiraj Sir Hari Singhji of Jammu and Kashmir won four Classics in the year 1957-58. He won the Indian 1000 Guineas, Indian Oaks and Indian St. Leger with Sunny Downs and the Indian 2000 Guineas with Decoration (N. Shiba) whom he had purchased from Mr. R.J. Sigtia. Kashmir and his trainer Ganpat Chavan would have registered a unique feat of winning all the Classics in one year but for a tale with a twist. Just before the Indian 2000 Guineas that year, Kashmir had a choice between the Mr. M.P. Davis pair of Tall Story and Canny Scot. Despite Mr. Davis assuring him that Canny Scot was the better of the two and more suited for the Derby trip, Kashmir bought Tall Story. Tall Story, ridden by Shamu Chavan in the Indian 2000 and the Derby at Kashmir's insistence, ran unplaced. Sunny Downs, ridden by Jim Foley, finished as the runner-up to Canny Scot in the Derby. With Chavan up, Sunny Downs beat Canny Scot in the St. Leger. It is possible that had Chavan ridden Sunny Downs in the Derby, she may have beaten Canny Scot. Kashmir and Shamu Chavan, of course had savoured Indian Derby success before. But what of Ganpat Chavan ? He had to be content with a second when he could perhaps have led in the winner.  

The runners-up in the first three Indian Derbies were all trained by Maj. K.P. Jadhav though he did win the 1944 renewal with Deepak and had 1-2 in the race. His son M.K. Jadhav has had two seconds in the Indian Derby through Wild Blossom -- second to the great Squanderer in all three Triple Crown races -- and Republic -- part-owned by his wife -- who was within half a length of the winner Starfire Girl 1991. By rights, 'M.K.' should have had a Derby winner against his name. Noble Eagle, who ran away with the 2003 Indian Derby, was away from his stable for much less than a week and he was saddled for the big race by Vinayak who gets the credit in official records. Bal Lagad, another close member of the family, had a second with Scone Stone in the 1959 Indian Derby and then again with Richelieu in 1974. Ernie Alford who was atop Richelieu objected against the winner Topmost but objection was not sustained. That was Alford's only second in the race and he was never on a winner. He would have been but four years hence he had been replaced by the rising but ill-starred Karl Umrigar who had an armchair ride on Royal Tern to give Bal Lagad his first -- and only -- Indian Derby, exactly twenty years after Scone Stone's second.

Eddie Cracknell was second on Fitz Call in 1952, Scone Stone in 1959 and Pride of Andhra in 1960.  The Aussie jockey had probably given up on his ambition of ride an Indian Derby winner when, in 1967, he got a call from S.M. Shah, out of the blue, to ride Nijinsky in the Derby. Nijinsky had never been ridden by anyone other than M.J. Rajoo in his eight previous starts. But Rajoo got injured and Cracknell got his chance. Mrs. Mary Wadia's Nijinsky won the race fairly easily and Cracknell's long wait had a happy ending. That victory was very popular at Mahalakshmi. "Hunterwali ka ghoda jeeta". The news spread fast from the course to Colaba in the south to Bandra and Thane in the north. Yes. Sometimes the there is a pot-of-gold at the end of the rainbow. There are stories also of hopes dashed. Faiz Mahomed, L. Davison, M. Kennedy, Ahmed Khan, Mull Singh. J. Mercer, G. Lewis, E. Alford, J. Bleasedale, S. Craine, P. Cook, H.J. Antia, W. Carson, J. Lowe and A. Crastus were all on the runners-up but never on the winner. Geoff Lewis and Willie Carson, of course, rode winners of the The Derby at Epsom so not being astride an Indian Derby winner would not irk them. Paul Cook and John Lowe had the consolation of riding two winners of regional Derbies each. Cook was astride Adelita (Calcutta Derby) and Vibrant (Bangalore Derby) while Lowe had the ride aboard Birthday Girl (South India Derby) and Dancing Colours (Calcutta Derby). Stephen Craine, on the other hand, steered Hap Hap Happy in the Manx Derby Challenge Trophy and that would have pleased him no end. Afterall, he was himself born in the Isle of Man.  N.J. McCullagh and A. Sandesh are two jockeys who may yet get an opportunity.

Among the trainers, Syed Fatah, Mahomedally, G. Chavan, Mohd. Lahori (twice), R. Swedani, S. Moses and Uttam Singh never got the recompense for sadling seconds but M.K. Jadhav, Vijay Singh and S.K. Sunderji are still training and who knows what the future holds for them. The most number of winners as well the seconds in the Indian Derby have hailed from the yard of R.R. Byramji. Five of his seconds would not have mattered to him at all for he had also saddled the winner in those races. Trainer S. Padmanabhan endured four seconds before In The Spotlight gave him a much coveted winner in 2012.

PAST THE POST

Most big owners and leading jockeys, trainers and stud farms get more than just one shot at winning the Indian Derby. Some of them never win the Indian Derby but other Classic successes help them to get over the disappointment. Of course, some find no such consolation and have to live with the "so near and yet so far" trauma.

The 1948 Indian Derby had 22 runners, the most that have ever gone to the post. When the race reached its stirring climax, Kunigal Star and Maduri were fighting it out opposite the Members' Enclosure. From nowhere, on the wide outside, came the favourite Jeanne d'Arc (W. A. Rickaby) and swooped to win the big prize right on the post. The verdict was a short-head and a short-head.

Jeanne d'Arc gave H.H. The Maharaja Himmat Singhji of Idar his first Indian Derby win. Idar and Rickaby repeated the feat in 1960 with Rose de Bahama. Jeanne d'Arc's full-brother Martial Law won the 1952 Indian Derby. Kunigal Star and Maduri were both bred at Kunigal Stud which, seven years later, had the satisfaction of breeding the winner Rough Deal.  Kunigal Star was ridden by Bren Duffy who was astride Gold Street when that horse triumphed in the 1951 renewal. The third placed Maduri was piloted by Purtu Singh having his first ever Indian Derby ride. Purtu Singh rode in 15 other Indian Derbies later but he was never as close to the winner as he was on Maduri.

Kunigal Star and Maduri were not only both born at Kunigal Stud, but they were both owned by one Mr. Rafi. Mr. Rafi ? Was this a 'nom de course' ? Nothing much is known about Mr. Rafi except that Kunigal Star and Maduri were his only runners in an Indian Derby. How close he was to seeing his dreams come true ! That is racing but surely what he must have felt on 21 February 1948 can be easily imagined.