On pure racing form, the puzzle that is the Villoo Poonawalla Indian Oaks, Gr.1 on Sunday is easy to solve. Consider the following form lines:-

1.K.R.O.A. Mysore 1000 Guineas, Gr.3 -  New Alliance beat STAR FORMATION by a long neck with Cameron third further 3/4 length behind.
2.Mysore Derby, Gr.1 - STAR FORMATION fourth to Mogadishu, Bold Command, Desert God with Brilliant Cut fifth. A length covering the first five.
3.Bangalore Oaks, Gr.2 - New Alliance beat Heaven Is Here by a head.
4.Golconda Oaks, Gr.2 - Heather beat STAR FORMATION by a length.

Bipin Salvi's wonderfully consistent filly Star Formation is the most obvious common factor and the horses she has run against have franked that form. Of course, much water has  passed through the Ganges since the earliest of these races was run and above equations may or may not hold good on Sunday. Some fillies will have progressed more than the others but overall one gets the sense that the form has held remarkably well and it brings almost together Cameron, Star Formation, Heather and Heaven Is Here.

Now going back to the last month's Eat India Company Indian 1000 Guineas, Gr.1 where Myrtlewood beat Star Formation by a shade over four lengths without batting an eye lid and you have to wonder if she has a serious challenger on Sunday. Well, she has and it is not so much a rival filly but the distance which she is essaying for the first time. Cameron and Heather have won the Oaks at Calcutta and Hyderabad respectively while Star Formation and Heaven Is here have placed second in their Oaks runs. So irrespective of their pedigrees, they have shown that they are comfortable over a mile and a half in their own sets. There is not much to choose among them and on a given day any of them can beat the other. Whether they can put it across Myrtlewood, so vastly superior over a mile, depends on the daughter of Multidimensional.

Myrtlewood is a full-sister to Amelia who won two Gr.1s over a mile in nine starts. That was her ideal distance and she was sent over a longer trip just once in her career when she was unplaced in the Kingfisher Derby Bangalore, Gr.1 over 2000 m. Their dam Adamile was also a crack miler winning the A.V. Thomas Super Mile, Gr.1 at Chennai, the Harvins Bangalore Guineas, Gr.2,  Bettagere Estates Mysore 2000 Guineas, Gr.2 and K.R.O.A. Mysore 1000 Guineas, Gr.3. In a career of 23 starts spread over three years, Adamile was tried beyond a mile just twice by Darius Byramji; first when she was a poor third to Chevalier and Perceived Value in the Kingfisher Mysore Derby, Gr.1 and then a better second to Fantastic Belle in the The Hindu Bangalore Oaks, Gr.2. Adamile certainly had speed for she ran the Sprinters' Cup, Gr.1 a day before her Super Mile Cup victory. Like Myrtlewood, Amelia was trained by Pesi Shroff. He also rode Adamile once and raced against her often so he knows this family pretty well. .

If these family antecedents raise doubts about Myrtlewood's ability to stay, there are several positive indicators as well. Firstly, Adamile's three-parts siblings out of the Steinbeck mare Altitude stayed well enough with Flashing Star winning the Poonawalla Bangalore Derby, Gr.1 and Hills and Stars capturing the Golconda St. Leger, Gr.2. The filly herself, who seems quite content to lob along at the back before producing her instant acceleration, is yet to be beaten at Mahalaskhmi. What's more, her Dosage figures (DI 1.91 and CD 0.56) give her as much chance of staying the trip as most of her fancied rivals. The Dosage figures, it has to be emphasized, give only a broad picture and should not be treated as a magic formula to pin-point winners of a particular race.

Three of those 'fancied rivals' are her stablemates, Heather, Solange and Nifty. Heather (Champs Elysees - Mooring) is beautifully-bred. While Champs Elysees is nowhere as successful a sire as his full-brother Dansili, he is fair enough a stallion. Standing at Banstead Manor Stud, most of his top runners are staying fillies but the best horse he has produced is  the globe-trotting gelding Trip To Paris (Ascot Gold Cup, Gr.1). Heather's third dam is a three-parts sister to the oil-tycoon Mr. Nelson Bunker Hunt's great mare Dahlia. The 11,000 gns. paid for Mooring at Tattersall's December Sale in 2011 looks a good bargain. Her bracket-mate Solange has won thrice from her last four starts and was on board in the '1000' on the occasion she did not win. Her last win was just nine days ago. Perhaps, the trainer chose an easy race for her instead of a gallop and a spurt in the morning. Solange's dam in closely inbred to the stamina influence Shirley Heights while her sire Teofilo brings the highly successful Sadler's Wells-Shirley Heights cross into play.

Pesi Shroff is often wont to test his staying horses at the deep-end. Sometimes, it comes off as it did in the case of Jeremiah (Deccan and Pune Derbies), Bruckner (Calcutta Derby) and Heather (Golconda Oaks, Gr.2); sometimes it doesn't like it happened to Gestapo, Aquamarine, Amazing Grace (initially) and Volterra. Obviously, he has seen something which warrants taking the chance. Nifty (Multidimensional - Artwork) is a winner of two ordinary races over a mile. The jockey booking indicated that her run in Myrtlewood's '1000' was just an airing. Since then, the trainer has really gotten into her with eleven morning work-outs this month in nineteen days. Granting the trainer his expertise and first hand knowledge of the horse, it has to be said that it hard to recollect a similar preparation for a Classic. In Nifty's case it is the potential rather than the performance which is appealing. The real Nifty is tottering. Backing the filly called Nifty is as much a speculation. Another Shroff runner with a profile similar to Nifty is the hat-trick seeking Chef d'Oeuvre (Iffraaj - Aliwiyya). Precocity and speed is what is to be expected from the progeny of Iffraaj though he has had Listed winners at 2000 m. and 2200 m. in Italy. The Anabaa mare Aliwiyya is loaded with stamina and comes from Aga Khan's legendary Mumtaz Mahal family. Aliwiyya, for whom Mr. Shyam Ruia paid 54,000 euros at Goff's in 2011, was beaten a short-headed over 2400 m. in Ireland. Mr. Ruia's retained jockey Neeraj Rawal  will be on board Chef d'Oeuvre with a white cap atop all dark blue colours while Christopher Alford will come down from Calcutta to take the ride in his first colours on Avant Garde (Aqlaam - Silk Road).

Lavender Blue (Dalakhani - Zafaraniya), yet another Shroff ward, is a maiden after three starts and her likely role would be to set the pace for her bracket-mate Heather. She is bred to stay. In the last six months, Star Formation has raced in four centres, taken part in six Classics and placed in five of them. Such consistency deserves a reward but racing is a cruel game and it is to be hoped that the filly still retains her zest for racing. Cameron, named after the actress Cameron Diaz, already has two Calcutta Classics in her bag. Mahalakshmi is a happy hunting ground for this family with Cameron's grandam winning the McDowell Indian Derby, Gr.1; the fourth  dam Heliantha registering the Fillies' Double; Heliantha's full-sister Elegance doing likewise and half-sister Venus de Milo winning the Indian 1000 Guineas, Gr.1. A Mallya runner always gives you a run for your money. Heaven Is Here produced her best performance when narrowly going down to New Alliance at Bangalore. David Allan will now know his filly that much better and trainer S. Padmanabhan's tactical ploys will be interesting to watch for it is unlikely that she will run the same kind of race as she did last time out.

Only two fillies -- Fair Haven and Tiger Tops -- have registered a Calcutta Oaks-Indian Oaks double but both of them came to Mumbai after having participated in the Calcutta Derby. Cameron has skipped the Calcutta Derby to give herself a better preparation time at Mahalakshmi. With the 1-2 in Golconda and Calcutta Oaks and a head second of the Bangalore Oaks also in the fray, this is as classy a line-up of the fillies as you can get. The average field rating of 67.06 is slightly over the average of last six renewals.  Four public choices have obliged in the last ten renewals. Seventeen fillies have accepted, the same number as when Amazing Bay won back in 1996.

In the last 32 Indian Classics only two horses whose rating was less than the average field rating have won. Both were fillies -- Alma Mater and Myrtlewood -- and both were trained by Shroff. This is not the time or place to discuss the overall policy regarding ratings but a few observations may be in order. Heather and Star Formation last raced in Golconda Oaks when a length separated the two. In Hyderabad, Heather is rated 110 with Star Formation on 106. Mumbai has them at 96 and 92 respectively. Cameron beat Waveafterwave by three lengths in Calcutta Oaks but there is a difference of 26 points in their ratings. And, most glaring of all, Myrtlewood, who beat Star Formation by over four lengths in the '1000' would receive five kgs. had the two fillies chosen to run in a handicap !

PAST THE POST

Most serious race goers know that Pyare Miya won the Indian Derby in 1975 as a maiden. A lesser number will be aware that in the same year Lady Madonna also won the Indian Oaks without having an earlier bracket against her name. Both, Pyare Miya and Lady Madonna were ridden by Ernie Johnson, who served most of his apprenticeship with Ian Balding at Kingsclere. Johnson had already won the Epsom Derby on Blakeney in 1969.

Lady Madonna (Never Never - Donna Princess) was a liver chestnut filly born at the Doaba Stud. She turned both her forelegs out rather prominently but that did not make her a cheap buy for Mr. Shyam Ruia had to pay Rs. 55,000 to secure her. He later gave shares in her to M/s. Radha Sigtia and N.R. Ruia. Trained by Uttam Singh, Lady Madonna ran just twice in her first year being fourth on her debut under Johnson and then a neck second to Monarch of the Turf with Deepak up. In the latter race, the favourite Pyare Miya was third, half a length behind Lady Madonna. The Sigtia-Johnson connection dated back to the days when the jockey was riding for Sam Hall's Spigot Lodge stable in Middleham. Mr. Sigtia had his horses in training with Sam Hall.

Ridden by Johnson, she was second in her first two starts the following year, going down by a half a length to Sweet Paddy over 1400 m. in November and by a neck to stablemate Rock Deposit over 2000 m. in December. For the Indian Oaks, she was the second favourite at 6/4, the Gwalior filly Sarojini being slightly better backed at 5/4. The instructions to Johnson were to drop the filly out in the early part of the race and come with a late run once into the straight. It was a field of just eight fillies and Valoroso's daughter Melissa set only a sedate pace. As they approached the 1000 m. marker, Johnson got bored of the proceedings and sent Lady Madonna to the front and she romped home a distance clear of Sarojini. She raced four more times that year without winning.

Lady Madonna was at her best in her third year when she won three of her five starts including the C.N. Wadia Gold Cup and Eve Champion Cup in record time beating Sweet Memories. She was retired to Poonawalla Farms initially but moved to Equus after Mr. Ruia set up that nursery. Her produce did exhibit some promise but overall none of them were particularly noteworthy. At the age of 26, she was officially "put out of stud" but continued to stay on the premises as a honourable pensioner. She was never sick or sorry and died peacefully in her early 30s. Some owners do really look after their horses.