The Bangalore Fillies' Championship Stakes and its Colts' equivalent are perfect showcases for future stars. Whoever wins either of the races generally bags another Classic later. In the last ten years, seven fillies have done so with six of them winning a Gr.1 contest.

Four 'got-abroad' fillies have won the race in the last ten years and there are two in the fray this time around so one can begin with them. Common Wealth (Cat Thief - Althing), bred at Ruia Stud was third to Accolade in the Poonawalla Breeders' Multi-Million, Gr.1. That is a significant pointer but the filly has not had a race during the current season. The sire Cat Thief is a Gr.1 winning son of Storm Cat who was also third in Kentucky Derby, Gr.1. He started his stud career at Overbrook Farm at a fee of $ 35,000. His fee dropped steadily and when he moved to Penn Ridge Farms in 2009, his fee was only $6,000. When Common Wealth was conceived in 2012, his services were available at $4,000. He is presently exiled in Saudi Arabia. Althing, the dam of Common Wealth, was purchased for $8,500 at Keeneland Sale in 2012 by agent Gaurav Rampal for Ruia Stud. Like Ace, she traces through Mesopotamia to Pearl of the Loch. Ace may not have come up to the expectations as a sire but this is a good running family. Pedigree-wise, Common Wealth fits the bill though the lack of a recent run is a distinct cause of concern.

Serena Ballerina's dam Bundle of Joy was knocked down to Ian Deane's bid of €13,000 on behalf of Mebajeona Stud at Goff's in November 2012. She was in foal to Lord Shanakill who was trained by the late Sir Henry Cecil and was a Gr.1 winning sprinter-miler. It was at Irish National Stud that Lord Shanakill commenced his career as a stallion for a fee of €7,500. This year he moved to Pin Oak Lane Farm in Pennsylvannia at the reduced fee of $5,000. He has produced a Gr.3 winner in England.. Bundle of Joy is from the immediate family of Rafha and Invincible Spirit. However, Serena Ballerina is still a maiden and so unlikely to be a major player on Sunday. Two other maidens -- Precious Asset and Snow Crystal -- are also in the field and the same comment applies to them.

Being the top rated runner in this race is not necessarily a blessing for only three toppers have won in the last ten years, two of them in last two years. That is the burden that Cataleya (Multidimensional - Farrfesheena) will have to carry. She is one of the two black-type winners in the field, has won over the distance and is a last outing winner on the course. Her rating is certainly not generous and the daughter of Multidimensional sets the bench-mark here. Multidimensional is a proven Classic sire and Cataleya's dam is a half-sister to Beldon Hill (dam of Plenipotent) and Payola (dam of Airplay); Payola herself is a three-parts sister to Empress Jesse (dam of Machiavelliansim). So Cataleya's pedigree passes muster. She won the Forbes Breeders' Juvenile Fillies' Championship, Gr.3 over a mile at Mahalakshmi going start to finish. That race has produced six subsequent Classic winners in recent years. In her last run at Bangalore, Cataleya waited till the bend to take over the running. She won by over six lengths but Captain Morgan and Quaker Ridge clocked a better time for the distance on the same day. Either she was not fully wound up or she idled on hitting the front. Zervan administered six of the best to keep her to her task and she resonded so the latter explanation is likely.

Another Multidimensional filly, Aster Rose (out of Lei), is also spoken of highly. She, too won her last over 1400 m. in Bangalore but ran all over before knuckling down to score. Lei was the first runner to advertise Razeen's coming. Her first foal to race was Venus Arising who won the Nanoli Stud Pune Derby, Gr.1 and then bagged the Fillies' Classic Double in Mumbai. Lei's subsequent produce is nowhere as good but Aster Rose, who will carry her breeder's colours, is her first foal to race by Multidimensional.

A prep race before Bangalore Fillies' Championship Stakes is not an absolute must for three fillies have scored on their seasonal debut. Imtiaz Sait trained one of them and Pesi Shroff the other two. Like Common Wealth, La Dona (Multidimensional - Forest Treasure) will line up on Sunday without a race proper. The buzz around her is based on her mock race where she slammed Classic winners Bold Command and Eternal Flame. La Dona is from one of Usha Stud's oldest families -- that of Camino, Camineto, Own Ordain, Nairn and others -- and her dam won the Tata Cellular Deccan Derby, Gr.1 in her time. Forest Treasure has since been put out of stud and La Dona is her only Multidimensional foal. On pedigree, there is plenty of potential and a recent run would have showed where the filly is at.

Burden of Proof, currently riding the crest of a wave, has just one filly in the line-up but is not bred at the Kunigal Stud. Knockenduff owned by Marthand Mahindra of Broadacres Stud, was covered at Kunigal Stud and then travelled to Nanoli Stud to drop Siobhan. Siobhan won her last start in the current season very impressively. Siobhan's dam did not win but is a half-sister to two speedy black-type winners abroad. That excellent sprinter miler Sprint Star (Bangalore Colts' Trial Stakes, Gr.1, etc) is from the immediate family.

Trainer Padmanabhan makes his bid with Ice Glacier (Arazan - Icebreaker) who, despite a poor run last time out, cannot be brushed aside. She was an odds-on favourite for the Karnataka Juvenile Million, Gr.2 and brought the field into the straight. When she was challenged by Top Striker on the outside and Whomakestherules on her inside, she suddenly dropped away like a pricked balloon. She subsequently ran a better mock race ridden quite differently and will have come on for it and run a much better race. Her dam is one of the two horses to have finished ahead of Set Alight. Arazan, though, does not inspire too much confidence. Like Ice Glacier, Dancing Leaf and Fabulous Touch are by Arazan.  Arazan did get two Classic winners in his first crop -- including Eternal Flame who won this very race last year -- but considering that he had 72 starters and the quality of mares that they were from, the return was below expectations.

The Hyderabad filly Aika Aika Aika (Win Legend - Masquenada) has won three races including the Alcock Barb Stakes, Gr.3 and one during the on-going season. Win Legend has had one very good horse in each of his first two crops -- Fly Like The Wind and Angel Dust, both fillies -- and Aika Aika Aika could be the one from his third crop. Her dam is a half-sister to the great Elusive Pimpernel. Another winner of three races and still unbeaten is Lochness (Arabian Gulf - Romantic Heights). Her sire Arabian Gulf has had three crops of 74 starters but has not yet produced a black-type winner. By Sadler's Wells out of a winner of the One Thousand Guineas, Arabian Gulf has the pedigree to sire a Classic winner but his record so far leaves something wanting. Lochness and In The Spotlight share pedigree similarities. Lochness is by a son of Sadler's Wells out of a grand-daughter of Menorah while In The Spotlight is by a son of Sadler's Wells out of a great grand-daughter of Menorah. The fact that Lochness is yet to be beaten can't be ignored. In time, longer distances will suit her better. Aika Aika Aika is trained by R.H. Sequeira and Lochness by G. Sandhu. Both these trainers are looking for their first Classic win.

Vijays Pride is the only filly Hyderabad-based filly to have won this race. She is also the only one in the last ten years to have gone up to a mile having previously raced only over 1200 m. This year, we have five fillies who have won over 1400 m. in the current season. They all carried different weights and only Siobhan and Aster Rose ran on the same day and so competed over different  track conditions. The fastest time has been recorded by Lochness and it is something for the timing experts to dwell on. They may also like to keep in the mind that rain is forecast for Sunday and the going may be soft or heavy.

The average rating of the field over the last ten years is 51.2. This year it is a shade over 45. Another ten year trend shows that outstation fillies have won the race seven times.

PAST THE POST

In the very second renewal of this race in 1960, Kimbella and Alpenstock went past the post locked together with the former scoring by a short-head. Six years later, there was a battle royal again as Royal Wish triumphed by a short-head over Royal Challenge and then came the dead-heat of 1973 when the camera failed to separate Air Hostess and Fire Haven. Another 15 years passed before the camera was needed again to declare Nine Carat a short-head winner over Treasure Girl in 1988. Since then, the camera has not been required with clear-cut victories the order of the day. The closest finish since 1988 is the half-length win of Vijays Pride over the favourite Portia The race has been run 56 times.and there is no neck verdict between the first and the second. A blanket finish is certainly overdue.