Bangalore's Summer Derby is the best and most significant race for three year-olds in the country. The very first running in 1962 was won by Mount Everest who went on to win the inaugural Indian Turf Invitation Cup at Bombay. The race has seen everything; a dead dead-heat between two rank outsiders (Mauritius Pearl and Skyline, 1974), an objection being overruled (Red Cockade against Commanche, 1975); a procession when Chaitanya Chakram won and the verdict was 8 lengths, 8 lengths, 8 lengths; a blanket finish when Red Divine triumphed by a neck with two heads separating the next two on-the-board; and, it has showcased 18 future winners of the Indian Derby or the Indian Turf Invitation Cup.

The race has been run 54 times and it has been won by a winner of preceding Fillies' or Colts' race on 26 occasions. That's 48.19 %. The average field rating for the last ten years is 62.7. This year it is 58.08. What that basically indicates is that it is difficult for a runner with a rating below 58 to win. In races of this nature, it happens about once in fifteen times.

Sergeant At Arms (Ikhtyar - Rahy's Serenade) won the Bangalore Colts' Championship Stakes, Gr.1 most impressively and he is unbeaten. Ikhtyar has two foals out of Rahy's Serenade and three out of her daughter Allies Serenade. Three of those five foals are black-type winners including Bruckner (Eveready Calcutta Derby, Gr.1 over 2400 m.) and Monet (C. N. Wadia Gold Cup, Gr.2 over 2400 m.). In any case, it does not require an out and out stayer to win the Derby Bangalore. A winner over a mile on the track can win the race because of the track configuration. The race starts in front of the stand and the field is swinging right till it comes to the 1600 m. pole. Then there is a descent till you come to the flyover turn. The uphill climb is again round a turn till you come into the short straight. A good position at the bend is of vital importance. Ten previous winners have gone into the race unbeaten and stretched their winning run though we also have the case of Almanac who met his Waterloo at the hands Young Rajput in 1981. What's more, Almanac even failed to place. In racing, there are no cast iron certainties but there is no one in the field who can better the claims of Serjeant At Arms.

Common Wealth, who won the Bangalore Fillies' Championship Stakes, Gr.1, is an absentee and that signifies how lucky she was to have won that race. Take nothing away from the filly, though. She won the race on the day, despite physical problems and a lack of prep race. Her trainer himself was unsure about running the filly. In the race itself, she drifted out dramatically from the running rail to the extreme outside of the field, miraculously avoiding a major mishap and exhibiting that all was not quite right with her. A well prepared, fully fit Common Wealth may have posed some challenge to the colt. Here absence here spares the backers of having to put down their money on a runner having the potential but whose fitness has to be taken on trust.

In many ways, The Bangalore Fillies' Championship Stakes, Gr.1 was a muddling race with the first four fillies covered by less than a length. Run that race again and the result could be different. A point to be noted, though, is that Common Wealth recorded a better time -- 1.37.78; penetrometer reading 3.8 -- than what Serjeant At Arms did -- 1.39.87; penetrometer reading 4.6.. The heavier going and not having to exert in an easy victory explains the slower time of the colt.

Aika Aika Aika, La Dona and Aster Rose finished so close to Common Wealth that on another day they may well have won the race but La Dona doesn't run. The other two fillies are bred to get 2000 m. on any track and so stamina is not going to be factor. 14 fillies have won this race to add to the hopes of this trio, though, as a general rule, one would prefer a colt against a filly in any Derby. Aika Aika Aika (dam half-sister to the great Elusive Pimprnel) looked a winner all over and succumbed only in the final few strides. The Hyderabad filly came from way behind when winning her first race on the track but was handier in her last. She appears versatile as far as her style of running is concerned and is certainly a tough cookie having raced seven times -- more than any other runner in the race -- and never having been out of the frame.

La Dona may not be running but Multidimesnional is represented by two other daughters. Aster Rose got going a bit too late but still finished within a length of Common Wealth and this half-sister to Venus Arising, too, has the bloodlines for the job. With Common Wealth not running, Aster Rose will have the undivided attention of her trainer. Star Nijinsky (Multidimensional - Allaire) is yet another Usha-bred in the race. She came out of the maidens on her fourth -- and last--  start over a mile beating Sweet Temptation easily. Sweet Temptation ran a tame fourth in the Mysore Fillies' Trial Stakes so that form line is rather devalued. Her dam won this very race and went on to also win the Indian Oaks, Gr.1. Star Nijinsky is a filly for the winter rather than this Sunday. Owners are at liberty to name a horse anyway they like but calling a filly Nijinsky -- the great male ballet dancer -- certainly takes the cake

A good innings may enhance the reputation of a batsman but an indifferent one cannot -- or should not -- tarnish the standing already established. Godspeed and Myrtlewood failed miserably in their Bangalore campaigns but came back in Mumbai. There are several reasons why a horse has a poor day at the office and, unfortunately, a common racing man is not privy to the correct facts. There is no doubt that Whomakestherules had a very lackluster last outing behind Serjeant At Arms and Supreme General. He is bred to stay and it will indeed be galling if he fails to win a good race at 2000 m. or more in his career if he remains fit. Getting the better of Serjeant At Arms on Sunday is a tall order. On the other hand, reversing placings with Supreme General is a distinct possibility.

For one so inexperienced -- it was only his third start -- Supreme General (Old Forester - Fiery Pegasus) ran a cracking race in the Bangalore Colts' Championship Stakes, Gr.1. He was beaten easily by the winner but held Whomakestherules at bay. He is beautifully bred but has a high Dosage Index suggesting excess of speed over stamina and that might see him struggling a bit at the business end. One of his two bracket-mates -- Magistero and Bold March -- may act as the pace maker for him.  Magistero is a maiden and Bold March was not on board in the Colts' race.

The unbeaten Namid is not running here. On his last start, Namid, getting 2 kgs, beat Captain Morgan by about two lengths. That makes the two about equal but Namid was beginning to assert towards the end of the race whereas Captain Morgan was not finding something extra. Ridden differently, he may but he sports bandages and a headgear, rather unsightly on a young horse.  Runners in the famous white, black V colours.have been a bit subdued this season but the full-brother to the ill-fated Admiralty, who is likely to be ridden by Srinath, can cause a problem or two. 

Another runner with a 1800 m. victory on the track is the Padmanabhan-trained filly Ice Glacier. She tried to win the Karnataka Juvenile Million, Gr.3 with front running tactics and failed. She tried coming from behind in the Fillies' race and missed the board. Last time out, she won over 1800 m. after being handy behind Summer Hill -- another Classic hopeful with two poor runs -- and scored easily. That form is not good enough but she deserves a mention because her trainer is quite capable of pulling out a Classic bunny out of the hat. 

PAST THE POST

Just as it is the sole prerogative of the owners  to name their horses, it is they who choose where to run their horses. We may look askance at maidens running in a Derby but almost everyone knows of Pyare Miya who won the Indian Derby without having won a race previously or, for that matter matter, afterwards. There is maiden winner of this race also and old timers are certain to remember him.