In Australia, the jockeys are sometimes referred to as 'hoops'. The very first Indian Derby winner, Princess Beautiful, was ridden by Edgar Britt. The Aussie 'hoop' Britt turned 104 last October. He is certainly the oldest Indian Derby winning jockey living.

When he starts out as a young apprentice, every jockey's ambition is to have a ride in the Derby and his dream is to be on the winner. In the 74 renewals of the Indian Derby, 267 individual jockeys have had a mount with 117 having just a solitary ride. If the jockey is good and the horse is capable, even a single ride is enough to win the big race as Ken Gethin, Harry Carr and Lloyd Marshall have proved. 

Maharani Seeta Devi's Martial Law, trained by B.R. Patel, was the second favourite for the 1952 Indian Derby. In his previous six starts, Martial Law had been ridden mostly by E.J. Fordyce. For the Derby, though, Gethin was flown out from Calcutta. It was a slow run race -- the time of 2.50.2 is the slowest on record -- and Gethin, deciding to take the bull by the horns, sent Martial Law to the front approaching the final bend. The move paid off for the Baroda colt hung on in the end to win by half a length from the favourite -- Kashmir's Fitz Call -- with Morvi's Maharaj Kumari just a short-head behind in third. That was Gethin's only ride in an Indian Derby and the only time he had ridden Martial Law in a race. Martial Law was a full-brother to Jeanne d’Arc who had won the Indian Derby for Idar in 1948. Their dam Curfew III, who was bred in France by Capt. J. Crawford, had won in France and England before coming to India. She won a race for Capt. Crawford at Madras in February 1936 and you don't have to guess who the jockey was. It was Ken Gethin !

Why Fordyce was replaced with Gethin in the Derby is a matter of conjecture. There is no guess work involved as far as how Harry Carr got the ride on Prince Pradeep in the Indian Derby of 1964. Former Police officer Mr. T.G. Gaonkar had burst onto the racing scene like a meteor and had a strong string with trainer Aziz Mahmoud. Jockey Joe Mercer had been retained by Mr. Gaonkar and he duly picked up the first two Classics of the year with My Smita and Prince Pradeep. Mercer broke his arm when a horse kicked him after a routine morning work-out. He suggested that his father-in-law Harry Carr should fly out from England. The recommendation was accepted but before The Queen's jockey could reach Mahalakshmi, the Oaks was run and My Smita finished only third. Prince Pradeep, unbeaten in his own age group, was the raging favourite for the Derby. A confirmed front runner, he was a hard colt to settle. Carr had been informed of Prince Pradeep's predilections and had come with a special bit. How effective the bit was is hard to fathom for Prince Pradeep won the Derby from start to finish, sparing six lengths to Gwalior's Zindabad. It is said that Carr asked for a stiff brandy after weighing-in, not in celebration, but because he was exhausted in trying to keep the runaway winner in a semblance of check. Carr rode Prince Pradeep in the St. Leger to complete the Triple Crown. That was Carr's only Indian Derby ride.

Another front runner -- but not a 'puller' in the Prince Pradeep mould -- to win the Indian Derby was Chaitanya Chakram. Unlike Gethin and Carr, who rode Martial Law and Prince Pradeep for the first time in the Derby, Lloyd Marshall was well acquainted with Chaitanya Chakram having ridden him nine times earlier, winning every time except once. The only time he had lost on him was in the Guindy Grand Prix, Gr.3 when Vasant Shinde-ridden Autonomist got the better of him. So the Indian Derby was a pay-back time. The favourite for the race was Capricorn on whom, following the Bezan Chenoy-Pesi Shroff break-up, Shinde was astride. Undaunted by it being his first -- and alas, also his last -- Indian Derby, Marshall sent Chaitanya Chakram to the front while Capricorn kept tabs on him in second or third. Early in the straight, Shinde brought Capricorn upsides of 'Chakram' and a battle royal ensued in the run-in. Lloyd Marshall, however, was not to be denied his hour of glory as 'Chakram' kept digging into his reserves, pulling out something extra and prevailing in the end by a neck.  

Gethin, Carr and Marshall thus have a unique distinction. There are 10 other jockeys whose first Indian Derby ride was a victorious one. That list reads -- Edgar Britt (Princess Beautiful, 1943), Bill Rickaby (Jeanne d'Arc, 1948), J.R. Egan (Star of Gwalior, 1956), Wally Swinburn (Prince Khartoum, 1972), Nelson Reuben (Topmost, 1974), Geoff Baxter (Almanac, 1982), Pesi Shroff (Enterprising, 1984), Satish Narredu (Amazing Bay, 1996), Pradeep Belose (Noble Eagle, 2003) and Sylvestre De Souza (Antonios,  2009). Six jockeys won on their last Indian Derby mount -- Raghunath (Red Rufus, 1966), Karl Umrigar (Royal Tern, 1979), Pesi Shroff (Psychic Flame, 2004), Mick Kinane (Hotstepper, 2008), Jimmy Fortune (Super Storm, 2013) and David Allan (Desert God, 2016). David Allan, of course, is still riding and it remains to be seen if he will sign off in glory. And, talking of last Derby "appearances" - not rides -- how can one forget Stan Smith. The 58 year-old Derby winning jockey was on Mr. Ranjit Bhat's Red Revolution in Prince Khartoum's 1972 Derby. When the gates opened, his mount dug his heels in and refused to come out. So Smith had no "ride" as such in the race proper.

Pesi Shroff, the only jockey to have won the Indian Derby on his first and last ride, is unique because having ridden a total of eight Indian Derby winners, he is to Mahalakshmi what Lester Piggott is to Epsom. He was actually first past the post in nine Indian Derbies but Saddle Up's disqualification, for no fault of his, reduces his tally to eight. Khade and Jagdish come next in the table with four winners each while Kinane and Aslam Kader follow with three apiece.

The wait to ride an Indian Derby winner can sometimes be long and unsettling. Y.S. Srinath steered home Alaindair in 2014 on his ninth attempt which came 12 years after his first ride on Iflookscouldkill in 2002. Eddie Cracknell had to wait even longer for his Derby win came after 15 years on Nijinsky in 1967. It was Cracknell's eighth Derby ride, one less than Srinath, and he had thrice been second. Patience is not always rewarded. Purtu Singh had 16 Derby rides between 1948 and 1972 but never rode a winner. He was to ride Bade Miya in the 1973 Indian Derby but a fortnight earlier, he had a fall and was out of action. To add salt to the wounds, the horse which dropped him was named Good Hope !

Pandu Khade's record of four Indian Derby winners was first equalled by Jagdish and then broken by Pesi Shroff. There is, however, one record to Khade's credit which will take some beating. Khade's first Derby ride was on Baroda's War Admiral in 1945. For the next 24 years, he rode in each and every Indian Derby, the sequence ending with Buland in 1968. In all, Khade had 27 Derby rides.

Kheem Singh was the first Indian jockey to win the Indian Derby and he did so on Balam in 1949.  Of the 49 jockeys who have won the Indian Derby, 21 are Indian, 17 British, five Irish, five Australian and one Brazilian. (Swinburn is counted as British because he was born in Liverpool and rode his first winner in England though he made his name later in Ireland. On the other hand, Richard Hughes came into prominence in England but he is taken as Irish because he is Dublin born and started riding in Ireland,). Shroff is the only rider with a hat-trick (Exhilaration 1988, Desert Warrior 1989 and Starfire Girl 1990). His first two Derby rides -- Enterprising 1984 and Revelation 1985 -- were winning ones. Two other jockeys -- Stan Smith and Aslam Kader -- also have back to back wins in the Indian Derby.

Mick Kinane's second win was on Cordon Blue in 1988. His third came on Hotstepper in 2008. That gap of 20 years is the longest between two wins in the Indian Derby. J.R. Egan won the Derby first up on Star of Gwalior. The following year he was third on the favourite Mukhtar-ul-Mulk. He had become a little too fond of the amber liquid and was sacked by Gwalior. It was the unenvious job of Gwalior's trainer Maj. V.M. Lad to put him on a plane to London and he vividly remembered the anxious visage of the jockey's wife as they left India. Egan reformed himself, rode successfully in Scandinavia in the '60s and was back in England riding in the early '70s. In 1974, Egan was seen again at Mahalakshmi in Gwalior colours and rode Sun King in Topmost's race. 17 years had elapsed since Egan's Mukhtar-ul-Mulk episode and that is longest time interval between two Indian Derby rides. Christy Roche rode three Irish Derby winners and one of the Epsom Derby. He had eight rides in an Indian Derby and was unplaced in all of them That is highest number of rides without coming on the board.

There are four pairs of father and son both having ridden in an Indian Derby -- Wally Swinburn and Walter Swinburn, P.S. Bhosle and B. Prakash, Satish and Suraj Narredu, Malesh and Yash Narredu. Only Staish and Suraj Narredu were both on a winner. Brothers Shamu Chavan and Ganpat Chavan both rode in a Derby as did Satish and Malesh Narredu with the two being astride a winner. Stan Smith and Pandu Khade were both in their fiftieth year when they won on Rocklie in 1963 and Mansoor in 1973 respectively and are the oldest winning jockeys. Lester Piggott won the Epsom Derby nine times but was unplaced in four attempts in the Indian Derby. He holds an Indian Derby record, though. He was running 60 when he led the 1995 Indian Derby field till the bend on Classico. No older jockey has been given a leg-up in the Indian Derby. Karl Umrigar had celebrated just his 18th birthday a little over three months earlier when he won on Royal Tern. He is the youngest jockey to win an Indian Derby.

PAST THE POST

Gethin, Carr and Marshall made the most of their only ride in an Indian Derby but 114 other jockeys who had just one shot at the Derby glory were not as fortunate. Among them, two jockeys stand out.

Lionel Davison was a New South Wales jockey who, like many Aussies of that period, ventured beyond 'Down Under' to ply their trade. He rode at first in Burma and then in Ceylon. His Indian forays were confined mostly to the southern circuit but he did ride a couple of seasons at Mahalakshmi in the winter. In 1946, came his only Derby ride on Namdar. Just as the field passed the mile marker, Davison began to move up on his mount and had assumed the lead at the seven furlong pole. He was clear of the field coming into the straight, still in the lead opposite the First Enclosure but Mr. Chandulal Shah's filly Chakori passed him in front of the Members' Stand and he ended up second.

Young Irish jockey W. O'Connor was astride Winning Pretty in the 1996 Indian Derby won by Amazing Bay. As a jockey, O'Conner's name is associated with two very good fillies in Kooyonga and Royal Ballerina. Winning Pretty, a filly, however dropped him soon after the start ! That was his only Indian Derby mount and after that his career plummeted. Increasing weight, Crohn's decease and addiction to drugs led to a dismal end.

There was a consolation for Davison and O'Connor, though. Both had won a Guineas earlier on their Derby mount. And, to end on a happier note, O'Connor came back strongly, reformed and rehabilitated, and is today a coach to young jockeys in Ireland, instructing them about technical riding nuances and more so about how to manage their life.