There are two outstation challengers -- both from Bangalore -- who have descended on Mahalakshmi for the first Indian Classic of 2018-19. Success of three raiding fillies in the last ten years -- Siachen, Vijays Pride and Lady In Lace -- provides the inspiration for their foray and the local 'girls' have their work cut out to foil their bid. One of the Bangalore fillies, Isn't She Lovely (Excellent Art - In The Spotlight), is most likely to start as warm favourite on Sunday.

Listing the filly's plus points, let's start with her rating which is the highest in the field. In the last ten years, five of the winners of this race were top-rated.  She is sired by the current Champion Sire and is out of a dam who swept everything before her six years ago. Which is to say that she has the requisite blue blood. Her trainer has won this race twice before with Winning Pretty and Running Flame and has to his credit more Classic wins than any other trainer currently plying the trade. And, she will be piloted by David Allan whose Classic tally in India exceeds that of any other foreign jockey though he is yet to ride a winner of this race. Mentioning anything more will just amount to gilding the lily.

Isn't She Lovely will be having her first race at Mahalakshmi . It is true that Siachen, Vijays Pride and Lady In Lace scored on their first ever run at Mumbai. Though Isn't She Lovely has won twice over a mile, there is a hint of suspicion that the long straight may not suit her forward running style.  She has participated in two mile Classics down south; first in the Bangalore Fillies' Championship Stakes, Gr. 1 where she was third to Punjabi Girl and Realmsoffantasy  and then the K.R.O.A. Mysore 1000 Guineas, Gr.3 which she won beating Sakura and Shesmyscript. The form of those two races hasn't really held up of late.  Punjabi Girl was well beaten in the Calcutta 1000 Guineas, Sakura was a never dangerous third at Hyderabad and Shesmyscript missed the board at Bangalore. Realmsoffantasy did win the Golconda 2000 Guineas, Gr.2 but just about sneaked home after being given an almighty scare by Merlot who was rated 30 points lower.

The other filly coming from Bangalore is Tic Tac Ipsy Tipsy (Western Aristocrat - Mutually Mine). Trainer Prasanna Kumar is a comparatively new entrant to the ranks of trainers. He has already sent out a Classic winner and two months ago he came to Pune with Gusto for the Pune Derby, Gr.1. Gusto almost pulled it off as he was beaten in the very last stride. Tic Tac Ipsy Tipsy has paid a final entry fee of Rs.5,00,000 and that says a lot for the entrerprise and confidence of the connections. After having won her debut race in March over 1400 m., the filly was next seen in action in the Bangalore Fillies' Championship Stakes, Gr.1 where she was prominent early on but petered out to finish well off the board.  She hasn't raced since then and will be racing at a new venue after a gap of five months. She has been systematically prepared over the last two months and the highlight of that preparation was running second -- albeit six lengths adrift -- to Star Superior in a mock race. She has obviously shown something special to the connections to undertake the Mahalakshmi venture. Her sire Western Aristocrat has laid down his marker with two Classic winners -- Kangra and Hartnell -- from his first crop. The dam line of Tic Tac Ipsy Tipsy is modest at best but the same thing could have been said of Kangra and Hartnell as well. No filly has won this race this millennium with a gap as long as five months to her previous start. 

The aspirations of the local brigade rest on their superior numbers. Pesi Shroff has won this race six times in the last ten years. He will be saddling Anatevka (Multidimensional - Smashing) and Arabia (Multidimensional - Adamile) on Sunday. The former is out of a mare who won the Indian Oaks but so far in her five starts has neither shown a Classic spark nor raced beyond 1400 m.. Her full-brother Smasher won his races over 2400 m. and perhaps the filly wants it longer. Arabia, Shroff's other runner, is very inexperienced having  raced just twice. She is, however, a full-sister to two very talented fillies in Amelia and Myrtlewood, both trained by Shroff. Arabia won her maiden race just last month on 18 November. It is worth keeping in mind that two of Shroff's six winners -- Alma Mater and Mrs Patmore -- won the Indian 1000 Guineas on their third starts. What's more, Mrs Patmore had won her maiden race two days later than Arabia and Alma Mater put it across a filly who was rated 39 points higher. 

On ratings, Shroff's two runners are not the best of the Western India based fillies. That honour goes to Oomph (Midnight Interlude - Jahanara). There are a few horses in India who have won a Classic as a maiden and the latest one to add to that small list is Oomph. Without a winning bracket in her first seven starts and running after a lay-off of almost five months, she eked out a narrow win in the Bangalore 1000 Guineas, Gr.2. It would have escaped quite a few that she had placed third in the Poonawalla Breeders' Multi-Million, Gr.1 behind Corfe Castle and Star Superior with the favourite Pioneer well behind. Her sire Midnight Interlude, a son of War Chant, was a winner of the Santa Anita Derby, Gr.1 but now finds himself at a small stud farm in Rajasthan. Oomph's dam Jahanara cost 110,000 gns as a yearling and won a race for M/s. K.N. Dhunjibhoy, Vijay Shirke & Berjis Minoo Desai -- the Jacqueline partnership -- in England at 3 when trained by Richard Hannon, Sr. Mozambique, an elder Western Aristocrat half-sister to Oomph,  won three races from six starts at Hyderabad. Mozambique and Oomph are from the same family as Running Flame, Borsalino, Sur La Tete and Desert God but from a different branch. This race probably comes too soon after the Bangalore 1000 Guineas, Gr.2 though the long break she had earlier may help her.

Oomph is trained by Vishal Gaikwad whose establishment  is like a 'sister yard' of Shroff's. Shroff trains Anatevka for Mr. Shirke who also has Improvisso running, that filly being stabled with M.K. Jadhav. There is one more runner from 'The Team' and that is La Rondine (Kingda Ka - Rahy's Serenade) trained by Vishal Gaikwad. La Rondine won her only start on the same day as Arabia's maiden win. La Rondine carried more weight and clocked a faster time than Arabia. Kingda Ka has had his share of good black-type winners -- including the Golconda Derby, Gr.1 winner King Charles -- and Rahy's Serenade is undoubtedly the best mare imported by Nanoli Stud having produced six black-type winners in Allies Serenade, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Highland Crown, Onassis and Serjeant At Arms, each of them by a differrent stallion. La Rondine may be inexperienced but she has much potential.

Trainer Faisal Abbas, a third generation trainer, is not one whom associates with Classics, even at his home centre. It was hence a bit surprising to see him pitching Merlot (Saamid - Tourmalet) in the Golconda 1000 Guineas, Gr.2 with a final entry fee to boot. Merlot, a half-sister to the Invitation Cup winner Tintinnabulation, did him proud by running a spirited race and causing the Realmsoffantasy camp plenty of anguish. Merlot has two days less than Oomph to recover from the effects of the run and travel to Mumbai

Rehanullah Khan has been a trainer for about three decades and the high noon of his career has been to saddle Strengthtostrength to win the Sprinters' Cup, Gr.1 and cap it up with the Maj. P.K. Mehra Memorial Super Mile Cup, Gr.1 the following day at Bangalore in 2002. His ward Eyes For You (Multidimensional - Margarita Rita) is a full-sister to three winners, none of whom has won beyond 1400 m. Margarita Rita is still looking for her first black-type winner just as the trainer is for his first Classic win. Dallas Todywalla-trained Strong Storm (Strong Suit - Seeking Glory) won her only race towards the end of the Mumbai winter season. During the monsoons, she was a well-beaten third to Realmsoffantasy in the Deccan Fillies' Championship Stakes, Gr.3 at Hyderabad and at the wrong end of the field in Isn't She Lovely's K.R.O.A. Mysore 1000 Guineas, Gr.3. Princess Eliza is still a maiden.

The average field rating of 44.6 makes it the poorest in the last ten years and of the "1000s" at regional centres this year, only Bangalore had a field with a lower rating. One rather curious fact about this year's field is that barring Tic Tac Ipsy Tipsy, Strong Storm and Princess Eliza who is a maiden, the other eight runners did not win during the winter season. The trend of last ten years show that five highest rated runners and three favourites have been successful while only four of the seventeen winners this millennium had not won their previous start.
 
PAST THE POST

Twenty five years ago, the favourite for Royal Challenge Indian 1000 Guineas, Gr.1 was a filly called Double Wish. Ridden by Pesi Shroff, she was an odd-on favourite in a field of eleven starters. Opposite the First Enclosure, Double Wish was in the fighting line. She weakened to finish a close fifth to Splendid Role. Double Wish was owned by Dr. Suresh Chintamaneni who is this year represented by Tic Tac Ipsy Tipsy.