The Queen Elizabeth II Cup and Byculla Club Club are two of the oldest races run India. The former started as the Governor-General's Plate in 1857 and it has gone through a few name changes, its scheduling has been altered over the years and it has lost some of its glory with the passage of time. However, it still remains the oldest race East of the Suez. The Byculla Club Cup was first run in 1870 when racing used to take place on its premises but the records of winners prior to 1893 are not available. Racing, of course, had shifted to Mahalakshmi in 1883. Nowadays, the QE II, as it is referred to, is run in early February while the Byculla has been scheduled in mid-January instead of April. These two races are hence ideally suited as a lead-up to the Stayers' Cup. In actual fact, only two winners of the QE II in the last ten years have participated in the Stayers' Cup and both of them -- Agostini in 2016 and Winter Renaissance last year -- finished third. The Byculla Club Cup has a better record with Maseeha (2010), Native Knight (2013) and Astapi (2015) using the Byculla Club Cup as their stepping stone to Stayers' Cup glory.

The longest race in the country, though, is the Suresh Mahindra Trophy, run at Pune over 3200 m. In the old days it used to be called the Northumberland Trophy and was run at Mumbai. Aldergrove won the first running in 1926 and scored an encore two years later. Carioca in 1937 and 1938 was another to win the race twice. It was discontinued after 1941 but revived at Pune in 1982. In 1997, it became the Suresh Mahindra Trophy. Jonty Rhodes (1998 and 2000) was the only horse to win it twice at Pune till Raees (Sedgefield - Lost Perfection) came along to annexe it in the last two years. Two winners of this race -- Native Knight and Astapi -- have gone on to win the Stayers' Cup and both had used Byculla Club Cup as a lead-up.

Raees, an obdurate stayer, enjoys a good rating and is following a successful path having won the Byculla Club Cup on his last outing. He must have a large following. This is a good race for favourites and older horses with 18 public fancies and 30 older horses coming good in 38 renewals. In the last ten years, four highest rated horses have scored.

A close look at the winners of last ten years shows that most of them had a black-type win over 2400 m. or more or had placed in a Gr.1 race over those distances. On that basis, Reunion (Dancing Forever - Ambos) fits the bill. Two of his five wins are over 2400 m. They were not black-type races but he has placed in four St. Legers including a second to Caprisca in the Indian St .Leger, Gr.1. He has been consistent runner, giving his best at all times. His grandam is a full-sister to the dam of  Golconda Derby, Gr.1 winner Roses In Bloom. Two of Hyderabad's three wins at the big week-end in the last ten years have come in this race.

Frivolous (Misremebered - Christmas Fever) has run second to Raees in the Suresh Mahindra Trophy as well as the Byculla Club Cup. He was then getting weight from Imtiaz Sait's ward and so will find it difficult to turn the tables at level weights. Besides, he has not won for over 500 days. It is a curious fact that the dam of Raees and the sire of Frivolous are half-brother and sister.

Kambaku (Win Legend - Star of the Crop) is a winner of the Governor's Cup, Gr.3 over 2400 m. and has a very good pedigree. His last run in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup, Gr.3 at Calcutta was dismal. He has always looked like a horse capable of winning a good race but has invariably disappointed. Such horses often pop up against expectations.

Talking of pedigrees, the mare Like Wise (Dancing Forever - Farha), is one to drool over, especially her dam side. The third dam of Like Wise is that wonderful Wildenstein mare All Along, a winner of five Gr.1 races including the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. Like Wise has totted up eight wins so far and is the highest rated runner in the field. She has no black-type, and has not won beyond 1800 m. She will carry the silks made famous by the man in whose memory the race is being run.

The only threat to the older horses is posed by Sacred Roman (Holy Roman Emperor - Clicquot). The gelding, trained by Pesi Shroff, was beaten narrowly by Star Superior in the Ramniwas Ramnarain Ruia Gold Cup, Gr.3 but finished well adrift in the Kingfisher Ultra Indian Derby, Gr.1 where he was ridden with much more restraint. Perhaps, he prefers to run freer. He is bred to stay and his run in this race will give a pointer to the chances of the Classic generation in the Invitation Cup on Sunday. Shroff hasn't pitched too many four year-olds in the Stayers' Cup, Gr.1. Just two in the last ten years; Tiger Tops who was second to Astapi in 2015 and Lord of the Sea  who finished fourth last  year at Calcutta. It hard to see Sacred Roman missing the board and he could well surprise the older horses if the race is run to his liking. 

Watchmyscript (Whatsthescript -Yas Marina) has been a consistent mare who hasn't run many bad races in her 23 starts but most of them have been at shorter distances. Only twice has she ventured beyond 2000 m. First was in the Golconda Derby, Gr.1 where she ran off the board and then on her last outing when she beat three rivals to win the Stayers' Trial Stakes and earned an invitation to run here. Fabulous was one of those three opponents; out of form -- or unfit -- Booker Jones and Azzurro were the other two. She is not going to have it easy on Saturday but she runs in the Mahindra colours which have been having a good run for sometime now.   

The average field rating of 88.9 is substantially below the average (101.8) of last ten years. The only time it has been lower in the last ten years is when Captain Morgan won at Bangalore in 2017.

PAST THE POST

Three horses have won this race twice and, curiously,  their names start with the alphabet 'A" -- Aztec (1984 and 1985), Ardiles (1987 and 1988) and Astapi (2014 and 2015). There is no runner whose name starts with 'A' this year.

In 2009, all the four Gr.1 races of the Invitation Cup week-end were run on one day, late in Hyderabad's Monsoon Season. The 2008-09 scheduling of races had gone haywire since the winter racing commenced late due to an outbreak of equine virus. There is one occasion when three Gr.1s were run on a single day. That was in 2015 at Mumbai. Intermittent drizzle through the latter half of Saturday's racing caused some races -- including the Deltin Casinos Stayers' Cup, Gr.1 -- to be postponed as was the Sunday's card. The revamped  second day's racing was held on the following Saturday. Stayers' Cup was slated as the last race on the long card. Though by March the days are fairly long in Mumbai, it was almost twilight when the eight runners for the Stayers' Cup wended their way to the start. Several windows in the high-rise buildings to the north of Mahalakshmi were light up as Astapi won his second Stayers' Cup under A. Sandesh with a driving finish that carried him past the favourite Tiger Tops. Earlier in the day, Zachary (Maj. P.K. Mehra Memorial Super Mile Cup, Gr.1) and Your Royal Majesty (Suresh Mahindra Multi-Million, Gr.2) had won their races as favourites. The defeat of the half-money favourite Be Safe in the Omkar Indian Turf Invitation Cup, Gr.1 had shocked the Mahalakshmi railbirds and Astapi's victory at 12/1 added further to the gloom.