The first ever Classic run at Bangalore was the Colts' Trial Stakes way back in 1959. It was run on 15 July and won by the Baba Khan-trained Mohsin The Second. The fillies' equivalent was contested four days later on 19 July and Rising Bell crossed the wire ahead all others. There was, of course, no Derby that year. The Kunigal Derby, over a mile, was introduced in 1962 and it was extended to 2000 m. in 1964 and slowly, the pattern fell into place. The Trials in mid-June -- the fillies' event preceding the colts' version -- and the Derby in mid-July. The Bangalore Derby became Derby Bangalore in 1988 and the Trials were re-christened as Championship from 2011 onwards. Whatever the nomenclature and their scheduling, these three races have remained highly competitive and significant. Horses which win them generally go on to greater laurels in the winter.

This year's Bangalore Fillies' Championship Stakes, Gr.1 is scheduled for 23 June and that is a bit later than normal. The last time it was run so late in June was in in 1974 when Sweet Memories hacked her seventeen rivals as a firm favourite to win by seven lengths -- the longest winning margin till then in this race -- and extend her winning run to four. It is a coincidence that 45 years later, on exactly the same date, we have Anjeze, another unbeaten filly with three wins in the fray.

It does not require a crystal ball to say that in all probability Anjeze (Win Legend - Angelique)  will start as as the favourite for she has the credentials to do so.  She has won all her three starts by a combined winning margin of 18.5 lengths and is a full-sister Angel Dust who won the Kingfisher Derby Bangalore, Gr.1 -- beating Desert God -- and later the Garuda Bangalore Derby, Gr.1 in her time. Anjeze will be looking to emulate Fond Fantasy and Set Alight, two unbeaten fillies who have won the race this millennium. She is yet to essay a mile but her pedigree clearly indicates that a step up of a furlong will not matter. Angelique herself won the C.N. Wadia Gold Cup, Gr.2 over 2400 m. and placed twice in the Stayers' Cup, Gr.1. Her 'got-abroad' half-sister Swiss Maid is the dam of  Swiss Don who won the Stayers' Cup, Gr.1 at Bangalore. There is no dearth of stamina in the dam line. The slight concern is that she hasn't raced for five weeks and that is a longish gap. She will take heart from the fact that five fillies have won the race this millennium on their first start of the summer campaign. She will also have to buck the recent trend which shows that only one favourite has been successful in the last ten years and no winner since Lovely Kiss in 2011 had won her previous start. Not everyone will know that Anjeze was the first name of Mother Teresa.

Anjeze is not the only unbeaten runner in the contest. Cosmic Ray (Burden of Proof - Corsican Gal), Well Connected (Arazan - Guest Connections) and Princess Annabel (Arazan - Priceless Glory) have all won their only start so far. Cosmic Ray is a stable-mate of Anjeze and is bred on the successful Burden of Proof-Tejano cross while her third dam Boodles was a Classic winning miler. Her trainer S.S. Attaolahi won this race last year with Punjabi Girl. Well Connected is bred on the same lines as sisters-in-blood Missing You and Princess Annabel -- by Arazan out of a Placerville mare from the Schiaparelli family -- and was impressive when she won her maiden. A half-sister to Apache Sunrise (second in Mysore Derby, Gr.1), her dam won the Deutsche Bank Indian 1000 Guineas, Gr.1. She has been working well and is trained by S. Padmanabhan whose last winner of this race  came with Wandering Star in 1999. Princess Annabel is trained by Altamash Ahmed who is looking to saddle his first winner of this race. He has won the other two Bangalore Summer Classics with Alaindair. Princess Annabel  hasn't raced for 94 days and will be making her debut on the Bangalore track this Sunday. She runs in the colours of Mr. Gaurav Sethi, also a part-owner of Alaindair. Alaindair won the Bangalore Colts' Championship Stakes, Gr.1 on his first run at Bangalore and, coincidentally, the date was 23 June. These three inexperienced  fillies have the pedigree to win a good race but perhaps this contest comes a bit too soon in their careers.

Missing You (Arazan - Change of Luck) won the Poonawalla Breeders' Multi-Million in style and is the only Gr.1 winner in the field. That, however, is her only winning bracket from four starts. Ten years ago, her dam -- then called Gypsy Magic -- ran as the favourite in this race as well as the Kingfisher Derby Bangalore, Gr.1 but failed to win. She ended her career as a Classic winner when bagging the Casino Royale Indian St. Leger, Gr.1 beating stable-mate Becket.  Missing You has hence some family honour to restore. She had a lung-opener is War Hammer's race where she led well into the straight and retired gracefully. She should come on for that race but there is a suspicion that her real target of the summer is the Kingfisher Derby Bangalore, Gr.1 next month. The first Classic winner of her sire was Eternal Flame who won this race four years ago. He has had three more since then but just four Classic winners from 232 foals of his first four crops make Arazan an "iffy" Classic sire. The connections of Missing You -- the owners, the trainer and the jockey -- are all seeking their first winner of this race.

With five winners in the last eleven years, trainer Pesi Shroff has really dominated this race. (He also won it five times as a jockey). He saddles Hunt for Gold (Leitir Mor - Pleasure Hunt) on Sunday. The filly won her first two races most impressively but was well beaten by Missing You in the Poonawalla Breeders' Multi-Million, Gr.1. She again finished behind Missing You in War Hammer's race where she was obviously only out for an airing. Her first season sire Leitir Mor, who has made a promising start, won his two races abroad over 1200 m. and 1400 m. Hunt for Gold's dam won the Nanoli Stud Indian Oaks, Gr.1 so a mile should be well up to the filly's tether. What is disconcerting, though, is that no track work of Hunt for Gold has been reported since her last start.

Cape Kidnappers (Abbeyside - Tijuca Forest) is not named after a notorious gang but like most horses owned by Mr. Dilip Thomas gets her monicker from a golf course. This one in New Zealand. The Hyderabad-based filly can boast of being the only Classic winner in the contest having won the Nilgiris 1000 Guineas, Gr.3. She and Thailand (Top Class - Immortal Story) -- who has now moved to trainer Arjun Mangalorekar's yard after having earlier been in Hoshidar Daji's care in Mumbai -- were comprehensively beaten by Anjeze in the Sir Cecil Million. It is hard to imagine either of them reversing that verdict. The remaining runner is Roll Call (Whatsthescript - Knockenduff) whose two wins at Malakpet were only over 1100 m. She ran respectably over 1400 m. in open Class 2 on Bangalore's opening week-end but as the saying goes "others appeal more".

There were 49 fillies still holding ground at the Handicap stage but only nine have accepted. The average field rating  is 48.33 which is a shade higher than the average of last ten years (47.5).  With only Eternal Flame winning as the favourite in last ten years, this race has not been kind to the punters. The fate of the highest rated filly is better with three of them coming up trumps -- all in the last five years -- including Punjabi Girl last year. None of the nine runners has a win over a mile so far.

PAST THE POST

The name Schiaparelli has cropped up above. Descendants of Schiaparrelli started arriving in India only in the early 1980s. Despite the late start, the family has climbed to the No.1 spot as far as Classic winners are concerned in India. It is hence no surprise that the name Schiaparelli is at the top of the fillies who have won the Bangalore Fillies' Championship Stakes, Gr.1 though it shares the distinction with the Qurrat-al-Ain family, both having provided three winners.

The three Schiaparelli family winners are half-sisters Divine Light and Ministrella and Divine Light's daughter Mystic Memory. All three trace to Schiaparelli through Charenzaccio as does Well Connected, a contender on Sunday. Well before Charenzaccio reached India, there was a mare called Collosol at Broadacres Stud who was daughter of Schiaparelli's half-sister Caerwys. Collosol was a good mare who was the dam of couple smart horses in Glasgow Courser and Glasgow Charger.