Indiarace.com - india's first & foremost horse racing portal

PRESIDENT OF INDIA GOLD CUP, Gr.2

By Major Srinivas Nargolkar (Retd.) | 06 Sep 2019 |


It was in the late 1960s that Hyderabad Race Club upped-sticks from its domain in the Secundrabad cantonment and moved right across the Twin Cities to its new location at Malakpet. Then, it was but a small monsoon centre. True, it had the Nizam's Gold Cup — that the Melbourne Cup winner The Quack had participated in the 19th century when it was called Hyderabad Gold Cup -- but it was only a handicap race for Class III/IV horses. On moving to Malakpet, a new race, the President of India Gold Cup was added to the Prospectus. That, too, was a handicap event to begin with, run over a mile and scheduled before the Nizam's Gold Cup. In 1973, both the races were still handicaps but the present order -- Nizam's Gold Cup over 2000 m. followed by President's of India Gold Cup over 2400 m. -- was established. The President of India Gold Cup became a Terms race in 1974 and the NIzam's followed suit a year later. These two races -- and the Deccan Derby instituted in 1971 -- added gloss to the Prospectus. 

It was, however, the vision of one man that really turned the spotlight on Malakpet. That man was trainer R.R. Byramji. There were no graded races in India in those days but the astute trainer was quick to spot the potential of these races in the larger national picture. About two decades earlier, Byramji had lead in Recent Vintage at Secunderabad as an owner. However, as a trainer his first visit to the Twin Cities was on 16 September 1975 when he brought two fillies, Sweet Memories and Nectar Queen, for the President of India Gold Cup. Sweet Memories duly won and from then on 'RRB' plundered Malakpet like no one else. His horses have won the President's 15 times, the Nizam's on a dozen occasions and he has bagged the Nizam's-President's double ten times. Add to that seven Fillies' Trials and half a dozen of Colts' Trials as well as Deccan Derby and you will get the idea of the treasures he has carried away. It should also be mentioned that three horses -- Nice Fella, Con Amore and Noble Princess -- which had started their careers with him won the President's when it was a handicap though they had moved on to other yards because Malakpet was then not on his agenda. 

It was only in early 1970s that Hyderabad saw Class I horses. Byramji's exploits brought such champions as Sweet Memories, Commanche, Squanderer, Manitou, Track Lightning, Almanac, Camino, Classic Story, Elusive Pimpernel and Appeaser to Malakpet and that went a long way in raising the prestige of Hyderabad as a monsoon centre. For older horses, the Nizam's-President's double is something to be cherished during the rainy days.

That cherished double has been bagged 21 times, the last by Ordained One in 2011. The great Elusive Pimpernel is the only horse to have done it twice. The President's has been won twice by six horses, namely, Squanderer, Brave Dancer, Star Contender, Elusive Pimpernel, Appeaser and Desert God. Only Star Contender tried to to complete the hat-trick but the younger Astronomic foiled his bid by a neck. All six of them won in consecutive years except Desert God who missed the 2017 running because he was faraway in Richard Hughes's Weathercock Stables at Lambourn. When Desert God won his second President's in 2018, the race had been downgraded to Gr.2 and its conditions altered to an event with penalties instead of the weight-for-age contest it used to be. 

The President of India Gold Cup began as a weight-for-age -- Indian scale, not international -- in 1974 and the 4YOs then used to receive 3 kgs. from older horses. This continued till 2008 -- Arabian Knight's year -- when the allowance was reduced to just one kg. That meagre allowance, too, was done away with -- in line with the international scale -- for the 2017 renewal when Mathaiyus won. The changed conditions for 2018 running meant that Desert God had to hump 62 kgs. He did that successfully and though he missed out on a second Gr.1 President of India Gold Cup, he can claim, justifiably, that none of the other winners of the race have carried as much weight on their backs.  

Desert God's nine starts abroad -- two in Dubai and seven in England -- saw his number going up in the frame three times but he never managed a paying place. On his return, he has won five times from eight starts, exposing the vast gulf that exists between our racing and racing abroad. The chestnut entire has raced ten times in India at distances of 2400 m. and over and been beaten just once. That was in the last Invitation Cup at Hyderabad. However, he has never been beaten on Malakpet's monsoon track. His two previous President of India Gold Cups came on the back a winning run in the Bangalore St. Leger and this year, too, he is following that successful route. One of his greatest attributes is his steel in a dog fight and he clearly sets the standard here. 

The last ten renewals of this race had an average field of 5.4 runners. If the aim of changing the terms -- and dropping in Grade -- was to draw a larger field, that objective has not been achieved. There were five runners in 2018  and so, too, for this Sunday's contest. Last year, Desert God gave Reunion 10 kgs. and still won by a length and a half. He has subsequently finished ahead of Reunion in the Golconda and Bangalore St. Legers and as well as the Chief Justice's Cup. This year, Reunion carries only 4.5 kgs. less than Desert God so Col. S.B. Nair's horse will find it difficult to turn the tables.

The Indian Turf Invitation Cup, Gr.1 last year at Hyderabad saw Desert God being beaten by Adjudicate. However, Desert God, giving two kgs., still finished about three lengths ahead of My Opinion. That superiority was extended to five-and-a-half lengths in the Bangalore St. Leger despite the Chennai runner being better off by 0.5 kg. On Sunday, the two runners carry the same weight. Like Wise, the only filly in the field, gets weight all round but she doesn't quite belong to this class and will do well to get her number on board.

That leaves Secretive Force (Multidimensional  - Secret Garden). Darius Byramji's ward missed the whole of the winter Classic season but has has made up for the lost time with consistent performances during the Bangalore summer season. After an easy outing on his reappearance, he has reeled off a hat-trick culminating in a neck victory over My Opinion in the Governor's Cup, Gr.3. They meet again with the weights slightly in favour of My Opinion but Secretive Force is on an upward swing and has shown a marked improvement in each of his last four starts.Eight favourites and an equal number of four year-olds have won in the last ten renewals of this race. Desert God will most probably starts as the public choice to quell the challenge of four year-olds My Opinion and Secretive Force.

PAST THE POST

There is more to the history of racing in Hyderabad than is readily available or known. The Bengal Sporting Magazine of 1840, edited by J.H. Stocqeler, Esq., mentions -- "Course at Moula Ali, now almost abandoned, remembering as we do, what it was in the days of glory, when all the best horses of Coles, and Rumbolds and Gordons and McCleans and Moores and McDowells and Hornes and Byams, with a hundred others, were competitors for Cups and Plates, to an amount no other mofussil station could boast of approaching." It is obvious from this reference that racing existed at Moula Ali in the first half of the nineteenth century and was dominated by the British. There is also a reference in William Dalrymple's "White Mughals" which says -- "William Palmer died on Monday, 25 November 1867. The British Resident, Sir Richard Temple, was one of the few to attend the funeral. But he left early, anxious not to miss the beginning of Chudderghat races". 'Chudderghat' is roughly the area of present day Malakpet and hence it is obvious that the move of the race course from Moula Ali had taken place before 1867 and during the reign of Afzal-ud-Daula, the Fifth Nizam of Hyderabad.