The "Derby Days" (title of a most readable book on the Epsom Derby by Stewart Peters) are here again. Over the next three weeks we will have five Derbies to satiate the appetite and we kick-off this Sunday with the Calcutta Derby. Horatio Nelson, who had but one good eye, won the famous Battle of Trafalgar. We do have a Trafalgar in the fray at Hastings on Sunday but all eight runners, as far as is known, have unimpaired vision in both the eyes. So, who will be victorious on Sunday ?

Right from the time it commenced in the year 1958-59, Calcutta Derby has been the earliest of the winter Derbies in India. The first four editions of the race were run on the Boxing Day over 2000 m. Even after the distance was increased to the standard mile and a half, December remained the preferred month with ten of the first eleven Calcutta Derbies being contested before the new calendars adorned the walls. The early scheduling has enabled Calcutta Derby winners an opportunity to look out for another Derby to add to their credit. Eight of them have been successful in that quest and that is more than any other winter centre can boast of. It is also a fact that all eight of them were trained in their Derby wins away from Calcutta by professionals not based at Hastings.

The last decade has seen the Calcutta Derby winners at their best. Three of them -- the Padmanabhan trio of In The Spotlight, Desert God and Hall of Famer -- won the Indian Derby on their next starts while Quasar and Adjudicate picked up the Invitation Cup after placing in the Indian Derby. Bruckner, who got the decade underway, was running in a black-type race for the first time -- a Derby, no less -- but he pulled it off to register a rare -- but not a unique -- feat. Xisca won by longest margin of this century only for In The Spotlight  to better it the very next year. Locals Snowscape and Snowdrift became the fourth pair of siblings to win the Calcutta Derby while Aggregated won it on just his third start, the least experienced Calcutta Derby winner ever. Adjudicate went from strength to strength in the second year of her career and is still in training.

It is quite on the cards that the last start winner Rosina (Speaking of Which - Roses in Bloom) will skip away to the front and set the "boys" the task of catching her. That is the way she won the Calcutta Oaks where she was tardily off but in the lead passing the 2000 m. marker. We have to go almost to the start of the previous decade to find an Oaks winner coming good in the Derby. That was when Xisca and In The Spotlight triumphed. To be sure, Rosina can't be mentioned in the same breath as those two but  she is a course and distance winner and bred to stay. Her dam is a winner of the Golconda Derby, Gr.1 while her grandam is a full-sister to the grandam of Hartnell who won the Calcutta St. Leger, Gr.3. Last start winners have won nine of the ten previous Calcutta Derbies, the lone  exception being Hall of Famer who had finished only second in Gitanjali Indian 1000 Guineas, Gr.1 at Mumbai.  Rosina had won on her debut in Bangalore during the summer but had run indifferent races thereafter. The distance and front running tactics made all the difference in the Oaks -- the time was admittedly moderate -- and she is sure to be in the race for a long time. She is the lone filly in the field.

Two colts -- Trafalgar and Tenno Sho -- have coughed up much more than the others for the privilege of running on Sunday. Trafalgar was supplemented at the second stage by paying Rs. 4.5 lakhs and Tenno Sho's connections had to part with Rs. 7.5 lakhs this Monday. Tenno Sho, of course, was a last minute entrant for the Calcutta Colts' Trial Stakes  well as the Calcutta 2000 Guineas, Gr.2. Five of the last ten winners had bagged the Calcutta 2000 Guineas, Gr.2 earlier and that goes in favour of Tenno Sho (Phoenix Tower - Namibia). Neil Darashah's ward had to strive might and main to just get better of Jaivant last time out. Though his sire Phoenix Tower has got the Kingfisher Ultra Indian Derby, Gr.1 winner Rochester, his progeny does not inspire the same confidence over a distance like that of Razeen, Placerville or Multidimensional. (Rochester missed the board at Calcutta in his next start in the Indian Turf Invitation Cup, Gr.1). What boosts Tenno Sho's cause is that his dam is by Galileo. Namibia is a Listed race winner over a mile in Germany and a half-sister to Narrow Hill who won four Listed races over 2200 m. or more and placed third in Prix Royal-Oak, Gr.1 (3100 m.). 

Tenno Sho was badly hampered by Izzy in the Calcutta Monsoon Derby, Gr.2 won by Trafalgar (Western Aristocrat - Bluegrass Phenom) but still finished second, three lengths off the winner. Trafalgar's unruly behaviour at the starting gate caused his withdrawal in the "2000" so he will be running in the Derby after a gap of more than a hundred days. Every previous Calcutta Derby winner this century has had a run during the current winter season. Apparently, Trafalgar has mended his ways and is less recalcitrant now but the proof of the pudding will only be forthcoming on Sunday. His win in the Calcutta Monsoon Derby was stylish and he himself was in no way to blame for Tenno Sho's travails. He is very closely related to Hazara Stud stallions Rebuttal and Net Whizz  and very interestingly bred, with complex inbreeding patterns, as well. One cannot be definite that he will revel in the distance but his class will come in handy to shore up the deficiencies, if any.

Eleven years ago, trainer Arjun Magalorkar brought Abs Fabs over from Bangalore and the filly trounced her ten rivals in a record time. She was then taken to Mumbai but unfortunately bled in the McDowell Signature Indian Derby, Gr.1 won by Antonios. That, however, set a trend. (Darius Byramji and Psychic Flame had done it earlier but in slightly different circumstances). Mangalorkar is back again, this time with a colt out of Abs Fabs. Streaming Gold has only one win from eight starts, the last three of which were over 2000 m. He will stay the Derby trip though a lack of finishing kick -- and a rather low rating -- goes against him. Streaming Gold and Adjudicate share an oddity. Both are sired by Multidimensional but  neither is born at Usha Stud.

Jaivant (Win Legend - Validate) was the obvious leader of his generation in Calcutta at the end of the last winter season. Never off the board in his entire career, he hasn't progressed as much as expected but he ran a grand race last time out, failing by a whisker to get the better of Tenno Sho. Before that, he was third in the Calcutta Monsoon Derby, Gr.2 to Trafalgar and Tenno Sho. He likes to run freely and was provided a pacemaker in the "2000".  That worked partially because the impatient Jaivant went past his stable-mate rounding the bend. He is a full-brother to the wonderfully consistent Big Sur whose nine wins have come at 2000 m. or less. He will keep Rosina honest in the front.

No trainer betters Vijay Singh's record in the race and that is Jaivant's greatest asset who also fields Nandish (Multidimensional - Silken Star) and Inca (Air Support - Systematic). Nandish, a full-brother to last year's Oaks winner Oriana, is unbeaten in two starts, his last win seeing him finish almost a distance ahead of the runner-up. He carries the same colours as Jaivant but may not be sacrificed as pacemaker, that role may be assigned to Inca. The jockey bookings could offer a clue. The remaining runner, Topnotch (Top Class - Elzaam), came out of the maidens on his eleventh start last month after a change of trainers. He has been running consistent races and has run against most of his Sunday's rivals before. He has a formidable task ahead of him.

The average field rating of 62 is much below the standard for the last decade but about par with that of last four years. Outstation horses have taken away the spoils seven times in the last ten years and the highest rated horse has won six times. This is not a race for favourites with only three being successful. Jockey David Allan has been astride three winners but the popular Calcutta rider Christopher Alford  -- whose five winners places him on par with Eddie Cracknell and Aslam Kader -- will not be able seen in action as he has hung up his boots.  Alford had his first ride in the Calcutta Derby in 1999 atop Atacama. His five winners were Aperitivo (2005), Aristotle (2006), Regal Connection (2008), Snowscape (2013) and Snowdrift (2014), all in the Khaitan colours and all trained by Vijay Singh. The Hastings faithfuls are sure to miss him. 

PAST THE POST

There are 21 Classics  during the winter for the foal crop born in 2016 and with 14 of them over, we are exactly two-thirds of the way through. Six  favourites have won at a percentage of 43 which is a bit better than the standard for all races while the top rated runner has justified the assessment in exactly half the number of races.. Suraj Narredu and David Egan lead the jockeys table with four and three wins respectively while the veteran Y.S. Srinath has two;  S.S. Attaolahi and Leo D'Silva have each  has saddled one Classic winning filly with a Guineas-Oaks double and  leading trainers S. Padmanabhan and Pesi Shroff are yet to get off the mark. The usual suspects among the breeding establishment -- Poonawalla Farms, Usha Stud and Kunigal Stud -- have two winners each but the top spot belongs to the first named nursery since Paso Robles is a winner of two Classics.. The resurgent  Dashmesh Stud also has two wins, both of them coming through Anjeze. Western Aristocrat, Air Support and the first crop sire Speaking of Which have two Classic winners as does Razeen as the damsire. Multidimensional has one winner to his name and his Derby winning Derby daughter Roses in Bloom gave (dam of Rosina) him his first as a maternal grandsire. The Aga Khan's Mumtaz Mahal -- affectionately called "Mumty" by London's cockney East Enders during her racing days -- is the grand matriarch of two winners of three Classics.