Just five runners -- the smallest field ever in this race -- will report to the Starter at the mile post and negotiate two bends before they are in the homestretch. Despite the lack of numbers, it could provide a good finish.

Trends (Last Ten Years)

The last ten years have seen the Classic crop providing six winners, five favourites crossing the line first and four fillies putting it across the 'boys'. Ten starters with an average field rating of 104 vied for the honours and the average rating of the winners was 109. It is a tough race for the top rated runners with just a solitary winner. Three of the winners had won their previous starts. Pesi Shroff heads the Trainers' Table with three wins but the leading jockey, A. Sandesh (2 wins), will not be seen in action as he is serving a suspension. It is appropriate that Usha Stud with three wins is the top stud farm. All the three winners of Usha Stud were sired by Multidimensional. Exactly half the winners came from Mumbai but, perhaps, the most significant statistic is that six of the winners had previously won a mile Classic. 

Main Contenders

Out to defend her crown is the six year-old mare Cosmic Ray. Winner of the Raghulal Mysore 1000 Guineas, Gr.2 as a three year-old, she was second to Gift of Grace in the StyleCracker Indian 1000 Guineas, Gr.1 -- where Juliette finished third -- but failed to win in her three starts in 2020. The enforced Covid break gave her chance to recuperate and she has come back refreshed, winning four of her six races and being runner-up in the other two. She won this race comfortably towards the end of last year and went down narrowly to Giant Star in the Rusi Patel Trophy, Gr.3 on her last start. That defeat in no way goes against her because she was giving the winner 6.5 kgs and lost by only half a length. Since Giant Star will be giving her 1.5 kgs. on Sunday, she has nothing to fear from the son of Excellent Art. A winner four times over a mile, she is game, consistent and always runs her race. Cosmic Ray won on her debut under P. Trevor and he is riding her again in what could be her swan song. In the interim he has ridden her just once when she placed second.

A year younger than Cosmic Ray, Forest Flame reeled off five successive wins at the start of her career. A victory in the Poonawalla Breeders' Multi-Million, Gr.1 followed Guineas triumphs at Bangalore and Pune to make her look a bit special. Her next three starts were over 2400 m. in Gr.1 events and she finished only third behind Lagarde at Bangalore in the Derby and played the bridesmaid to Immortality in the Oaks and the Derby at Mumbai. Staying was clearly not her forte and brought back to 1800 m. for the Maharaja Jiwajirao Scindia Trophy, Gr.2, she posted an easy win. However, on her last start in the Eclipse Stakes, she was well beaten by Juliette. She returns to a mile -- a distance over which she has not lost --after fourteen months and seems ready to lock horns with Cosmic Ray. She started her career with a hat-trick under David Egan who will get the leg-up on Sunday.

The Upsetter

The classic crop does well in this race and the only four year-old in the field is the filly Eternal Blaze. She claimed the Bangalore 1000 Guineas, Gr.2 with a sparkling run from the back and though beaten easily over 2400 m. at Bangalore in the Oaks and the Derby, her class enabled her to keep her place on the board. Her two wins have been over a mile and she will appreciate another chance at her ideal distance. She is the lowest rated runner in the field but expect her to run well above her mark. C.S. Jodha, her partner in her last five starts, continues the association.

The three fillies will be running for the first time at Chennai but the Giant Star and Historian are familiar with the course, the latter being a course and distance winner.

The Field

The average field rating is 96.

PAST THE POST

This is the only invitational race which no horse has managed to win twice. Once, doing the Sprinters' Cup-Super Mile double was a big thing and it was indeed a tough assignment. Thirty three horses attempted to win the two Gr.1 races in two days but only two -- Bergamo (1985) and Strengthtostrength (2002) -- managed to pull it off. These days the shorter Suresh Mahindra Multi-Million Trophy, Gr.2 offers a more viable option to the sprinters and in the last four years only Corfe Castle has attempted the Gr.1 double. 

Regal Equity ran in four Super Miles and occupied every position in the frame but the winner's slot. On the other hand, Arktouros ran his first invitational race at the age of eight and won the Super Mile at Calcutta in 2013.