Annually more than 1000 two-year olds are sold carrying with them the weight of expectations of the connections whose dream is to win a classic race. About one fourth of them are deemed to have classic potential and bought with great enthusiasm. Some others are bought in the hope of bringing off a king size gamble. Only a few among are bought for the sheer thrill of owning a winning horse.

In the past juveniles used to be sold when they were two year olds but the competition to out beat the others in the quest for purchasing the best has reached desperate proportions that it is par for top professionals to buy horses when they are just yearlings or even earlier. The only thing that we haven’t seen thus far is for booking of foals in utero!

File picture of In The Spotlight being led in by trainer S Padmanabhan & Capt.Jamshed J Appoo

It is the dream of every big race horse owner to win the Indian Derby. With this race in view, every big race owner in the country invests crores of rupees. The romance of the Indian Derby is such that there are owners who would have won every big race in the country but would have to wait endlessly for success in this mega event. Somebody like Dr M A M Ramaswamy who has over 550 classic success to his credit had to wait for a quarter of a century to win his first Indian Derby in his own colours through Amazing Bay. A trainer of the capability of Padmanabhan had to wait for long before completing his CV with the Indian Derby through In The Spotlight.

Dr Vijay Mallya came into racing in a big way in the late 80’s. In the course of an interview he told me: ''When I entered racing, I was told that it is great to have a runner in the Indian Derby. I was fortunate that in my first year I had horses in the Derby, I achieved a rare 1-2-3- with Cordon Bleu winning in the hands of jockey Mick Kinnane. ''My ambition is to win maximum number of Indian Derbys and I have the record for most at five he had said. Unfortunately, the last decade has seen his horses finishing second best adding to frustration at not being able to swell his tally. The best chance he had was when Set Alight was by universal opinion considered unbeatable but the vagaries of the sport saw her suffer an unexpected loss more due to poor quality of ride than because of lack of ability. The crucial ingredient of luck also went against the big man.

File picture of Set Alight being led in by Dr.Vijay Mallya

When Smashing finished second best last year to In The Spotlight, Dr Mallya had said: ''I know what it is to be second best. I have had a frustrating number of seconds in this event.’’ My brief to my racing professionals is to do their best to win this event, he has repeatedly said. The Derby though has been eluding him despite the king of good times putting huge investment year after year. At the turn of the century, Storm Again won this event and since then the cupboard has not seen any addition. Dr Mallya would not bother if his hoses don’t win classics elsewhere but nothing gives him the exhilarating thrill of Indian Derby.

Winning the Indian Derby is equivalent of a mountaineer conquering the Everest, the highest peak in the World. Overriding ambition sees the invisible and achieves the impossible as long as there is single minded focus. Indian Derby has driven many a race horse owner and professional to sacrifice everything as long as there is hope of winning this race. Indian Derby no doubt is the mother of all Derbys in India. There is glamour, glitz and sense of having achieved the impossible for those who make it to the summit.

There have been stories of bad luck, near misses, outstanding achievements and unexpected setbacks which is what makes the Indian Derby the most coveted event in the country. There is only one chance for a horse to win this event. There is no second attempt as far as this race is concerned. When Amazing Bay went past the post first in the Indian Derby, the sense of achievement on the face of India’s turf baron Dr M A M Ramaswamy said it all. Dr Ramaswamy has always looked inscrutable and does not drop his guard easily. But on the day that he won the Indian Derby after a long wait, one could see how happy he was that long after everyone had left the racecourse, he was still talking excitedly about racing and his involvement with the sport. It was well past 7 p.m. when I concluded my interview with him.

The 71st running of the Derby will take place on Sunday, February 3. The day could well see a dream being realised for some body while it could be a frustrating wait for others. Even as the curtain is drawn on the day’s racing, the cycle repeats and the search for the next year’s winner begins.
No other event in the country matches it for grandeur and magnitude, glamour and glitz. The total stake money for the race is a mind-boggling Rs 3 crores, the highest in the country.

''So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable. The only place where your dream becomes impossible is in your own thinking.’’ Nothing explains the mindset of those relentlessly pursuing their quest to win Indian Derby than this quote.