The greatest day in the Indian Racing calendar has passed and what a day it was for all the horse lovers present at the Mahalaxmi Racecourse in Mumbai and for the ones who watched it on the online stream. The main event of the weekend, the blue ribband of Indian Racing, the running of the 77th edition of the Indian Derby Grade 1 was the highlight of the 8 Races held on the first Sunday of February.
Among the fourteen contenders in the Indian Derby, Bangalore based Star Superior[Excellent Art out of Ramjet] came up with a run of his life to win the top race in the country. The crowd cheered on as Suraj Narredu passed Sir Cecil and Adjudicate on the home stretch as smooth as butter to win his second Indian Derby title. The Trainer and co-owner of Star Superior Rajesh Narredu was brimming with joy as his ward vindicated his trust over him that he’d stay the course.
Bangalore’s champion horse S. Padmanabhan trained Sir Cecil[Win Legend(JPN) out of Elusive Trust] turned out being not cent percent race fit and it unfortunately resulted in him losing his undefeated tag. His customary pawing the ground before a race at the gates was missing on Sunday and it was an indicator that the champion horse was not too keen on this race. David Allan rode him well to keep him just behind the two front runners of Valegro and Sacred Roman until the home stretch. When David asked Sir Cecil for an effort, the grey laboured to pass Sacred Roman and Valegro but flattened out there with just a little over 200 meters left. This is when Star Superior came up with a flurry and passed Sir Cecil to go on to win the race. Adjudicate too passed him with about 100 meters left and the champion grey finished on third. He is still the best horse we have in the country and for sure he would be back soon at the main stage to avenge this defeat.
Star Superior has had an up/down career and has been defeated thrice by Sir Cecil and once by brother of the sprint queen Ruffina, Corfe Castle. Star Superior at the start of his career was owned by Rajesh Narredu and Sanjay Shinde. His first win was The Mysore Race Club Trophy at Bangalore in February 2018 in which The Invader who won The Bangalore Winter Derby 2019 had finished fourth. In the same month he traveled to Mumbai and participated in The Poonawalla Breeders’ Multi-Million (Grade 1) in which he was defeated by Corfe Castle. He stayed on at Mumbai and won the The Shapoorji Pallonji Breeders’ Juvenile Colts’ Championship (Grade 3) comfortably with over 5 lengths margin in March.
He was back in Bangalore in June for the Summer Season and won The Youngsters Million comfortably again with a verdict of over 5 lengths. This was also the first time he raced in the Poonawalla silks as the breeder had bought back his half share. Surely, the Poonawallas had seen some spark in him during his win at the Juvenile Colts’ Championship to invest in him again. In his next two races he was defeated by the grey beast Sir Cecil. He lost by a head in The Colts Championship Stakes(Grade I) to the champ who wasn’t fully fit that day as he had recently had a fever. The next month he was handed another defeat by Sir Cecil in The Kingfisher Ultra Derby Bangalore(Grade 1) by 3 lengths.
A much improved Star Superior was next seen at Hyderabad in September where he avenged his defeat to Corfe Castle by beating him with a verdict of 2 1/2 lengths in The Deccan Colts Championship Stakes (Grade 3) and later in October he won The Deccan Derby (Grade 1) in a four horse race that included Corfe Castle. His next outing was at the Premier centre in the country in the Indian 2000 Guineas (Grade 1) which was pitched to be a two horse battle between Sir Cecil and Star Superior. It was in the preparation to that race that Sir Cecil was injured and ran the race in bandages. The grey landed another defeat to Star Superior but that run seems to have aggravated his injury and he was rushed back to Bangalore for treatment which as we saw on sunday was not completed before racing him again.
Opportunity knocked and Star Superior took it and breezed through to become the Indian Derby Champion in great style. The persistence and patience of the Trainer/Jockey brothers in Rajesh and Suraj Narredu paid off well with their Star taking the top glory that the sport of racing has to offer in the country.
Excellent Art the sire of Star Superior whose progeny were considered as the non-staying ones will be looked at differently henceforth after this first win in the Derby over 2400 meters. The Poonawallas had a great Indian Derby day with six out of the eight races won by horses bred at their farms. Adjudicate too put up a good show to claim the runner-up spot even though she had little time to travel and prepare for this race after winning the Calcutta Derby.
As for the battle between Star Superior and Sir Cecil, it is yet to be decided on the day when they will meet for the next big one.