The Derby, a boutique sale and 'Indian Frankel' add to Mumbai's unique allure

Malahaxmi Racecourse, home to four of the five Indian Classics, dates back to 1878. Situated in what is now the heart of India’s chief financial district, the colonial era grandstands – painted in the green and white livery of the Royal West Indian Turf Club (RWITC) – stand proud against the towering skyscrapers of 21st Century Mumbai.

The 225-acre site, which includes around 1,000 racecourse stables, is located on a flood plain with only a dual carriageway atop a sea wall separating the track from the Indian Ocean. This low-lying position accounts for the southern migration of the racing community to Pune each May to escape the floods of the monsoon season.

The 1,000 horses conditioned at the track share the training facility with the polo players and show jumpers of the Amateur Riders Club. The centre of the racecourse is open to the public during training hours and, handily for spectators, each horse is identifiable in the mornings thanks to a uniquely numbered saddle cloth.

Horses are put through their paces at sunrise in MumbaiCredit: Rwitc

From dawn the infield is bustling with aerobic classes, joggers and of course cricketers which all occurs in apparent harmony and with the minimum of fuss. This nonchalant approach of city dwellers towards large mammals is, however, more understandable in retrospect, considering the number of cows, goats and rats – all of a similar size – encountered on the nearby streets.

The training is done on a sand-based track while trainers get access to the racecourse proper each Friday. Like all Indian tracks, the racecourse is right-handed. Its 2,400m circumference means the principle race of the year – the Indian Derby – starts bang in front of a 30,000-strong army of fired up, well-informed spectators who pile into the stands.

The Kingfisher Ultra Indian Derby

The significance of the Derby to the Indian racing community is huge. Though Indian races reside into the Part II of Blue Book, and thus only qualify for listed status, this matters little to the locals.

The Derby, worth R19,600,000 (£212,000/$273,000), is run each year on the first Sunday in February. Contested by four-year-olds, it, like all Indian races, is restricted to horses that carry the IND suffix. This does, however, not exclude foals conceived in Europe but foaled in India. This trend for importing in-foal mares meant Canford Cliffs, Archipenko and Holy Roman Emperor (two) provided some familiarity in the sires of the 2019 Derby field.

However, it was not a son of one of these established European sires that headed the pre-race betting. That role lay with the unbeaten Sir Cecil, the horse dubbed the ‘Indian Frankel’. The colt by Win Legend – himself a son of Sunday Silence from the family of Rainbow Quest – was a runaway winner of the Group 1 Bangalore Derby the previous June and had taken out the Indian 2,000 Guineas on his previous start.

Sir Cecil was undoubtedly bred for the task, being a full-brother to Hall Of Famer, the filly that annexed the 2017 edition of the Indian Derby. Bred by Dashmesh Stud, the pair are out of Elusive Trust. A runner-up in the Calcutta 1,000 Guineas, Elusive Trust is a daughter of Elusive Pimpernel, the horse believed by many to be the greatest ever to race in India.

A winner of 23 of his 24 starts including the Indian Derby, he is not to be confused with the Irish National Stud stalwart who bears the same name.

Unfortunately for pedigree buffs, Sir Cecil proved unable to emulate his sister or damsire. He faded in the straight, allowing Indian 2,000 Guineas runner-up Star Superior to win the 2019 Indian Derby for the former Coolmore sire and St James’s Palace Stakes winner Excellent Art.

On what was a remarkable day for the nursery, the colt gave owner-breeders Poonawalla Stud a tenth victory in the race as their farm graduates posted five winners on the eight-race card.

RWITC Annual Auction Sale

For the week of the Derby the racecourse also doubles up as a sales complex. With the vast majority of India’s 1,200-strong foal crop changing hands privately as yearlings, this is the country’s only public sale. Catalogued this year were 170 two-year-olds, most of which were sold unbroken. Due to the monsoon in May-July, the first juvenile races are not run until October, hence the more relaxed education in their formative years.

All the major stud farms are in attendance at the sale, with the two-year-olds being shown on Friday, Saturday and Sunday before the sale on Monday and Tuesday.

Each stud is assigned a tree from which they coordinate their inspections. The horses are shown for two hours in the morning and a further two hours in the afternoon. These sessions are referred to as ‘rolls’, so called because each draft of two-year-olds and their grooms walk – or ‘roll around’ – their designated trees in Indian file. The youngsters are impeccably well mannered, dozing in the shade along with their handlers in between inspections.

The sire power on offer is diverse. Declaration Of War had three lots entered, while the now Indian Derby winning sire Excellent Art had seven catalogued. One of these, Lot 109, went on to top the sale selling for R2.55m (£27,500/$35,600). This season’s leading sire by stakes earnings, the Sir Henry Cecil trained Prix Guillaume D’Ornano winner Multidimensional, had eight two-year-olds listed.

The Niarchos Family bred son of Danehill stands at Usha Stud. The remainder of the top 20 sires in the country hail from the US, Japan, Australia, Ireland and Britain, while you have to read down to position 33 to find the first Indian-bred stallion.

Also now ranking among the stallions currently plying their trade in India is Leitir Mor, the Group 3 winner and runner-up in Dawn Approach’s Dewhurst Stakes. Meanwhile, fellow Group 1 horses Cougar Mountain and Sanus Per Aquam were both imported into the country in 2018.

Gaurav Rampal of Scintilla Bloodstock, a regular buyer at both Tatterstalls and Goffs, was among those seeing what the country’s stud farms had to offer. “This is only the second year the sale has been back in Mumbai,” he explained.

“Historically the sale was always here but the thoroughbred population grew too big about twenty years ago and the racecourse stables couldn’t accommodate the numbers so the sale moved down to Pune. However, the sale returned here last year and has regained a lot of its charm. All the trainers and buyers are here for the Derby so it works much better.”

Gaurav Rampal on the rostrum during the RWITC Annual Auction SaleCredit: Rwitc

Rampal then went on to explain the inception of the ‘Blue Pages’. This elite section of the catalogue comprises 23 juveniles that are either out of Group race-winning mares, are siblings to Group winners or were bred by a farm that has produced at least one Indian Classic winner.

Based on these criteria, this section of the sale, “gives breeders the opportunity to showcase their best stock,” he said, adding: “And once a farm accepts with one of their blue page horses, they cannot withdraw them from the sale. Making sure they go through the ring guarantees quality to the buyers.”

This is not the only step in place to help potential purchasers. “We also have a senior vet look over all the lots when we are putting together the catalogue to weed out any horses that have bad conformational issues,” said Rampal.

There were a number of faces familiar to the European audience including Arqana’s Bernard Salvat and Jason Singh from Tattersalls, who presented the trophy for the Tattersalls Million, the first race run on Derby Day.

Also in attendance was David Burns of Irish Thoroughbred Marketing. “It’s my first trip to India and I’ve very much enjoyed it. It’s a great atmosphere at the races and I’ve enjoyed learning more about the country’s bloodlines over the last few days,” he said.

“At the height of it [Ireland] would have sold up to 300 mares to India each year. It wouldn’t be quite that many nowadays but we still sell a lot of mares over here.” He cited the lack of government support for the country's racing industry as a large contributing factor to this decline.

“I’m here to build new contacts as well as strengthening existing ties. Especially when the Indian industry picks up again, I look forward to welcoming them to Ireland so we can help them further strengthen their bloodlines.”

Indian Derby 2020

It is worth remembering that the Mumbai is just a three hour flight on from Dubai giving little excuse as to why next year’s race shouldn’t be pencilled into the diary at everyone’s earliest convenience.

I concede Mumbai is a ferociously busy city with some eye-opening disparities in wealth, and that the horses on show predominantly lack the quality to compete on the world stage.

And yes, the auction and race-day may lack the gloss of Royal Ascot and the Goffs London sale but, the exceptional food (as long as you like curry) and wonderfully charming racecourse combined with hidden temples, unique bazaars and some of the worlds grandest colonial era architecture make for a truly unmissable sporting pilgrimage.

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