Fynbos, the four-year-old filly (by Kingda Ka out of Mahali), bred at Nanoli stud, showed no mercy to her rivals, including the superstar colt Baychimo, when she ran away with the Villoo C Poonawalla Indian Derby (Gr 1), at the Mahalaxmi racetrack on Sunday.
The 84th running of the blue riband of the Indian turf, sponsored by Dr Cyrus & Adar Poonawalla, turned out to be an absolutely one-sided affair as Fynbos sailed away in solitary splendour, sparing 5-1/4 lengths to Sovereign King (Akshay Kumar up), stopping the clock at 2 minutes 27.62 seconds for the mile-and-a-half trip.
Baychimo, who went neck-and-neck with Fynbos in the bookmakers’s ring, with both alternating as favourites at 16/10, put in a dismal show on the racetrack to finish a long way off in fifth. Pesi Shroff, who led in his fourth Indian Derby winner as trainer, also grabbed the third and fourth spots with Kings Gambit (Yash Narredu up) and Red Bishop (P Trevor up).
Horse racing fans serve up some style while enjoying the Indian Derby at the Mahalaxmi racetrack on Sunday
Fynbos is owned by KN Dhunjibhoy, ZK Dhunjibhoy, Vispi R Patel, Anosha Meyers and Anita J Captain, who got richer by Rs 2.40 crore.
The Derby victory was also the first ever win for English rider Tom Marquand on an Indian racetrack. Tom was specially flown in for the Derby ride by KN Dhunjibhoy, after Suraj Narredu told Pesi Shroff that he had already given his word to trainer Adhirajsingh for rival Baychimo.
“Fynbos won the Oaks by six lengths, and now the Indian Derby by five lengths, so she is clearly the champion horse of her crop,” jockey Tom Marquand said after the race. “She settled an easy third in the race,” Tom added, “and then it was smooth sailing.”
Tom was all praise for trainer Shroff as he continued, “When you ride for Pesi Shroff and his team, you know you are on a very well-prepared horse because Shroff himself had won a record nine Derbys as jockey [actually eight, as Saddle Up got disqualified for a drug positive in 1999], and it was just a formality today that I would ride Fynbos as his fourth Indian Derby winner as trainer.”
