Castlebridge looks the best

The top three colts of the season and a classy filly will vie for supremacy in Sunday’s Kingfisher Ultra Derby Bangalore, a race that wears an extremely open look.

Leading the colts’ charge in the blue riband event — to be contested over 2000 metres — at the Bangalore Turf Club is Colts Championship Stakes winner Castlebridge, a three-year old trained by veteran Bharath Singh and to be piloted by top jockey P Trevor.

The Colts Championship is normally considered as a prelude to the Derby and the Vijay Mallya owned horse ran a near-perfect race to record a comprehensive victory just three weeks ago. He led from the start in the 1600-metre race, showed good stamina to keep the challengers at bay during the strategic middle phase before calling upon his raw power to romp home in a blazing 1:35.85 — one of the fastest ever Colts races in Bengaluru.
Castlebridge, based in Kolkata, also won the Calcutta Million, the Indian Champagne Stakes and came third in the Kunigal Stud Indian Produce Stakes to install himself as the marginal favourite in the 13-horse race.

Tough challenge

Set to give Castlebridge a tough challenge and hoping to make amends for the second-place finish in the Colts Championship will be Perfect Star, trained by young Karthik Ganapathy and to be piloted by A Imran Khan. At the Colts Championship, Perfect Star was caught off-guard by Castlebridge’s blazing start and rousing finish that left not just Karthik but everyone dazed.

Wiser with that experience, Karthik and Imran will be aware of the tactics that Bharath and others could unleash on Sunday and it would be interesting what strategy they come up with in what is the second richest race in the Indian calendar.

Olympia Fields, who came third in the Colts Championship, is also a good contender for the spoils on Sunday. To be ridden by S John, he got relegated to third at the very end but if he gets a decent opening he could very well walk away triumphant.

Fillies Championship Stakes winner Manifold, to be trained by the wily Pesi Shroff and ridden by Neeraj Rawal, appears well placed to give Castlebridge and Perfect Star a run for their money. She ran a far more competitive race in Fillies’ battle as compared to the duo, where she stayed with the pack for most part before powering away to a well-executed victory.

Grand double

In March, Shroff, a former top jockey, celebrated a grand double at the BTC when he annexed the Mysore Race Club Sprinters' Cup and the Indian Turf Invitation Cup in astonishing fashion. A man of few words but of big deeds, Shroff would have already made his plans and he has got his trusted lieutenant Rawal to execute them.

Kangra, who finished a disappointing fifth in the Fillies Championship is a dangerous outsider, and so is Shaman and Chief Of Command — the second most experienced horse in the field with seven runs.

What adds further intrigue to the Rs 2.67 crore race is that none of the competitors have run 2000 metres with most of them having done just 1600 metres. The extra two furlongs makes a huge difference and what tactics each employs on a track that's playing well would be interesting to see. An eye will be on the rain that’s been forecast for Sunday which could alter the strategies.