Alaindair shocks favourite Murioi to win Indian Derby

In the end, Alaindair proved that Murioi was mortal after all. The horse we all said looked unbeatable was beaten fair and square. Alaindair a four-year-old son by Multidimensional out of a mare name God’s Grace smashed the record books by running the fastest ever mile and a half on the Mahalaxmi Turf to win the 72nd running of the Mcdowell Signature Indian Derby. It’s a victory that the Alaindair connections will cherish and savour forever as the 13 to 1 outsider owned by Nevill Devlaliwalla, Ameeta Mehra and Gaurav Sethi, trained by Altamaash Ahmed and ridden by YS Srinath proved that on that first Sunday in February, he was the Champion. [caption id=“attachment_1371551” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Horses in action during the MacDowell Signature Indian Derby at Mahalxmi Race Course in Mumbai. PTI [/caption] As they flashed past the winning post, Alaindair was a clear two-and-a-half-lengths the good of the filly Starry Eyes and she was separated by two necks form Circle Of Life and the favourite Murioi. A capacity crowd of well over 25000 roared as one when Hayes astride Murioi pressed the button at the top of the straight and asked the colt for an effort. It came instantly and Murioi bounced clear and for a fraction it looked like it was all over. But suddenly with a furlong to run Murioi began to falter. The roar suddenly faded as Starry Eyes began to claw her way back to him. Circle Of Life and Hughes were putting in a useful run on the outside. That was when Srinath pulled Alaindair off the rails and coaxed an incredible surge of acceleration out of the bay. The pair swooped down on the leaders and at the wire Alaindair and Srinath were well clear and going away. For Alaindair it was sweet revenge. Murioi had upstaged him in the Indian 2000 Guineas in December but this time he had turned the tables on his vanquisher. The difference was down to a change in tactics. In the Guineas, Alaindair virtually made all the running. He was stamped as a horse who loved to race on his own in front and over 2400 metres that would have been like committing hara-kiri. His connections knew that so they brought in Srinath to ride the colt and what a masterstroke that turned out to be. Of course trainer Altamaash Ahmed had Alaindair looking superb but then that was only to be expected from a young man who had learned his craft from the legendary Rashid Byramji. But it was Srinath’s brilliant handling of the horse that made all the difference. He got the tearaway to settle and conserved his energy till the last furlong and a half when he pulled him off the rails and set him alight. The rest will go down as history. History in that the race in question was the Mcdowell Signature Indian Derby. History in that Srinath had just won his first Indian Derby to break a seven year stranglehold that foreign jockeys had established on this Indian Classic. Of course every horserace is supposed to answer a number of questions and leave others tantalisingly shrouded in mystery. The big question on everyone’s lips was “How did Murioi get beat?” Was it the jinx in triplicate? First, that a winner of the Poonawalla Million never wins the Derby. Coupled with the hex that the Ruia Cup winner is invariably labelled with a question mark. And finally the fact that the Indian Derby is a graveyard for favourites. Was the weight of that too much to carry? Did jockey CD Hayes make his move a bit too early? Or was it just that he could not stay that scorchingly fast over 2400 metres? Time no doubt will tell but until then Alaindair is every bit the deserving champion and his victory gives the Usha Stud resident stallion Multidimensional the first of what is sure to be many more Indian Classic victories in addition to having sired the first two in the Derby this year from his very first crop of foals to race.