With Derby day on Sunday, a pictorial look at a day in the life of top class thoroughbreds

The curtain went up on the Derby weekend (Saturday, February 5 and February 6) with an event called the Breakfast with Champions, where the press had an opportunity to meet with racing professionals at the Mahalaxmi racecourse on Thursday morning.



The country's most coveted horse racing prize, the Derby is to be decided on Sunday but the celebrations start a day before, with a cocktail of entertainment and racing coming together on Saturday itself.

As the sun climbed over the horizon and the first pink streaks appeared in the sky, equines thundered on the race track, getting some track work in before the big day.

Journalists, jockeys, owners andu00a0 trainersu00a0 stood around as the morning track work (the horse's daily practise and workout) petered out.

As breakfast was served and the aroma of idlis and upma wafted into noses, all the talk was about the horse, Ocean and Beyond for the Derby and Moonlight Romance, another hot contender.

First up like they say in racing parlance was trainer Cooji Katrak who answered a few questions about his filly, Moonlight Romance. Katrak said, "Moonlight Romance seems to be in reasonably good nick.
u00a0
She is a stout stayer with lots of ability and has a great temperament. On paper, it looks like a two-horse race, Ocean and Beyond and Moonlight Romance but then this is the Derby and there may be a joker in the pack."

When asked which was his "joker" Katrak said as he wandered off - "Sunlight." One overheard a journalist asking Katrak a question about Moonlight Romance as he was walking away, to which Katrak replied, "I do what is best for my horse. I am not here to play to the gallery and all these television people."

The jockey for Katrak's joker in the pack, Paul Mulrennan from England who will ride Sunlight said that the, "Derby would be a much open race this year than last year" and claimed Sunlight ran a blinder in the Oaks, she has, "a great temperament and is very relaxed."

Pesi Shroff, who has five runners in the Derby including Macchuu Picchu who is being spoken of as a dark horse said that Ocean and Beyond and Moonlight Romance do look good, form suggests they are better off than the rest.

On another tack, the Derby is all about the fastest hooves in the country over a mile-and-a-half and when it is about hooves, well, they had better be well heeled. Trainer Narendra Lagad allowed the press a glimpse of horse shoeing on a three-year-old horse called Arctic Minstrel.

Lagad explained, "Shoeing a horse is all about precision -- like cutting one's nails. It is an art and a science, one mistake and the horse could get injured and in extreme cases go lame." Lagad explained that the shoes act as shock absorbers for creatures that weigh approximately 450 kg.

From shoes, it was a verdant drive away to the equine pool where horses were made to swim. Trainer Imtiaz Sait said, "Horses are natural swimmers and they love the water. It is also called hydrotherapy." The pool near the stables at the racecourse is approximately 300m.

Finally, a horse called Adam's Lover was brought on to a special treadmill (horses have them too) and made to gallop.

One thought the creature looked quizzical at all the cameramen clicking wildly and experts warned the media not to clap as the horse got off the treadmill. "She might get too excited and charge," said some as Adam's Lover got off after a stupendous gallop.

Senior veterinary surgeon, Dr Pheroze Khambatta said, "these treadmills could go at 70 kmph but horses usually go at 50kmph, not faster on these.


Enjoying the sand

This is a flat, even surface, it can also be made to an incline just like a regular treadmill. Some horses are very fit others are very unfit when they first begin and simply walk or walk-trot on the treadmill."

All looks ready for Sunday, where man will bet on four-legged creatures who can make a punter a prince for a day or a pauper.u00a0

Humdinger!