PUNE: The stage is all set for the most prestigious race of the Pune monsoon season 2014, the grade 1, Nanoli Stud Pune Derby to be run as the stellar attraction of a competitive nine-race Sunday card. Five colts (or geldings) and six fillies, all three-year-olds, will line up for the start of the richest monsoon Derby in the country, of which the Pesi Shroff-trained Maisha, Malesh Narredu-trained Quasar and Janardhan-trained Zachary are likely to attract most eyeballs and betting money.

Despite not having run a race this season, Maisha is my choice for the big race because I believe she has come up tremendously between the two mock races she had three weeks apart on this track, and though trainer Pesi Shroff himself is slightly apprehensive about her getting the 2,000-meter trip, I feel she stands head and shoulders above on the class factor which should see her emerge victorious in the hands of young jockey Trevor Patel.