Advantage Set Alight

Punching for home: Jockey Chris Hayes strikes a dynamic winning pose on Set Alight near the finish of the Gitanjali Indian 1000 Guineas, grade 1  [pic: rwitc archives]

All roads will lead to Mahalaxmi this Sunday; and all eyes--and most of the money--will be on Set Alight.

The experts' verdict is almost unanimous, and Set Alight, who is still unbeaten with ten victories from as many starts, is expected to romp home in style, and stake a worthy claim to the title of an 'all time great' filly, if not the greatest. The 67th running of the country's premier racing event, Indian Derby (grade 1), is scheduled at 5.05 pm at the Mahalaxmi racetrack on Sunday (April 12). For Vijay Mallya, who sponsors this race through his flagship UB group for a straight 25th year this time, nothing can match the joy of leading in his own filly, Set Alight, as winner of the Derby.

There is no doubt that on the strength of her past performance, Set Alight towers over her rivals and has absolutely super credentials to win the Derby. But will she make it a one-horse race as is widely believed by the experts? "Yes," says everybody; "Perhaps not," says yours truly. While she looked absolutely invincible when she won the Bangalore Summer Derby in July last year, the same cannot be said--at least with the same confidence--now when her biggest race is just round the corner. What has changed since then? I will try to answer that question.

As is the case with any precocious talent, Set Alight peaked a bit too early as a three-year-old. The Bangalore summer Derby margin of 14 lengths to the runner up and more than 20 lengths to the field amply illustrates this fact. No three year old has displayed that kind of contempt for rivals when winning in record time. No wonder, the superlatives flew in from all directions and Set Alight, at the biological age of barely two years and two months, was already being extolled as the greatest filly to have graced the Indian turf. The question to ask now is does she still maintain that peak form? Or has she regressed a bit over the last six months especially after catching the epidemic fever at Pune in October of last year?

It's true that she never needed to work up sweat during her last three victories at Mahalaxmi, but they were not exactly sizzling performances. She was a street ahead of her rivals then, and maybe she is still several lengths ahead of most of them even now. But there will be one horse--Autonomy--who was not among her conquests when she was in exceptional form, and who is the only horse she had lost to on the track before winning the race back in the stewrads' room. Will she treat him with as much disdain as she is used to? 

No, if jockey Richard Hughes changes his tactics--rides Autonomy off-the-pace and settles him in mid-bunch--until the final bend. Then, it could be a closer contest. But if Hughes sticks to his 'with the pace' strategy, it might be a one-horse affair as expected by one and all.

Having said that, with only two days to go for the D-day, the advantage lies clearly with Set Alight.

(MiD DAY, April 11, 2009)