Raceday

The dictionary defines the word ‘stoicism’ as the ‘indifference to pleasure or pain’ or ‘plain impassiveness’. And just like the elegant Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, who wasn’t perturbed after her husband’s assassination, the Pesi Shroff-trained namesake’s biggest strength is just that.The crowds, the glitterati and the heat don’t bother her. She can be compared to a monk or a Rahul Dravid in whites — the epitome of concentration. This Derby Sunday could well be hers.No favourite has won the Indian Derby since the 1999-00 but you can’t apply that logic to this filly. Jacqueline is in the pink of health and form, and looks the best in business for this Grade I classic to be run over a distance of 2,400 metres at the vast expanse of the Mahalaxmi Race Course here on Sunday.Only a ‘rebellion’ can cause harm to Jacqueline’s chances and, ironically, it comes from Becket, a colt named after an ancient, rebel English Archbishop. What makes the contest between Jacqueline and Becket — who is trained by Bangalore-based S Padmanabhan — even more fascinating is that the two have never been pitted against each other.And that’s exactly what Shroff is talking about. “Becket is a good horse and the fact that he has not lost a single has made us rework our strategy. Moreover, we don’t know how he’ll run when pitted against my filly.” The bookies, however, have fancied (second) Onassis ahead of Becket and Shroff shouldn’t be complaining. Besides Jacqueline the champion jockey-turned-trainer also has big names like Onassis, Bruncker, Astral Flash and Classerville as his wards. This effectively means that of the 12 contenders for Sunday’s big event, five owe their allegiance to Shroff.Over the years, many have made the mistake of branding Derby races as one-horse affairs. Sunday’s main event would be anything but that.There are a few records Jacqueline is waiting to chase. She has won seven from nine starts and this record will only get better. The big one, however, is that she can become the first filly in the world to win four Classics on the trot.“I know favourites have not won Indian Derby, in Mumbai for the 10 years, but according to pundits the statistical probability is that she will break the jinx. The 11th year will be a lucky one for the favourite,” Shroff said. Interestingly Aston Martin, trained by MK Jadhav, which many feel will be the pace setter was available at 200-1 later in the evening odds by the bookies.