McDowell's Indian Derby
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The McDowell's Indian Derby is a horse racing event held on the first Sunday of February at the Mahalaxmi Racecourse in Mumbai, India. It is one of the premier sporting activities in the city. It was first run in the year 1943. This inaugural running of the Derby was won by a wonder filly Princess Beautiful. She was owned by x, trained by y and was ridden to victory by jockey z.
Among the most noted jockey is Pesi Shroff, winning the Indian Derby a record eight times. He narrowly missed out on a ninth title, after his horse, Saddle Up was disqualified in the 1999 Indian Derby after his urine samples tested positive. The horses on which Pesi Shroff achieved this great feat of winning eight Indian Derbies were Enterprising (1984), Revelation (1985), Exhilaration (1989), Star Fire Girl (1990), Desert Warrior (1991), Littleover (1994), Storm Again (2001) and Psychic Flame (2004). He is the only professional in his category as a jockey to have scored a hat-trick of win in this prestigious race.
Trainer Rashid R. Byramji has won the Indian Derby a record 111 times. Byramji is the only professional in his category as a trainer to have achieved this rare feat of scoring a hat-trick twice. The first hat-trick came with the victories of Squanderer (1976), Manitou (1977) and Commanche (1978), while his second hat-trick was with the trio of Astronomic (1993), Littleover (1994) and Elusive Pimpernal (1995). Another Indian ace rider Aslam Kader has also achieved a hat-trick on three occasions on Astonish.
