It has been seven years since Trevor Patel swooped in record time aboard the champion Sir Cecil in the Mysore Derby, but the star jockey believes he can get back in to the winner’s enclosure in the royal city on Sunday when he rides Red Bishop in the Group 1 contest.
Sir Cecil won by an astonishing 13 lengths when eased down by Patel that day, but the memory has taken on a poignancy this week after the horse’s trainer, the legendary S Padmanabhan, died in Bengaluru on Sunday.
“I have won this race before with Sir Cecil in record time in 2018,” Patel told Kingsmoor.com.
“He was a champion who was named after the famous British trainer Sir Henry Cecil, as S Padmanabhan, who sadly died on Sunday, was close to Sir Henry. It’s sad.”
Red Bishop has travelled from Pune to Bangalore, where he had a blowout over 1,600 metres (1 mile) on Monday with stablemate and Sunday rival Matisse. Red Bishop, who started the gallop three lengths behind and finished the workout three lengths ahead, is ready to take on six others in the signature event on the mammoth nine-race card.
Weather watchers have seen heavy rain in Mysore during the lead-up, but granted a clear day on Saturday the ground could well dry up to a “good” description. Any more rain and we could be looking at soft. Either way, Patel is unconcerned.
“He has trained on it (rain-softened ground) before handled it well,” Patel added. “If it rains on Saturday the ground will be soft, but if we get no more rain that ground should dry out and be good. He is a light-framed horse, which makes it easier to gallop through soft ground. He moves well on it.”
Kingsmoor World members had their hearts in their mouths a few weeks ago when Red Bishop laid down the gauntlet in the Hyderabad Derby, only to go down fighting by a neck to Mountain Jewel over the same 2,000-metre distance.
Patel felt Red Bishop ran well, and granted another set of circumstances might easily have won.
“He stays 2,000 meters and, in fact. I think he’d stay further,” Patel said.
“The Hyderabad Derby was a slowly-run race, it was a crawl. As a stayer, he does not have that much of a turn of foot at this distance.
“He is a cool and calm horse, and doesn’t sweat at race time. He can take some time to get going in the straight but he always gives 100 per cent.”
Miracle Star, the mount of Suraj Narredu, is one of the main dangers on Sunday and finished ahead of Red Bishop when the two were third and fourth in the Bangalore Summer Derby in July. Patel was on the winner Fynbos.
The filly came out of her race hiatus by finishing third in the Mysore 1,000 Guineas a month ago but Patel feels Red Bishop has the advantage with the extra run under his belt on Sunday.
“I’d say we are fitter than Miracle Star, who has had only one race since Banaglore,” Patel added. “We suffered some interference at the 1,600-metre pole in that Bangalore race and lost five to six lengths. We came back in the straight and nearly caught her up.”
