Jockey Trevor Patel has given Red Bishop a ringing endorsement ahead of the Race2Win Foundation Hyderabad Deccan Derby on Sunday.
Red Bishop faces 11 rivals in the Group 1 contest over 2,000 metres, which features in-form confirmed stayers Arrived and Superstar.
Red Bishop, who is trained in Pune by legendary handler Pesi Shroff, comes in to the race having edged out Prokofiev in a thrilling finish to the Group 3 Deccan Colt’s Championship Stakes over a mile last month.
The son of Australian stallion Kingda Ka and US-bred Solar Midnight gave the racing cognoscenti something purr about earlier this week when training over 1,400 metres under Patel and run out his final to three furlongs in 38 seconds – “A fine display” said the form comment afterwards.
“Red Bishop’s last workout was pretty good,” Patel told Kingsmoor.com.
“Even the ten furlongs (2,000 metres) is likely to suit him more than his last race.
“His pedigree says he will stay. The way he works and moves shows he is going to get the trip quite easily.
“He has a pretty good chance to win this race – I hope he does it.”
This will be Red Bishop’s second trip to Hyderabad in under a month but Shroff has no concerns.
“He should run a good race,” Shroff told Kingsmoor.com “He’s in fine form, he’s tough and he handles the travelling well.”
