Immortality wins Indian Derby Jockey Suraj Narredu scores Derby hat-trick

Nearing the distance post, Alluring Silver threw in the towel, and Forest Flame struggled to stay in the same place even as Immortality got stronger with each passing stride.

Four-year-old filly Immortality immortalized herself by inscribing her name on the Indian Derby scroll of honour at the Mahalaxmi racecourse on Sunday. Trained by Pesi Shroff, the Usha stud-bred daughter of Multidimensional (out of Psychic Light) displayed amazing turn of foot in the hands of jockey Suraj Narredu when she powered her way past main rival Forest Flame (P Trevor up) to post a spectacular victory in the Kingfisher Ultra Indian Derby (Gr 1), the feature event of Sunday's eight-race card at Mahalaxmi.

Suraj Narredu settled Immortality in mid-bunch, a couple of lengths behind Forest Flame who raced in fifth berth, as first Successor (J Chinoy up) and then Ashwa Bravo (A Imran Khan up) called the tune. Round the final turn, jockey P S Chouhan astride Alluring Silver created a flutter when he sneaked in from the inner rails to take charge, and quickly opened a good gap. Sensing danger, P Trevor set Forest Flame alight without wasting time, and Suraj Narredu also alerted Immortality to go after her. Nearing the distance post, Alluring Silver threw in the towel, and Forest Flame struggled to stay in the same place even as Immortality got stronger with each passing stride. Immortality finally spared a length-and-a-half to Forest Flame, who in turn, spared identical distance to Alluring Silver. The winner clocked 2m 28.68s for the distance of 2,400 meters.

Hat-trick

With Immortality's Indian Derby success, Suraj Narredu completed a hat-trick of Derby victories, as he had also won the coveted race with Star Superior (2019) and War Hammer (2020) at the same venue. The ace rider, who celebrated his 2000 career wins last year, took his Derby tally to four wins as he had tasted his first success in the race with Be Safe in 2015. 

Ironically, with this Derby hat-trick Suraj equaled the record of none other than Pesi Shroff, the trainer of Immortality. It may be noted that Pesi Shroff was the first and (so far) the only jockey with a Derby hat-trick to his credit: Exhilaration (1989), Desert Warrior (1990) and Star Fire Girl (1991).

Father, family & fans

"I dedicate this victory to my father, family and fans who have stood by me in the most turbulent times I have faced in the last couple of months," the winning jockey, Suraj Narredu, said after the race. It may be noted that the ace jockey was recently embroiled in a controversy after he lost a race astride the piping-hot favourite Salazaar at the Bangalore racetrack and was punished by the Bangalore Turf Club (BTC) stewards, before the board of appeal stayed his punishment and allowed him to ride. 

Incidentally, the same Salazaar, who landed Suraj in the eye of a storm, posted a facile victory in the grade 2, C N Wadia Gold Cup in the hands of another jockey, A Sandesh, setting the tongues of Suraj's detractors wagging again. It was to the credit of the jockey that he put all those negative happenings behind, and focused on his Derby ride, to create history for himself and the connections of Immortality. 

Luthrias thrilled

Ameeta Mehra, who bred Immortality at her Usha stud farm, led in the Indian Derby winner in front of the smallest ever crowd in the history of the big race. She was accompanied by her partner Mrs Liane Luthria who was overjoyed to lead in her first Indian Derby winner. Liane's husband, film-maker Milan Luthria, who is chairman of the stewards' body of the race club, also joined in the celebration. Winning the Indian Derby is every horse owner's dream, and Milan and Liane were obviously thrilled. Later, Milan said that as a family involved with racing for several generations, it was a great feeling to finally lead in a Derby winner. He thanked Ameeta for offering them a share in Immortality.

Raining kisses

Generally not known to publicly display her emotions, Ameeta Mehra made an exception this time when leading in Immortality. She kissed Immortality multiple times, and appeared to whisper into the filly's ears. She did not shy away from answering when asked about this unusual emotional display. 

"At the farm, she (Immortality) was not a showy filly, she was rather calm and composed all the time," Ameeta said, "you know, for us, horses are not animals, they are 'beings', if you know what I mean. They understand, they communicate, just like us humans." 

She further added, "Immortality always talked to me with her eyes, and at the farm I must have kissed her 20,000 times to communicate with her." When asked how she chose the name "immortality" for the filly, Ameeta subtly suggested she had Derby success in mind for the super filly when she named her Immortality, hinting at the glory quotient of the Indian Derby which virtually immortalizes its winner for posterity.

Ending drought

Immortality also ended a decade long drought for trainer Pesi Shroff. The champion trainer was once India's most successful Derby winning jockey, having won eight Indian Derby titles in his riding career, a record unequalled anywhere in the world. 

However, as a trainer, he had consistently drawn a blank for over a decade after saddling his first Derby winner Jacqueline in 2010. Immortality finally broke the jinx for trainer Shroff after a dry spell of 11 years.

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