Astronomic with Aslam Kader up wins The Indian Derby 1993

Astronomic was to give owner Deepak Khaitan his first McDowell Indian Derby victory in his own gold with the red belt silks. He had won it earlier with Astonish in 1992, but the winner had sported the colours of his Father-in-Law Mr. J.P.Goenka.

Trainer Rashid Byramji had brought Astronomic down to Bombay after winning the Classic South India Derby and The South India 2000 Guineas. That may have sounded imposing enough, but it did not impress the locals who looked into the record books and felt that the last time a South India Derby winner came out and won the Indian Derby, was more than two decades ago.

The wags had not taken into account the fact that trainer Rashid Byramji felt that Astronomic was virtually unbeatable Jockey Aslam Kader had the option to ride either Astronomic or the Classic Calcutta Derby winner Astounding. Both owned by Khaitan. It was a tough decision for Astounding 100 had won the Calcutta Derby in effortless fashion and in record time. In the end he decided to go for the Byramji trained Astronomic.

It took all of Aslam's brilliant riding ability to get Astronomic home in that 1993 McDowell Indian Derby, which for the first time in history was run on the last Sunday of February due to unavoidable circumstances earlier on. He just got the better of the Vijay Mallya owned Summer Dust, ridden by another, all time great Indian jockey Vasant Shinde. The filly challenged strongly but Astronomic and Kader were not to be denied and the Byrarmji trained wards had run first and second in the Derby.

Astronomic was bred at the Dashmesh Stud and Agricultural Farm and he was a big strong chestnut who relished his racing. Two years down the line he was still going strong when he came out to win the Invitational Stayers Classic in Calcutta. It just showed that he was backed up with oodles of fighting spirit and ability.