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Its all about horsepower in Derby - By Mohit Lalvani | TOI

Posted on - 31 Jan 2017

It's all about horsepower in Derby
 
- By Mohit Lalvani | TOI
 
If The Kingfisher Ultra Indian Derby was open to all animals this Sunday , the hot favourite would be the cheetah with a running speed of almost 100 mileshour. The truth is that while a cheetah can generate these speeds over trips of up to 200 metres, it would never be able to do so over the Derby distance of 1.5 miles.
 
The African Wild Dog can sustain a speed of up to 31 mileshour over this trip and the Giraffe 30 miles hour. But, neither would be good enough to win begging the question, who would?

The answer can be found in history and ironically is a result of man-made experiment. In the 17th century , it is said that three Arab stallions were kidnapped by a British nobleman and crossbred with English mares to create the perfect running machine, what we now know as the modern thoroughbred. An animal with the perfect balance of speed and stamina, traits that are required to win a Derby.
 
The winning horse on Sunday will gallop at approximately 35 mileshour completing the course in a time of 2 minutes and 30 seconds and there is certainly no animal in India that is faster. Compare this to an Olympic runner who would do this trip in over five and half minutes and clearly the search for a worthy contender leaves us with very few options.
 
On Thursday morning at the traditional breakfast with the champions event at the race course, a new age super car will test its power against a race horse. Sunil Bhatia from Supercars will drive a Ford Mustang over a sprint against one of the quickest thoroughbreds at Mahalaxmi. For those who believe that the car is sure to win should think again.There is more to winning than just a set of wheels and, as one of the great breeders of our time, Tesio said, “A horse gallops with his lungs, perseveres with his heart, . and wins with his character.“ The term for this is , horsepower.

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