Set Alight’s smashing victory in the Kingfisher Bangalore Derby (Gr.1) provided Razeen, her sire, with many more feathers to adorn a cap which is in danger of being submerged by the size of the plume ! She broke the track record which stood to the credit of her own paternal half-brother Star Supreme; hers was the widest winning margin in the race; and, she was a record seventh winner of the race to have been sired by Razeen.
     It was, however, her previous race -- the Fillies’ Trial Stakes (Gr.1) - in which she enabled Razeen to reach his century of Classic wins and thus get to a significant landmark. It’s the first time in the annals of the Indian breeding history that a stallion’s progeny has won a hundred Classics. Set Alight, it would seem, was destined to bestow the honour on her sire because it was Yana who actually went past the post for the hundredth time in a Classic, only to be disqualified subsequently for testing positive later.
      Razeen, a son of the legendary Northern Dancer, came to India late in 1991. A soft palate problem, which necessitated his being operated upon, meant that he was unraced at 2. He made up for the lost time by stringing together a quick hat-trick of wins at 3 culminating in an easy win in the N.M. Financial Predominate Stakes, L at Goodwood. In a muddling year, that performance was considered good enough by the public to send him into the Ever Ready Epsom Derby (Gr.1) as the 9/2 favourite. Although he was well placed on the outside coming round the Tattenham Corner, he “suddenly went out like a light and began to drop away timidly” as soon as Steve Cauthen asked him for the final effort. His respiratory problem had manifested itself at a crucial moment in the most important of races. His owner, Sheikh Mohammed, was hugely disappointed. It was then decided to send Razeen to USA and he left Henry Cecil’s Warren Place stables. Back in the country of his birth, Razeen raced on the West Coast but failed in his mission -- that of improving his CV and enhancing his stallion prospects.
     Razeen had a peerless pedigree -- each of the 14 horses in his first three removes was a Champion or had produced a Champion -- and had he been able to muster a Group win in California, it is doubtful if he would ever have been on offer to stand at stud in India. As his record then stood, he was only a Listed Race winner with a definite respiratory problem and stud masters abroad were unwilling to take a chance. Taking a chance was something right up the late Maj. Pradeep Mehra’s alley and that intrepid breeder had set his heart on standing a direct son of Northern Dancer as his next stallion. He seized the opportunity with both hands.
There was another niggling thought about Razeen and that was his size. Big horses have generally not excelled as stallions in India. That niggle was set at rest as soon as his first crop was on ground. It showed that while Razeen was not prepotent for size, he invariably bequeathed good bone to all his produce. Maj. Mehra had taken the precaution of consulting eminent gentists and they had opined that the respiratory problem from which Razeen suffered was not normally (and that was the operative word) hereditary. It could not, however, be ruled out. The actual track test was hence crucial.
     The first crop of Razeen dispelled all apprehensions emphatically. Four Classic winners -- Santorini Star, Indictment, Arabian Rose and Amazing Grey -- won a dozen Classics between them which included the Indian Triple Crown, the Bangalore Summer and Winter Derbys, the Calcutta Derby and the Pune Derby. The only one of his 32 first crop foals who seemed to have inherited his respiratory problem was Lei. It was Lei, incidentally, who was Razeen’s first black-type winner and her hat-trick of the Gool S. Poonawalla Trophy (Gr.3), the Breeders’ Produce Stakes (Gr.2) and the Poonawalla Breeders’ Million (Gr.1) heralded Razeen’s arrival. That filly, however, was not able to add a Classic to her tally, “choking” in some of her races.
     There was no holding back from thereon. From his first five crops, Razeen produced 26 Classic winners and Altenburg took him to the 50-mark when he won the Bagpiper Gold Bangalore Derby (Gr.1). Curiously, that race was that year preponed from its traditional Republic Day running. He continued in the same consistent vein, his next five crops recording 23 Classic winners of 42 Classics.

The eleventh crop had just two Classic
winners but one of them was Star Luminary, his 50th Classic winner. Razeen was now in the “nervous nineties” and he inched, slowly but inexorably, towards the coveted hundred. It came, as ordained, on 15 June 2008 in the Fillies’ Trial Stakes (Gr.1) as Set Alight was chased home by two of her former paddock-mates -- Kiara and Violet Honey -- who, perhaps recognising the importance of the occasion, let her win as she liked. Bangalore is obviously Razeen’s happy hunting ground. Though his record of siring four winners of the Indian Derby at Mumbai is unmatched by his contemporaries, the defining moments of his career have come in the Garden City. Santorini Star gave him his first Classic and his first Derby there; Altenburg hoisted his Classic fifty; Star Luminary became his 50th Classic winner on the same track, and finally the century run of Set Alight. Historically appropriate, one has to concede. After all, it was at this venue that Usha Stud, at which Razeen stands, opened its Classic score when Manitou -- the first horse to be foaled at Usha Stud -- won the Bangalore Derby in 1977.
     Consistency has certainly been Razeen’s forte and the difference in the achievements of one crop to the next has generally been within a narrow range. Still, his eighth crop -- born in 2000 -- is probably his best. The early stars of that crop – The Kingfisher Derby Bangalore (Gr.1) winner Glorious Colours and the multi-Classic winning Fond Fantasy -- had faded by the time winter came around. Such was the depth in that crop, however, that it swept everything before it. Pyschic Flame won the Calcutta Derby (Gr.1), travelled down to Mumbai and captured the McDowell Indian Derby (Gr.1) while Own Vision came up trumps in the Golconda Derby (Gr.1). There was no winter Derby that year on which Razeen did not leave his mark. Romantic Forever took the Mount Shivalik North India Derby (Gr.3) in her stride while Star of Windsor, winner of the Bangalore Derby (Gr.1) was out of a Razeen mare. (It has to be mentioned that he had no runner in the South India Corporation South India Derby, (Gr.1) at Chennai.
With four assured crops (nearly 100 foals, not counting Set Alight and her age group), Razeen is bound to add to his score and set-up a bench-mark for the next generation of stallions. A landmark today is just a milestone in the passage of time. Among the currently active stallions in India, only Placerville -- he has 64 Classic wins to his credit -- has a realistic chance of reaching the century. A Champion Sire in his own right, the son of Mr. Prospector is also three years younger to his great adversary. At his current strike rate, he will need to be represented by almost 300 foals in his coming crops. More than half that number are already on ground and if the induction of Ace at Theur doesn’t diminsh his opportunities drastically, he could well become the next centurion.
     What more can one expect from Razeen? He has been a Champion Freshman Sire, a Champion General List Sire and a Champion Broodmare Sire. His influence hereafter is certain to be most conspicuous in the last category because he will have turned 22 when he next visits a covering yard. Age does catch up though age is no bar to producing a really good horse. Crepello, one of the finest Epsom Derby winners of all time, was conceived when his sire Donatello II was 19. Park Express, the dam of this year’s Epsom hero, was 22 when New Approach was dropped. Nearer home, the great Everyday II got his last Classic winner -- The Indian Turf Invitation Cup winner Bugs Bunny -- at the ripe age of 21.
     Age affects a stallion’s libido, fertility and to an extent his strike-rate. While these aspects may have contributed to Razeen’s less-than-red-hot strike rate of late, there are other factors as well. Firstly, the arrival of China Visit affected his opportunities. Secondly, some of Razeen’s favourite mares had themselves grown old or were no longer at stud. Most of the young mares retiring to Usha Stud were his own well-performed or well-related daughters and obviously they had to be sent to other stallions. Also, it is only recently that the Usha band of broodmares has been replensihed with imports from abroad. Razeen’s produce out of these new arrivals is yet to race. So it is safe to say that the Razeen story is far from over; a couple of glorious chapters are yet to be written.
     EDITOR’S NOTE -- The statistical tables have kindly been provided by the Stud Book Department. Another article by the author on Razeen appeared in the June 2004 issue of Racing World to which the reader is referred.