A Saturday in Mumbai typically equals a chance to catch up on sleep, food, television and friends. Not this Saturday. No, this one, was quite different.

It all started with an email I received from the United Breweries group. They recognized the contribution of the fans and wanted to pass on two invites (FOUR PASSES) to the Signature Derby taking place this past weekend in Mumbai. It was one of the biggest events of the year, with a prize of Rs. 1.25 crore - the highest prize every given to the winner of a horse race! I immediately sent a text message to Mumbai fans who frequent the Mumbai meet ups. Then I called for RSVPs over Facebook and Twitter. Emails came in from all over the country as people wanted to know if they could fly down to cover this event for the Royal Challengers Fan Club!

Saturday started with me rushing (late) to meet Fanatic Fans Disha, Niyati and Mahesh at the entrance of Mahalakshmi race course. The reason I was late? Why, dressing up of course! Our invites got us inside in a jiffy. We walked around, familiarizing ourselves with this non-familiar-non-cricket venue. Betting booths lined both sides, TVs were stuffed into every corner and groups of old men huddled around the TVs with little guide books in their hands. We walked over to the stands and digested it all in. Huge race course in front of us. No horses in sight. Big projection screens. Uhm. Still no horses. Huge hoarding with LCD numbers shining bright. Numbers announcing the odds of the betting no doubt. But hey, we're a group of cricket fans. We weren't used to this!

I went back outside to get a guide book - guide to all the horses, the events and most importantly the timings of the races! Went back in, and bumped into the rest of the group opposite the F1 CAR that was just hanging out in the lawn! Needless to say, we got our photos taken with the F1 car and the model who was standing beside it (photos will be coming up soon, for now, check out Disha's Facebook album). We then heard the unmistakable tunes to a Tina Turner song. Turned around to see a tribute to the singer in the Parade Rink. WOW!

Three horse races later, we finally figured out how the whole thing works. The races go on every 45 minutes and there were 10 races scheduled for Saturday. By race 4, we plopped ourselves down on the stands and observed the process in action. The blue gates moved to the starting point for each race (there were 1000, 1200, 1400 and 2000mt races). The projector screened the names of the horses (ENTERTAINING names, like ROMANTIC IMPACT, nymph, Doi Moi, Spitz, Forbes List, River Dancer etc.) The race started. The horses looked minuscule in the horizon (argh we needed binoculars). Then we saw them race around the corner and more into our line of sight (we were after all sitting right in front of the finish line ). The bright shirts of the jockeys shined, the horses ran so close to each other, coming closer, closer... Wait. They weren't running on the brown track, they were running on the grass! The commentator was yelling all excited. They raced, crossed the finish line and ran off for another 100 mts and it was done. Behind us people were yelling, hugging, spilling their beer, and the not-so-lucky people were yelling, grumbling and being generally unhappy.

One minute. That's all it took.



Stunned and amazed, we decided to explore before the next race. That's when we found the huge tent that all the ads in the guidebook recommended we go to, to "COOL OFF." A cloudy day, it was still really hot. We headed over, not sure what to expect. The blast of cold air was exactly what we needed. The lack of sunlight helped too! The inside of the tent was magnificent. To our left, a tarot card reader and a photo studio! To our right, a crystal ball reader, a cake shop (with amazing cake and biscuits) and other stalls. We walked in.. (size about 1/4 of a cricket field - HUGE).. a VIP section to our left with their own bar. Tall tables to our right. Directly in front of us a stage with lights and huge speakers. We walked closer. As we did - and can you believe our luck - the sound system started playing something familiar, smoke blasted upwards and MICHAEL JACKSON came on stage! Not the real one of course. But one who looks very much like the real MJ! He started singing and dancing, joined by a bevvy of foreign women. DOUBLE WOW.

And that's how the rest of our day went. Race. Performance. Complimentary drinks. (Btw, every drink was only RS 50!! Signature knows how to throw a partay! ). More races. Food. Michael Jackson. FASHION SHOW - jockeys walked the ramp with beautiful models in dresses complete with gloves, hats and umbrellas. Niyati will post photos soon - her press credentials allowed her to stand and snap right in front of the ramp!

We didn't actually place any bets - we were too chicken for it. But we did place imaginary bets! Niyati's Arts came first (or second?) in race number 7, and my Vibgyor won the 10th race! There was even a horse named Super King which Mahesh was keeping a close eye on !

So that's what my Saturday was like. It was exhilarating! AND FUN!

I didn't go to the Derby on Sunday, Sid went instead. That's when all the VVIPS including Dr. Mallya and his family were there! Stay tuned to Disha's post for Sunday's run down