India, Feb. 21 -- The Poonawalla Breeders' Multi-million (PBMM) will take centre stage on Sunday. Euphemistically, the second-biggest race day on the Indian calendar (after the Indian Derby) has been referred to as the "Juvenile Derby," but attempts to rechristen it with the "Derby" tag did not find favour. One has to compliment the Poonawallas and Zavaray in particular for ideating the concept of a million race way back in 1990 when it was an unheard concept, and then stepping up to promote it in a way that matched what Vijay Mallya did for the Indian Derby. This year's top quartet in the small field of nine - one of the smallest in years - is Buckingham, who has won two in a row to be stamped as a top quality horse, Enrich, who won his debut race just last week, Invictor and finally Blue Jet. Buckingham's trainer Karthik Ganapathy appeared sanguine that his horse is the one to beat. An imported son of Holy Roman Emperor, the sparkling turn of foot Buckingham showed, especially in his second start which he won, gets him top billing. Enrich, also a got abroad horse bred at Sohna stud - which has bred such champions as Be Safe, Juliette and Enabler - runs with a big chance even though he made his debut only ten days back. Along with Invictor, a got abroad son of Blue Point and one of the top picks at the 2024 Poonawalla sale make it a race for the got abroads. The Poonawalla Stud has a great record at the PBMM, winning it six times in the last nine years, including four in a row from 2017 to 2020. This year they are represented by Invictor and Blue Jet in a race that has a prize money of Rs.1.5 crore. Though the PBMM remains one of the top prizes in Indian racing, the only blip in its otherwise great history is that no winner for over 35 years has gone on to win the Indian Derby - a strange jinx for such a valuable classic lead up. Buckingham and Enrich, however, are potentially Derby types. What is intriguing, on the racing front, was that the drug lamotrigine was found in the samples of horses of four trainers. Possibility of contamination is the only plausible explanation as lamotrigine is a "persistent water contaminant, frequently detected in wastewater and surface water" according to an online search. With Indian conditions being as they are and its presence in the yards of as many as four trainers within a few months makes the inquiry stalled in murky waters. A deep dive to get to the bottom of this will surely be engaging the Stewards....