Nichola Pais ‘breakfasts with champions’ and predictably catches Derby fever
Let’s say you are a daring Mumbaikar, quite capable of breaking into a jog and hopping onto a moving vehicle…well, you would be better off taking your chances with the minibus—the horses at around 60 kmph are simply too fast! We are at the Racecourse, Mahalaxmi, being given a taste of what it feels like to eat these speed demons’ dust, as our bus struggles to keep pace in the lane alongside—and gloriously fails. “Don’t forget, the cheetah may be dubbed the fastest animal on land but over an extended distance it is the horse that outruns the cheetah,” pipes in racing expert Mohit Lalvani.
The horses’ daily regimen also includes a swim in a pool followed by a sand bath and then a shower
Come Derby day, February 3, there will be no horsing around: it will be heart-thumpingly serious. Approximately 25,000+ cheering fans will be glued to the action at the Kingfisher Ultra Indian Derby 2019, to see if top favourite Sir Cecil, who has remained unbeaten in eight starts, indeed outruns his competition in the 2400 metre ‘race of races’ in the Indian circuit. Many will go home richer – the jackpot stands at a crore and a half – and those that don’t will still have witnessed some priceless action.
Derbys are, by and large, largely unforgettable. Geoffrey Nagpal, RWITC’s stewards’ body chairman, remembers his first tryst with the magic: “My first Derby was when Thunderstorm was taped into the gates in the 1960s. He was in 5A and he came out and won! I also remember Pyare Miyan owned by Mr Mehra, who was sitting next to me watching his maiden coming out and winning. And there was the time Mansoor, the horse trained by S S Shah, and owned Champak Javeri, won—he almost swooned! I was a young boy and I was smitten.”
“It’s a mix of tradition and nail-biting thrill,” maintains RWITC committee member and filmmaker Milan Luthria, who remembers being underage and unable to watch the races alongside his parents, who were racecourse regulars. “My friends and I would huddle together outside the turnstiles to catch the action. When I turned 18, there was the usual flurry of borrowing jackets et al because who owned a suit – the mandatory dress code – at that age?” he laughs. Trying to put his finger on the event’s x factor, he smiles, “There’s so much tradition around the race. It’s almost like the Boxing Day test match, the IPL final or the Wimbledon final. Some events have achieved this exalted status. It’s also the richest two-and-a-half-minutes in sport!”
Zinia Lawyer, Chairperson Marketing and Media RWITC, well knows the feeling. In racing for over 45 years, courtesy her horse-owning father Noshirwan Irani, Zinia has won two Derbys, an Oaks, and several Classics in the early ’80s. “My dad, sister and myself were the owners. My sister is married to trainer, Bezan Chenoy, so it was all in the family! Our first winner was Enterprising in 1984, with Pesi Shroff as our jockey, who is now a big trainer himself. And the next year we won again!” she beams.
Narendra Lagad with a horse
Sipping on his black coffee, Bezan Chenoy, one of India’s most successful trainers, puts it plainly—“When you win your first Derby, you definitely remember. It’s the best feeling in racing.” With three Derby wins under his belt—’84, ’85 and ’91—there is not much Chenoy does not know about picking winners. “There is a lot of skill and hard work but you have to have the luck, you have to get the breaks.” Plotting a Derby win comes with enormous stress. Everything has to go right, from the time you buy the horse to the time he races in the Derby; it’s a slow build-up to the climax.” And at the centre of it all, the pounding, pulsating four-legged thoroughbred.
Fitting the horse shoe
“His attitude, his mood, his temperament accounts for a lot. You have to cultivate it. You have to keep him happy. It’s not only training his body, it’s training his mind as well,” avers the veteran, who has been a license holder since 1974. “It’s much like being a coach for an Olympic team. You have got to get their mind right, their physical well-being, keep them fit as they are very prone to injury. You have to foresee all that is happening with your horse. It’s a very skilled job. Good trainers are not made, they are born.”
Our ‘Breakfast with Champions’ event at the racecourse includes a trimming and shoeing session, and a close-up of the horses’ fitness regimen—a swim followed by a roll in the sand and a freshwater shower. “Swimming improves fitness, while the session in the sand acts as a relaxant for the muscles,” shares trainer Malesh Narredu, who is hoping his own horse, Pioneer pleasantly surprises him on Derby day.
There are many like Bezan Chenoy, who yearn for the good old days when racing was “more about prestige and passion and less betting-oriented”. But we did sniff a good bit of that fervour on the grassy greens of the racecourse. Some of it even lingers in the dusty, well-worn horseshoe that veteran trainer Narendra Lagad, gifts us… Good luck for Derby day!