A DOZEN OF THE VERY BEST!!!

Among Rashid Byramji’s 100 odd Grade 1 wins over a 40-year period, his round dozen of Indian Turf Invitation Cup victories stand out. The race has champions from all racing centres in the country and has truly established itself as the championship race of the Indian racing calendar.

Rashid Rustomji Byramji needs no introduction to followers of Indian racing. He is the benchmark against which all other racehorse trainers, present and future, will be measured. His records speak for themselves and he is rightly considered the greatest Classic trainer this country has seen.

The names of the great horses that have been saddled by this maestro roll easily off the tongue and they read like a who’s who of equine champions - Prince Khartoum, Commanche, Squanderer, Everynsky, Track Lightning, Almanac, Adler, Elusive Pimpernel, to name but a very few.

Among Rashid Byramji’s 100 odd Grade 1 wins over a 40-year period, his round dozen of Indian Turf Invitation Cup victories stand out. The race has champions from all racing centres in the country and has truly established itself as the championship race of the Indian racing calendar. The format of this race, which is hosted in rotation by the five major race clubs in India, entails a great deal of travelling for a majority of the contenders.

Travelling by road in India is a tiring and arduous experience, especially for horses who are cooped up in often airless horse boxes. It is a big task for a trainer to ensure that horses do not lose too much condition when moving from their home base to race at another centre. Dehydration is the biggest and everpresent danger when travelling horses and they have to be well prepared before their journey. Travelling horses over long distances and then expecting them to race at the highest level calls for good leadership qualities and great team work from the trainer and his staff.

Rashid Byramji is the undisputed master of the art of travelling horses and getting optimum performances out of them and his record of 12 Invitation Cup wins including three hat-tricks are testimony to his skill.

Rashid Byramji talked to Racing World about a few of his champions who achieved Invitation Cup glory and what it took to get them to the pinnacle of Indian racing.

PRINCE KHARTOUM (Madras, 1972)

A 48-hour non-stop road journey from Bombay to Madras did little to blunt the Indian Derby winner’s edge. He was not a difficult horse to train though he did himself no favours by acquiring a strange quirk. Prince Khartoum had the habit of falling asleep while he was being shod with the result that he would come down on his knees. Gunny bags filled with straw had to be placed around the horse at the time of shoeing to ensure that he did not hurt himself.

Wally Swinburn got the ride on Prince Khartoum in the Indian Derby and retained it for the Invitation Cup. The result was much the same with Mr. & Mrs. Sanjay Khan’s champion returning an easy winner to give Rashid Byramji his first Invitation Cup winner.

COMMANCHE (Madras,1976)

India’s first racehorse to earn a million rupees in stake money might never have become a champion if he had not suffered an injury immediately after his defeat at the hands of Red Cockade in the 1975 Colts Trial Stakes in Bangalore. The minor injury kept Commanche off the track for three weeks and it was his first piece of work on his return that made Rashid realise that this horse needed very little work to keep him fit. Commanche’s win in the Bangalore Derby proved this theory and his training was altered to suit him. After his comfortable victory in the Indian Derby, Commanche was entered in the inaugural running of the RWITC Ltd. Invitational Trophy. Missing his regular rider who was away for personal reasons, Commanche bolted with the substitute in his final workout before the Invitational. Rashid felt that the horse would not be at his best and his fears came true when Beauregard edged Commanche by a neck after the two had battled it out down the Mahalakshmi straight.

Determined not to repeat this mistake for the Invitation Cup, Rashid flew down to Madras with Commanche’s regular rider, Jagdish, not once but twice to make sure that the horse was worked in the proper manner. Commanche’s performance on the big day proved that Rashid Byramji had got it right once again.

SQUANDERER (Bangalore, 1977)

Squanderer was a totally different type of horse from Commanche both in conformation and temperament. He was a character and a right handful to train. He needed a lot of work to get him fit and for the Indian Derby and Invitation Cup his work partner was the top-class miler War Cry. Squanderer would be sent on ten furlong gallops and War Cry would join him for the final seven furlongs to give the champion a good blow out. Squanderer would leave War Cry cold when asked to spurt in the final part of the work. There were never any doubts about his winning the Invitation which he did by an emphatic three lengths from Kitty Bank.

TRACK LIGHTNING (Madras, 1981)

After his narrow win in the Indian Derby, Track Lightning returned to Bangalore bang in the middle of a syces’ strike. Rashid fondly remembers Purnaswamy, his first-ever employee, hiding in the stables when the strike was called emerging only after all his colleagues had left to emphatically declare to his employer that he would look after Track Lightning and travel with the horse to Madras. When Track Lightning returned to the winners enclosure after the Invitation there was no prouder man in Guindy than the Purnaswamy.

ADLER (Hyderabad, 1993)

One of the best horses never to have won the Indian Derby. Adler was prone to problems with his stifle. In the Indian 2000 Guineas Rashid’s instructions to Vasant Shinde were clear “keep him moving all the time. Don’t let him come to a halt even near the starting gates. Go in last and let the horse find his rhythm after the jump. Ride him out only when he is moving comfortably.” Vasant followed the instructions to the letter and Adler won this Classic with ease but disaster struck soon after. As he was being slowed down at the end of the race, Adler’s affliction returned and he crashed into the running rails cutting himself badly. Plans for the Indian Derby had to be scrapped and the horse was brought back to Bangalore. One of the assistant trainers was deputed to look after Adler and gradually the wounds healed. With the Indian Derby out of the question for Adler, sights were set on the Invitation Cup. Going into that race without a lead up Adler showed tremendous courage to win the event from a fast-finishing Thumbelina. To bring a horse back after two and a half months and win at the highest level is a top drawer feat and this must rank as one of Rashid Byramji’s high points in a long and glittering career.

ELUSIVE PIMPERNEL (Calcutta, 1995)

“The best horse I have trained” - these were the words when I asked Rashid Byramji about Elusive Pimpernel. A horse who raced and won at six different centres, winning 22 of his 23 starts. Elusive Pimpernel thrived on racing and the more he raced the better he developed physically. After his victory in the Indian Derby, Elusive Pimpernel was flown to Calcutta which meant that he got there in good shape. Rashid Byramji feels that he was at his peak physically in Calcutta and his best race track performance was when he won the Invitation Cup in Calcutta.

These are just half of Byramji’s Invitation Cup winners and it would take a book to put down all the incidents that went into making champions of these equine athletes. Rashid Byramji acknowledges that he has been extraordinarily lucky to be associated with some of the best owners who gave him some of the finest horses to train. This however is only part of the story as it is Byramji’s skill as a trainer and conditioner of horses that made these horses champions. Despite being a professional for nearly five decades and winning every major prize multiple times, the fire still remains and it would be a brave person who bets against Rashid Byramji saddling more Invitation Cup winners before he is finally done with the sport.