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And the year 2008 would certainly be historic in the life of Malesh Narredu. Many landmark accolades were added to his ever-growing list of outstanding racing achievements. He was crowned champion jockey at Pune for the 9th time with 26 winners this season. The Pune track has been kind to its favourite home grown son, and the record he holds of 49 winners in a single season in Pune ….will be tough, if not impossible for anyone to emulate. The highlight of the season was the Southern Command Gold Cup when he partnered Diego Rivera to win the fastest ever run mile in the history of horseracing in Pune.
A huge personal moment was his 50th classic astride Set Alight in the Fillies Trial Stakes. He proclaimed that she was the best filly that he had ever ridden in his career, and justified the statement by emphatically winning the Bangalore Derby with her, by a distance, in record timing. Coincidently, he broke Star Supreme’s record that had been set with Malesh himself in the saddle on exactly the same date 11 years prior. He then went on to complete a hat-trick of sorts while winning the Bangalore St. Leger for Dr. Mallya astride that stout stayer Arabian Knight. Well, he had to find some way of repaying Dr. Mallya for all the V.I.P. Kingfisher stand tickets that were sent to him courtesy the liquor baron during the IPL matches. After the Derby, Dr Mallya probably called it even. Mallu, as he is known to his friends had struck a rich vein of form and even went on to pick up the Poonawalla Mysore Derby on a longer odds filly, Abs Fabs.
I remember the first time I met Malesh back in 2004. He was enjoying the season of his life, (probably till this current racing year) having almost made a clean sweep of all the Indian Classics and Millions run at Mumbai. Berlioz and Venus Arising accounted for the 1000 and 2000 Guineas while Fedora pulled off the Poonawalla Breeders’ Million. Venus Arising also won him the Oaks that year.I had grown up watching that celebrated triumvirate of Pesi Shroff, Aslam Kader and Malesh Narredu battle it out for top honours when a race got down to the wire. These three stellar warriors had made it a habit to finish in the money and the racing public adored them. Aslam had his cheeky impishness and power packed finishes. Pesi with his strong stoic calmness was a master strategist and both these legends in racing folklore qualify as truly iconic characters…. Malesh in stark contrast was just another guy! Very easy to converse with, almost unaware of the impact he has had on the sport for well over 2 decades, and someone who took pains to put visitors at ease. He made it hard for me to imagine that this was the same chap who could give me goose bumps when he pulled out at the top of the straight, and began his strong wire bound urgings. He was probably well aware that I was a fan, saw that I was hopelessly in awe, and regaled me with a few racing anecdotes.
The early part of Malesh’s career was by no means promising. The R.W.I.T.C. Apprentice Jockey School was run by a retired army officer, Karan Singh and 160 applicants lined up in the summer of 1983 aspiring to become jockeys. Malesh who hailed from a self-admittedly poor family was very tense on the occasion. Never a good student at the St. Patrick’s school where he was educated, he also felt the pressure of having an elder brother (Sathish Narredu) who was already a jockey. Before leaving for his selection process he prayed at the school church and was extremely relieved to be amongst the chosen 12. We collectively owe a debt of gratitude to whomever it was who saw in him the talent that would mesmerize race goers for decades to come. So it was under Karan Singh’s tutelage that Malesh first learnt to ride. The riding school at Pune was where he and 11 other hopefuls set about the task of becoming horsemen first, and eventually jockeys. The first time he got onto a horse he was promptly thrown off and almost trampled on!
Considered by most to be an average apprentice after his first year, he was sent to the track at Pune with the rest of that batch to have their first taste of real racehorses which I can assure you were quite a handful, compared to riding-ponies or hack horses. It was there that he first met with disappointment as one by one all the other apprentice jockeys were offered horses to trot till he stood all alone in the ring.
“Nobody wanted to put me up to even trot a horse. I was the last boy standing in the ring while all the other apprentice boys would be trotting horses for prospective trainers. Maybe I looked too weak, or just couldn’t speak well enough, but no trainer would let me near their ring. Once, after I had stood at the track for almost 3 hours, my instructor Karan Singh, probably felt some pity for me and sent me to a trainers ring telling me to trot one of his horses. I ran there as fast as I could and just as I was about to get a leg-up, the trainer hollered to his jamadar from the distance to send me out of his ring and never to let me near any of his horses again as he considered me useless. I cried, just as any other 15 year old boy would,” said Malesh.
Apprenticed to a hard taskmaster C. A. Kuttappa popularly known as ‘Kutts’ he spent the first 2 years of his riding career without ever visiting the winners enclosure. Kutts didn’t really want this below average, soft spoken, basically bottom of the barrel apprentice, but because all the others had been assigned to other trainers so he was stuck with Malesh.
“Actually I was stuck with him. For two years I woke up at 4 o’clock every morning and worked as hard, if not harder than any apprentice around. Yet, forget getting close to winning a race, getting to ride in one was a luxury! I was his apprentice but still he put up other 5 kilo boys on horses that I prepared!” quipped Malesh.
So after the mandatory two year apprenticeship, Malesh appealed to the club to allow him to shift stables. The stipendiary stewards asked him why he wanted a new master and he replied with the innocence of youth that Kutts wasn’t giving him any winners or any chances either. The stipes had a word with Kutts about giving his apprentice some mounts with a chance. Kutts who was silently seething promised Malesh two winners.
Finally Malesh Narredu in the following Pune season won his first race, in his third year as a professional, on the 17th of August 1986, over a mile and a quarter (a rare feat for an apprentice to win a 10 furlong race.) The filly, Amiable Lady was at 100:1 odds, and thus began the long overdue tryst with his racing destiny. Coincidently, he also won his 100th race astride another Kuttappa-trained horse, Quattro. He is great friends with Kutts till this day and feels that all the hard early times, helped mould his character and made him a real fighter on the racetrack.
He wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.
In 1987 he won his first Champion Apprentice Trophy at Mumbai in rather dramatic fashion. With only 2 days of racing left in the season, jockey T. Bernard who was leading the apprentice tally had a 5 winner advantage over Malesh. He didn’t win a single race that weekend and Malesh notched up 5 winners including one dead-heat to share the Champion Apprentice Trophy.
By this time, a whole lot of owners and trainers across the country had sat up and begun to take notice of this stocky and wholly competent jockey. Over the next few years Malesh travelled to various racing centre’s achieving graded success as well as winning the hearts of race goers. Trainers of the caliber of R. R. Byramji and Uttam Singh entrusted their wards in his capable hands. He was soon compared to racing greats of yesteryears but managed to carve a niche which was uniquely his. His immaculate pace judgment coupled with his impressive finishing ability soon won him admirers from all quarters.
Classic success was inevitably going to allow, and in fact propel Malesh into an elite list of top jockeys, and soon he had established himself as top 5 in the country on any given day. Dr. M. A. M. Ramaswamy, Dr. Vijay Mallya, Deepak Khaitan, Khushroo Dhunjibhoy and many other owners will all stand testimony to his skill.
“Malesh is a thorough professional and that hasn’t changed in the 22-23 years that I’ve known him. He is always on time to work your horse and is still as humble as he was when only an apprentice,” said Diwan Arun Nanda on whose horse Ashwamedha, Malesh won his first Pune Derby.
In 1991 his good friend and great rival, Pesi Shroff recommended Malesh to an owner who was looking for a retained jockey. Nobody, least of all Pesi would have anticipated that this owner would go on to establish one of the leading stud farms in the country. So began the longest, and only, still standing retainer of Malesh’s career.
“I am the oldest employee of the Nanoli stud farm. I have gone with Khushroo Dhunjibhoy and stood on barren acres of land while he explained his vision to us and I thank God that all his dreams have come true. Today,
when I see the stud farm and all the international quality facilities I feel so proud to have been a part of such an outstanding achievement and that too in such a short time. My only Indian Derby winner Indictment was owned by him. He is the best owner I could ask for in racing and I wish to win a few more Indian Derby’s for him soon,” adds Malesh.
The Dr. M.A.M. Ramaswamy association was another hugely significant phase of Malesh’s career. Sathish Narredu was already a part of the Gold and Brown camp, and the talented Malesh was a pretty natural choice. So the apprentice boy, who nobody wanted, proved once again to be one of destiny’s favourite children and donned one of the most famous silks in the history of the sport. Testimony to how competitive the two brothers were, even when riding for the same owner, came on the 18th November, 1995 when Great Spectacle and Forest King were involved in a historical dead heat. Both horses were owned by Dr. Ramaswamy, trained by J. H. Foley and were winners of multiple classics.
“I remember when Star Supreme was running the Bangalore Derby and Boss (that’s what Dr. Ramaswamy’s associates both current and previous call him) was in the paddock, he asked me if we would win and I told him not to waste his energy leaving the paddock to walk up to his stands to watch the race, as he would need to come down again in about two and a half minutes to lead in the winner. I was very confident! Boss was very happy when we won, that too in record time,” said Malesh.
In the 5 years that Malesh rode for Dr. Ramaswamy he won well over 200 races for him including 12 classics at various centres in the country. Malesh has also been an outstanding ambassador for Indian racing on the international circuit. He has ridden in Japan, Singapore, Ireland, Malaysia, South Africa and is currently retained to The Sheikh of Qatar. Considering that a majority of our jockeys don’t even travel to different centres within the country, his list of international engagements is staggering.
I hope that I can be at the racetrack and witness history being created on the day when he goes past the post for his 2000th winner.
- Niall Sadh
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