With 100 metres to go, Elusive Pimpernel was badly held up along the rails, and Diablo, one of the top horses to have graced the Indian turf, was taken a clear lead. Jockey Aslam Kader pulled him out violently and despite being totally unbalanced, Elusive gathered himself and came up with giant strides to win by a length! After this win, Byramji told this writer: ``You had asked me earlier whether Elusive was the best that I ever trained. Now I can say without any hesitation, he is simply the best. My two other greats namely Squanderer and Adler would not have done what Elusive did on that day.
ELUSIVE PIMPERNEL
I took Elusive Pimpernel under my care rather reluctantly. My owner Deepak Khaitan and breeder A K S Brar had great faith in Elusive Pimernel and I took the horse under to train rather cynically. He began to furnish himself as he trained on and after his debut over a sprint as a three-year old, he gave tremendous hope.
ADLER
Adler was a top class horse and he was also well behaved. He had a hind leg problem but had tremendous ability. He was easy to train. For all his problems, the fact that he won a race in the United States stands testimony to his class. He remained unbeaten right through though he often into races without being subjected to rigorous work-outs.
SQUANDERER
Squanderer undoubtedly is one of top three horses that I trained in my long career. Squanderer was very cheeky and playful. He also gave me endless problems. He would hurt himself just before a major event and cause concern and tension to everyone.
He hurt himself before the 2000 Guineas and still won. Then in Pune, he fell into a culvert before the St Leger, but still won. Then he had a tendon problem just before the Prsident of India Gold Trophy, but he braved that to.
Squanderer was also claustrophobic. He could not be boxed all that easily. We had 11 to 12 men walking him and tiring him before he could be boxed. Once we walked him 135 miles before he could be loaded into the float. Gradually, we learnt that if we opened all the doors of the float, he would stay calm.
Unfortunately, he could not do much as a stallion. He had a back problem and that came in the way of his becoming a successful sire.
Elusive began to improve with each run and he won 22 out of his 23 races. He won in record timings and despite being troubled by a sore shin right through his career. He won the RWITC Invitational Trophy despite a tendon problem. He did everything that was expected of him.
I was reluctant to place above Squanderer and Adler who until then were the best horses that I had trained. But his breakth-taking win under impossible conditions made me change my mind. Elusive could carry back-breaking weights to smashing wins and he proved his versatality over varied trips and in all the six major racing centres of the country namely Bangalore, Bombay, Calcutta, Hyderabad, Chennai and Pune.
Rashid Byramji is a giant among the Indian trainers. He has won over 200 classics and some of India's top thoroughbreds have been trained by him. Elusive Pimpernel, Squanderer and Adler undoubtedly were the best trained by him although he was reluctant to to put Elusive Pimpernel ahead of Adler and Squanderer until Elusive Pimpernel's breakth-taking win in the Justice Cup in Bangalore.
Byramji's list of favourite horses he has trained include Camineto and Commanche. ``Caminto had a long lay off due to injury. It was very difficult to bring her to peak form after nine months. We ran her in a mock race at Bangalore and then straightaway raced her in the RWITC Invitational race at Bombay where she won with authoritiy.
``But my favourite horse was Commanche who was a darling of a horse. He was very well behaved and did wonderflly.''