Malesh Narredu trained Quasar (Seeking the Dia – Belle Jour, Hazara Stud) powered his way to be among the top achievers in the history of the game, with a record-breaking performance at the Pune racecourse. He won the FCA – Jay Vijay Fiat Indian St Leger (Gr1) with a thunderous run, shattering the course record (2:55:19 – An Acquired Taste 2013) and rewriting his own at 2:53:97.

Quasar’s was a meticulously planned run, Malesh ensuring that his other charge Attraction set a cracking pace which set up a fiery tone for the gruelling 2800m trip. This would make certain that it would take true class, speed, stamina and mettle for success. Quasar showed that he possessed each of those traits in abundance. Add to that his arduous travel schedules and one would get an idea, how strong and Classy Quasar is to have achieved what he has in the past year. To cap it with a record-breaking feat was the proverbial icing!

Attraction bolted ahead in the backstretch and opened up a huge lead with Shivalik Showers, Quasar and Tiger Tops in that order. By that time, Tatiana was out of the reckoning as she stopped galloping after passing the 2000m mark. Attraction led by over 20 lengths well past the 1000 m marker, but was running out of gas, having done his job. The others began catching up briskly, only Quasar not requiring Yash to move his elbows whatsoever. Such was young Yash Narredu’s confidence that he looked back even as they swirled around the turn.

On entering the straight Quasar simply cruised into the lead. Even Tiger Tops, no mean filly herself, could do no better than watch the champion colt storm further ahead. Quasar simply devastated the opposition and proved that he was in a league of his own. This was perhaps his best performance on the track, and in my opinion, even bettering his Invitation Cup triumph over Be Safe & other illustrious opponents. The reason being he had travelled from Hyderabad after a tough race while winning the President of India Gold Trophy (Gr1) over 2400m. One could see he was not settling down for a long while in that race and although he won, he laboured most of the way to the finish. I agree, the opposition in the Leger was not as tough, but Quasar, travelled after that and the race too would have taken something out of him. And just two weeks later, he looked completely refreshed, and dished out a completely dominating run, even chipping a couple of seconds off the course record, without dropping sweat!

Jockey Yash Narredu exhibited his joy publicly, standing in his stirrups and waving his whip to the stands in gleeful triumph. And why would he not? Yash became the youngest ever jockey to win an Indian classic at 18 years and 18 days. The great Karl Umrigar was 18 years and five months old when he rode Royal Tern to victory in the Indian 2000 Guineas (Gr1) 1978.

Mr Jaydev Mody, owner of Quasar along with Mr Tanmay Agashe & Madhav Patankar, was delighted to say the least.

“It is sheer pleasure to experience such high levels of success in the classics. Quasar has evolved to be the best in the business currently. He is a big-made strong horse and has developed wonderfully. I feel he has the potential to stand as a stallion; hence we may retire him in the near future. He has established himself as one of the top notch thoroughbreds through sheer consistency and several classic conquests. As an owner, it has been a great delight and pride to have had the pleasure of owning Quasar,” said Mr Mody.

“Quasar is mentally tough too and has a great temperament,” said trainer Malesh Narredu. “It has been a terrific year for me personally and Quasar has contributed largely. I think he loves travelling as he has hardly shown any travel fatigue. Also it is to his credit, he has acclimatized on the various tracks beautifully. He is versatile and doesn’t need any drastic training methods. All i need to do is ensure he is happy both on and off the track. He takes care of the rest himself. It is a blessing to have Quasar in the yard. I thank my owners to have entrusted such horses to me and i shall always strive to do my best at all times,” said Malesh. Asked what the immediate plans were for Quasar, Malesh said, “It would largely revolve around how the owners would like to proceed. Quasar is familiar with Hyderabad, so we would consider running him in the Hyderabad St Leger,” concluded the trainer.