After Sir Cecil annexed the Villoo Poonawalla Indian 2000 Guineas (Gr1) in an impressive manner, he added scores of admirers including yours truly. That’s not to suggest that I wasn’t impressed with his phenomenal exploits down south; however, to win an Indian classic ‘on the bit’ does put Sir Cecil in a different league altogether!

I was admiring him in the paddock on his triumphant day in Mumbai as he calmly paraded donning the winners’ sash, enjoying all the attention from the adoring public. I also noticed his happy connections drowned in absolute bliss on his conquest. After a while, I saw Mrs Sharmila Padmanabhan, trophy in hand, hurrying off to the stables. I quickly jogged over to offer congratulations and asked if I could come to the stables for a chat on the post-race comments from his trainer Padmanabhan. Not only did I get a warm welcome, but was later graciously asked to join them for dinner that evening which I gleefully accepted.

At dinner, Paddy was upbeat. He revealed that this was his first ward to have had notched up eight victories in a row, how Sir Cecil was probably the best he had trained and how special it was to win a Group 1 race in Mumbai, despite having won on the Mumbai turf several times. There was absolutely no indicator whatsoever that anything could be amiss with the unbeaten Superstar whose brilliance we were celebrating. The pride and joy that such performances bring was evident on Paddy’s otherwise sedate persona.

It was barely a fortnight from that day, the charm of that ‘celebration dinner’ was still lingering on my mind when murmurs began and the racing fraternity was speculating wildly! Sir Cecil had returned to Bengaluru and the multi-classic winner hadn’t gotten onto the work-track since his return to the garden city. Something had definitely altered the normal training program of the reigning superstar.

Sir Cecil and his exploits had earned him loads of admirers not only from the racing enthusiasts but also from those outside the racing circles as well. It would be appropriate to dwell a bit more on the colt’s background. Sir Cecil is an attractive grey colt who hails from the Dashmesh Stud Farm in Punjab.  The Farm has the unique distinction of being a self-sufficient breeding operation in India with all the fodder and grain grown within their property, a unique exclusivity, which provides the freshest and highest quality of nutrition for the foals and yearlings. The farm itself is a third generation breeding operation which was started in 1973 by the Late Mr Sonny Brar along with his father Late Mr Harcharan Brar. The father-son duo first experienced the Indian Derby (Gr1) success with Chaitanya Chakram who was incidentally trainer Late Mr Jaggi Dhariwal’s first winner in the Blue Riband. The farm has a heritage steeped in racing history and has also provided current stalwarts such as Arjun Mangalorkar, Vijay Singh, Hilton Sequeira and Michael Eshwar,  with their first ever classic winners!

The farm also gave India one of its all-time-greats in Elusive Pimpernel, who won 21 of his 22 starts and can probably blame his only loss to a freakish off-day at office! Elusive Pimpernel didn’t just win; he did it effortlessly and with panache and flair. He inspired an entire generation of race-goers. Owners all around the country aspired to own if possible, a top equine athlete such as Elusive Pimpernel. Astronomic and more recently Hall of Famer complete the quartet of Indian Derby winners that find themselves amongst the honour roll of 138 classics which Dashmesh Stud Farm has won. It would be safe to say that they are no strangers to huge successes on the big stage. With latest sensation Sir Cecil sweeping Classics with mind-boggling ease, the Dashmesh Stud Farm is riding a new high yet again. Sir Cecil is undoubtedly the best of the current crop and is on the threshold of creating his own legacy.   

Sir Cecil certainly is in elite company. He goes into the Indian Derby unbeaten; both his trainer and his jockey David Allan confirm that he will be better over the longer trips. If memory serves me right, only Elusive Pimpernel was unbeaten coming into and managing to win the Indian Derby. Sir Cecil is attempting to do the same. He has already broken the national track record in India while winning the Mysore Derby. He has also pocketed the Indian 2000 Guineas (Gr1) at Mahalaxmi with a degree of comfort. Winning the Indian Derby should be a simple formality…but then again, nothing is simple in horse racing!

After returning to Bangalore, Sir Cecil was noticeably absent from track work for about two weeks, travel time included. He then re-appeared to a rather gentle routine of trotting and swimming. Padmanabhan has confirmed that Sir Cecil has a ‘minor niggle’. The bandages, he says, are a preventive measure. He has had a minor issue with his ligament for a while now and with the biggest race of his career less than a month away, his trainer is taking meticulous care to ensure the well-being of his star ward. A professor of physiotherapy has been appointed to Laser-treat the ligament. The purpose of controlled exercise rehabilitation is to maximize functional repair of the tendon. The grey is responding well to his treatments and is back to trotting on the sand track. Successful cases of tendon and ligament rehabilitation usually take 8-9 months of rest to return to previous work load. This is not a recent development though, as Sir Cecil has been dealing with this issue since June 2018 and as one can see he has been coping well. The grey now has less than a month till the biggest race of his career. The connections, however, are highly optimistic of getting him ready on time!

If he shows up at Mahalaxmi and everyone would wish, pray and hope he does, it would be a job well done for Team Padmanabhan. The ace trainer would not risk running the superstar if he’s not 100% right. You get a horse like Sir Cecil once in a blue moon and it is his trainer’s foremost objective currently, to shield him from the grey clouds and lead him to greener pastures.