Not since the late 1980s -when India's two riding superstars Pesi Shroff and Aslam Kader ruled the hearts and minds of the racing fraternity -has any pair caught the fancy like Trevor Patel and A Sandesh have done in recent years. Twenty-five year old Trevor was recently crowned champion jockey, a title they have been sharing every alternate year since 2013.

The two youngsters were officially initiated in 2009 and, initially, Sandesh became the heart-throb of punters. Trevor gradually caught up with him and created a fan-following for himself too. Despite their fierce rivalry on the race-track, Trevor and Sandesh remain close buddies. Interestingly, both the two youngsters were keen to become jockeys since their childhood days.

At an age when most children are scared to even go near a horse, Trevor, like Sandesh, loved the company of equines and was infatuated with the idea of becoming a jockey. It was probably providence that an old man travelled all the way from Fatima Nagar near the Pune racecourse to the Viman Nagar neighbourhood with a grey pony in tow. He did so for a living and gave joyrides to small children in the vicinity.

Trevor was one of the kids who would throw a tantrum for getting astride that horse almost every evening. In a way, Trevor was lucky to have a doting father, Suresh Patel, who pampered his child.

But Trevor soon got bored with riding the pony and yearned to mount a real thoroughbred horse! It was difficult, nay impossible, for Patel to procure a horse but his worries ended having located a riding school on the city's outskirts. During his weekly offs, Patel took Trevor to Japalouppe Equestrian Centre which functioned from a near-defunct stud farm at Talegaon.

Shortly, Trevor got a godsent opportunity to learn horse-riding when RWITC allowed small children to its riding school alongside the wannabe apprentices. After juggling his time between school and riding for another 2-3 years, Trevor took the final leap towards becoming a professional jockey when his father took him to late Vinayak, a leading Western India-based horse-trainer, in whose stable the teenager started working as a riding boy in 2007. He then took admission to RWITC's school and was granted an apprentice rider's license in 2009.

After becoming an apprentice, Trevor joined SK Sunderji's stable after a brief stint with his original master. His debut was none too impressive and, like most novices he struggled till King's Troop provided him his maiden winner on Indian Derby eve in 2010. Trevor followed it up a month later with a fine victory astride Daffodil during the Invitation Cup weekend. A week later, though whipless, he announced his arrival on big stage with a fine treble through Royal Gesture, Western Challenge and Gerrad and had a tally of 11 winners that season at Mahalaxmi. As his confidence grew, trainers began trusting him with fancied runners. There was no stopping thereafter for Trevor as he kept scaling new heights in his career.

A retainer with Vijay Mallya changed his fortunes dramatically and fetched him opportunities to be among classic winners. Even old-timers are awestruck with Trevor's supreme confidence in saddle as he fast approaches the magical 1000-winner mark.

The Indian champion will be flying to Australia in June for a three-month stint .
MUMBAIMIRROR