THOUGH THERE ARE SEVERAL RACES WHICH WERE THRILLING BUT FEW I REMEMBER ARE OWN OPINION WINNING THE GOVERNORS CUP AT BANGALORE AND I THINK IT WAS A 4 HORSE FIELD CONSISTING OF

EVERNSKY,MOHAK ,OWN OPINION AND 4TH HORSE I DONT REMEMBER.SURPRISINGLY,THIS WAS ONE OF THE FEW RACES IN WHICH LATE MAM HAD NO PACE MAKERS. MOHAK WITH V.SHINDE   WAS THE PACE MAKER HIT THE FRONT AS PACE MAKER. EVERNSKY WITH BARCLAY AND OWN OPINION WITH JAGADISH WENT TOGETHER AS THOUGH ONE IS THE MIRROR IMAGE OF THE OTHER. SHINDE ON THE FINAL BEND/TURN LOOKED BACK AND AND MOVED LITTLE WIDE AND BARCLAY WHO WAS ON RAILS HAD A CLEAR RUN AND JAGADISH HAD TO GO ON THE OUTSIDE OF MOHAK AND BOTH JOINED TOGETHER. IT WAS A DING DONG BATTLE TILL THE WINNING POST AND OO WON BY SHORT HEAD.

THE OTHER RACE WAS FAR SUPERIOR WITH J.SMITH WINNING IN BANGALORE IN A BIG FIELD(MAYBE 15/16).THE HORSE WAS DEAD LAST EVEN AFTER ENTERING STRAIGHT. J.SMITH MOVED THE HORSE WIDE WITH THE ENTIRE FIELD IN FRONT.HE RODE THE HORSE SO NICELY ON THE WIDE OUTSIDE TO WIN BY A SHORT HEAD.

PEOPLE WILL REMEMBER W.SMITH WHO RODE OF S.PADMANABHAN AND HE IS THE SON OF J.SMITH. WHO CAN FORGET W.SMITH WHO IGNOMINIOUSLY LOST A CERTAIN RACE ON OASIS STAR.EVEN AN APPRENTICE RIDING HIS FIRST RACE WOULD HAVE WON ON OASIS STAR.

Thank  you  IZ  for  your  first   hand  account  of  this  thrilling   encounter between Squanderer and Certainty in 1976 .  My  grateful  thanks to  Mr SC Sharma as well for providing further details along with a fascinating quote  concerning this race   from  the  biography  of   trainer   R R Byramji .  This  confirms  that  the champion was badly blocked opposite the stands  and  Certainty with Johnson atop was leading  in full flow  but  was still squrely beaten by sheer class of the great Squanderer . This race must have been a racegoers delight and  will be etched in their memory for a lifetime !

Hello all,

We a group of five went to bangalore two days before 1975 summer derby,on Saturday  Republican running  

In class4 at 48kg mark and i told my freinds to back as much as they can and MAM colt won easily, even from initial years of racing i was bit study type,in the derby redcokade was odds on i went for place on Tuco Tucon got 2/1.

At hyderabad derby Karansing on Makalu battled 

With Republican(shinde) and able to down almost near winning post by nk both horses Drifted&finshed towards stand side.

Kitty bank very bigmade and  lengthy horse(how to say?)true potential spotted in winning 1800mts race went on to win big races

Karan sing was favourite of big punters as well as small he seldom let them down when well backed,when little chance of win he wore a smiley face in the paddock this was well known clue to regular punters of that period of racing at Hyderabad. He is used take good jump and sit second to pace maker in the stright went past them to win with out taking much chances i have seen start to finish efforts also, he is strong finisher with very up handed powerful whips.

Thanks. S. C. Sharma Sir, answering my opinion. 

Best of luck in your future endeavors .

@ Racewalla:  The episode of Certainty and Squanderer referred by you was of the year 1976  happened at Mahalaxmi, as after that Squanderer went to south and won Bangaluru St leger. At that time I was not in racing but I read this episode in biography of Rashid Byramji ( The Life and Times of R R Byramji, A master of his craft )  written by Maj. Srinivas Nargolkar (Retd) whose forward was written by Lester Piggott. To further refresh your old memories I wish to quote the following lines of that biography -- " Ernie Johnson on Certainty had hit the front opposite the first enclosure and made a beeline for the winning post. At that precise moment, Squanderer was in a spot of bother, hemmed in on the rails. Then, a small gap appeared, Jagdish aimed Squanderer at it and the brave colt went through it. He was now in the clear. He went after Certainty, changing from cruise mode into overdrive in the blink of an eye, collared her and strode  away to win by a little over three lengths. What's more, he won in a new course record time. It was a breath-taking performance, perhaps the best of his career. "

For one of my mail account password is " Squanderer" .

During 70s80s many races were fought with close finishies. And some won bcoz of brilliance of jockeship. One such race was DELAGE in Chennai ridden by Lestir. There was absolutely no room fo him but he mesmerize spectators winning DELAGE.. another one involve Birthday Girl, Tribute, and Amberfkash. Madras course punters wud not forget these two races 

Hello Sharma,

Since you are not aware I would like to bring to your notice of a foreign rider who made a big presence at Hyderabad and Bangalore. He is Terry McKeown. James McKeown, presently a trainer at RCTC, happens to his son.

I shall give you centre-wise names of trainers and jockeys who made their presence felt during the mentioned 1970-79 period.

Bombay( as it was known then) -

Trainers:
Rashid Byramji
S.M.Shah
Aziz Mahmoud

Jockeys -
Indian:
Karl Umrigar
V.Shinde
M.Jagdish
E.Alford
Nelson Reuben

Foreign:
Stan Smith
Eric Eldin
Oliver Gray

Rest in next

regds,
Cruise

   RACEWALLA,

  I was witness to this race from the grandstand in the first enclosure....was the first year of my racing when i was just a teenager.

 Squanderer  (jaddish up i think) was badly hemmed up and about 100 to 150mtrs to go Squanderer was pulled out and let go, in a trice Squanderer passed Certainty and won by a few lenghs.....that was an awesome display of horse power by the great Squanderer. Never seen anything like it till today. Squanderer was in a class of his own.

This  episode was narrated to me by an old racegoer who was present in  Mahalaxmi race course on that day . At that time in mid seventies  or so , all conquering  Squanderer  (Valoroso-Milky Way) owned by Ranjit Bhat was a rage and   Poonawallas   quietly  acquired a got abroad filly called Certainty   to humble the mighty  Squanderer in a  big race though I cant recall the name of the race . This filly which cost a whopping 2 lacs at that time ,    was  well prepared   for  the   coup  and  was  heavily  backed by connections . At about 100 m ,  Certainty was leading by many lenghs while Squanderer was badly hemmed up along the rails . Even as this filly was being hailed as the winner , Jagdish literally stopped his mount , pulled him to wide   outside   and   unleashed  the Champion's fury to accomplish the impossible  and  vanquish  the filly .  I am told that  it was  an   awesome display by Squanderer .  I may have got some minor details wrong due to passage of time  but would love to hear  about this race from an old timer amongst  HT readers  who might have  seen  this  amazing display by the champion colt .

@ Cruise B'lore : With due respects I wish to mention that my focus was mainly for four horses which I mentioned in detail  -- about the horses, trainers and owners as they covered more space in media at that time. This I admitted in my earlier reply too. No doubt the zodi of M B Manglorkar and Karan Singh was much popular in their prime at Hyderabad .
    I met twice to Karan Singh first in 90's when I was finalising my deal from late MAM for a Kristol Rock Colt later named as Young Hunter ( won five races during  1992-95 )  as Karan Singh too interested to buy that colt and that time he was training horses at Bangaluru. Second time when I visited Bangaluru alongwith my elder brother and trainer but due to rain that day races were cancelled and Karan Singh invited us to his flat for lunch and playing cards. That time trainer Dominic also invited alongwith his owner. I remember few  horses like Kitty Bank and Makalu of that famous zodi.

@ R Ramesh : With due respects to you I wish to mention that I remembered some of my good memories of 1970-79 period as mentioned in my post also and the names of horses mentioned by you belongs to period -- Track Lightning 1980-81, Almanac 1981-82, Camino 1982, Mohawk 1980 and Adler 1992-93.  Further three of Byramji's horses mentioned in my post created a new record at that time by winning Bangaluru derby, Indian derby and Indian Invitation Cup in continuously for three years  ( 1975  - 1978 ) and R V Bhat was common lucky owner in all those three horses. Such things happens very rarely. Your mentioned horses too won many classic races but during 1980 and afterwards. 
C R Dass : Replying late to clarify you - we maintained very good relations with all jockeys. Better relations and understanding between trainer, owner and jockey yields good results . G B Khade use to ride for other owners of the stable. He rode very few races for us. But as far as E Philips is concerned he was the first out station  jockey rode many races for us and clicked many winners as he was having good past experience of riding working under Adenwalla in Western India. We never blamed any jockey or trainer for failures  and on the other hand accepted the reality that horses can lose due to many reasons and tried to understand the complexities of the game. We are lucky to have services of many jockeys and they all delivered their best. They gave us good feedback too. We are thankful to all of them including G B Khade and E Philips.  

Hello Ramesh,

Sharma is delving into the period between 1970 to 1979. Only Mahawk from your mentioned champs ran during the mentioned period. The rest did not.

regds,
Cruise

Sharma sir,

I know it is not possible to mention each and every horse. Track lightning, Almanac, Camino, Mohawk and Adler also performed well. All trained by Rashid.

J.Murtagh, Macullagh, Lowe S.Waheed also did well as jockeys in those days.

As Cruise mentioned about jockey Karan Singh who has the ability to come from behind needs appreciation.

If you throw some light on above mentioned horses and jockeys it will be easy to recollect the memories.

Please take care of your Cataract and do not postponed it.

Thanks.

Hello Sharma,

I am surprised you make no mention of champions of Hyderabad be it horse, trainer or/and jockey since you claim to have raced your/family-owned horses at Hyderabad.

M.B.Manglorkar and Karan Singh definitely deserved a mention.

regds,
Cruise

Hello Hp++,

That was deli-BERATE.
Got it?

regds,
Cruise

CB

It's *misspelling*

B.Duffy brought back my memories of Venus De Milo's invitation win at Bangalore. Duffy had a wonderful season winning all major races if I remember correctly, Fillies or Colts, Derby, Maharajs, Invitation and the Governor's Cups. I couldn't go to the Invitation due to my sickness and admitted to hospital. I had sent my selections for JP and treble through my brother in law and his close friend. For reasons best known to them they changed the last leg removing Ajantha and replaced with some other horse . Ajantha won and they lost the JP some RS.40 lacs. They solved the treble some RS.2.00 lacs and didn't inform me since they have to give me a share. I came to know through common friend and also from doubts aroused due to the way he was spending after that day. Anyway you need luck mainly to win . Who expected I will get sick and my BIL will change the horse in the last leg and cheat  me in treble share.  I have missed like this so many times  from my owner cheating and so on.  

   An interesting read.  As although SC's methods in viewing horse racing are not revolutionary, the insight into his mindset and the importance of keeping calm and discipline in the face of success and failure would be invaluable for any inspiring punter.

       Congrats.

    When JP mentioned about 70-80 decade memories, my over enthusiasm forced me to start this thread with focus on horses won big races during 1970-1979 decade with jockeys and trainers of that time and some unforgettable incidents related with some horses, jockeys and owners with the informations available with me. Mainly I covered four horses Red Cockade, Commanche, Squanderer and Manitou, which were in discussions  more at that time. I thought when others will share their memories and experiences more such stories and incidents will be covered.

     I also forget P S Bhonsle's name who won Bangaluru summer derby on Manitou in 1977  (as regular and full jockeys were on strike and that race was ridden by all apprentice jockeys ). Not narrated the story of Royal Tern' defeat and Own Opinion's win. Missed special mention of Shammu Chavan lovingly known as Dada of Indian racing, who  rode till the age of 64. He completed his 1000th win on Silvery Moon in 1979 trained by his son Chandrakant. At that time he was 55. 
    Cruise B'lore rightly pointed out some spelling mistakes in my post often happening due to my over enthusiasm or long overdue of cataract operation of both eyes, which I am compelled to postpone further in view of Corona Pandemic cases and situations at hospitals. Will try to be more careful in future.
   Thanks to everyone for sharing their memories and experiences with a hope to cover the left over uncovered areas of my posts for the update and benefit of all. God bless you all.. 

Wally Swinburne retired after winning Invitation in Hyderabad on Columbia, finished 2nd Deccan Prince ridden by Karan Singh, finished 3rd Nelson Mumbai Derby winner ridden by Vasanth Shinde, when I was working in H.R.C we are knows Jockey going to retire on that day, our staff are much confidence about the horse on that day & fully thrilled & enjoyed the race, we all celebrated in the evening. 

Hello Sharma,

Much as I appreciate taking time to keep 'horsetalk' going at a steady clip but the fact of mis-spellings of champions of the past need to be brought to your notice. 

MIDNIGHT COWBOY, not Midnight Cow
COMMANCHE comes with double 'm' and not single. It is not Comanche.
BRIGHT HANOVAR has been spelt as Bright Hanov'E'r by you.

You are spot-on with Ranjit V Bhat's enviable record of scoring a hat-trick comprising of Bangalore derby, Indian derby and The Turf Invitation cup with a single horse in 3 successive years. That record will surely be tough to emulate.

regds,
Cruise

Some other horses names omitted include Midnight Cowboy, Half a Crown, Evernsky, Brave Dancer, Honourable Rule, Aristocrat, Sun Lion,Whiplash etc etc

Your article reminded me few other things.

Pendragon, Ferris up winning the Bangalore Derby for Sam Hill. Royal Challenge, R.Alford up winning the Bangalore Derby beating Namcha with Butfoy up in a very close finish, maybe neck. Namcha continued it's fight with Royal Challenge in Kolkata and had to settle for 2nd in all outings. Finally, it best Royal Challenge in Madras in Guindy Gold cup. Namcha brings back my memories to R.M.Puttana the trainer who shifted his base from Kolkata to Bangalore after the winter races was introduced in Bangalore. He was becoming a worthy Challenger to R R  Byramji but death had taken him away. Jockey Swinburn had a good association with him. Talking about this jockey it reminds me of his ride on Columbia in the Invitation cup. Read from News papers that after the jump the horse was down on its it's front legs,jockey Swinburn was able to gather the horse ,by the time lost about more than 20 lengths. He still ride the horse and won. I am still trying to see this video on YouTube. I will be thankful if someone can help.

Some of them you missed are trainer Jarvis, H.David, Fordyce the jockey and then trainer. Jim Foley the jockey and trainer. What I heard was Jim Foley as jockey was the unofficial trainer for the Late MAM. Tyrell another trainer for the Das  brothers of Dasprakash hotel. B.P.Shivan the trainer of Super Seer the SI Derby winner. M.B.Manglorkar the Buck Passer trainer which shocked the Maharajs gold cup beating Mama's Mink (English filly)  trained by Jarvis. MBM shifted to Hyderabad and had a fruitful innings along with jockey Karan Singh for few years. 

Trainer Maj. V.M.Lad for the Gwaliors and I cannot forget their horse Thundering which won the Colts at Bangalore. I won the Jackpot and treble that day.

B.Duffy was another jockey who was very successful. E.Alford was another good jockey and his fight with his sibling R.Alford was a treat to watch. R.Alford was famous for all the wrong reasons most famous was he dismounted from the horse The Phonecian in Bangalore race. When questioned he said the horse has become lame. At the end of the day after the Clubs vet's examination,the horse was given to jockey Jagadish to ride. Jockey Jagadish rode the horse from the bend I think. The stewards gave Alford a long suspension. It is also rumoured that Red Cockade lost the Derby because of him.

SCS and other race enthusiasts,

The 1993 Indian Derby was a test of sorts for the legendary Aslam Khader. He was retained by the Eveready baron Deepak Khaitan and had the enviable task of making his choice from as many as three worthy candidates.Talk about being spoilt for choice! There was Academic, who had most comfortably won the Indian Oaks going virtually start to finish. The stable also had Astounding, the winner of the Bangalore Derby and the Calcutta Derby and then there was Astronomic who had won the South India Derby. Aslam had made up his mind to ride Astounding in the Indian Derby as his victory was the most impressive. After he had worked Astounding before the Derby, R R Byramji who trained Astronomic asked Aslam which horse he was going to ride in the Derby. Aslam told him it was going to be Astounding. RRB then told Aslam that in that case he (RRB) would give the ride to Pat Shanahan but to work Astronomic all the same since it belonged to the same owner. Aslam complied and he was so impressed with the gallop that he immediately switched his choice to Astronomic. He told his boss that neither Astounding nor Academic would come anywhere near Astronomic. That is exactly what happened. Astronomic won the Derby in a stiff fight with Arctic Light (Jimmy Fortune) and Summer Dust (Vasant Shinde) while the ownermates of Astronomic finished far away.

S C Sharma

Enjoyed your well written article, brought back old memories, thank you.

Please do keep it up. 

Lovely names of Horses in those years , In fact I started an interest in races when my Uncle took me for the invitation cup when I was very young say 5 years , at that time in the course he asked me to select a card an a jockey ,I selected some Barjan sing horse number one I'm sure cannot remember though and he came second , I felt some foreign jockey won that race. .my uncle  knew a trainer some Jonson and that day he won a race and my uncle made lots of money in that race , well he gave me one rupee as a gift and my eyes became like as big as a saucer when I accepted it with delight and pocketed it , from then on it was only my studies and back to the convent , as years went by I think in the year 2007 I started to feel an interest in races , only a couple of times I use to enter the race course and in the year 2010 I guess a friend introduced me to H T , and that's how with some valuable information I got through some great sports personalities my selections for a treble or JP was mainly through the HT , I'm just a small time punter and never play more than 1000  a meeting and I love the Mumbai racing , Bangalore is next and Kolkatta , these centres are the best in Indian racing . 

Mr. Sharma 

This article is nicely composed and good but for one event you missed is how Royal Tern was beaten by Own Opinion  (Invetational Cup)by very good planning by jockey Jagdish, Owner MAM and trainer A B David (May be wrong).

Can you recollect and provide the details.

That was the FIRST defeat of ROYAL TERN.