The Perfect Ten

On a roll: Owners Vijay Shirke & Khushroo Dhunjibhoy leading in Bruckner (Paul Mulrennan up) with trainer Pesi Shroff (extreme right) [pic: R S Gupta]

Pesi Shroff, as horse trainer, set more records during the last week than perhaps he set in his entire career as a jockey. He won 10 races at the Mahalaxmi racetrack; saddled 14 winners on three race cards at two different racing centers spread over only four days; led in, as winners, the first five horses saddled by him for a fresh season, won the maximum number of races (six) on one card in western India, and became the first trainer at Mahalaxmi for whom foreign riders rode ten straight winners!

MiD DAY caught up with the record-breaking trainer for an exclusive interview.

Here are the excerpts from the interview Prakash Gosavi did with the ace trainer:

PG: Ten winners this week, Pesi?

PS: Make that 14, if you don't mind (smiles). I also had four winners on Saturday at Kolkata.

PG: Is it some new feed that your horses are suddenly getting...?

PS: No, it's actually a supplement, and it's spelled L.U.C.K.; neither my horses nor I had it in such spells earlier (laughs again).

PG: Surely the best week of your training career...?

PS: Undoubtedly. Like I told you last week, such feats are scripted by destiny more than us mortals. The horses, the owners, the jocks—I think everyone's luck has to combine at the same time to create such record-breaking feat.

PG: How are you feeling after this record?

PS: I am happy to be blessed, though I know it's not going to be easy to keep up the momentum. In racing, luck changes quicker than you think. But as of now, I have no complaints.

PG: Did you have any inkling of this super show? Some sort of an intuition?

PS: No, nothing. It started as any other week.

PG: All your ten winners were ridden by foreign jockeys, did you pick them for your owners?

PS: No, my owners picked them, I had no hand or say in their selection. And I don't think we should think too much of this Indian v/s. foreign angle—so many of our boys have ridden winners for me.

PG: What kind of instructions do you give your jockeys?

PS: I only tell them what I think my horse likes, and leave the rest to them. In the race, they have to take the call, just like I did when I was a jockey.

PG: Which of your horses will figure in the forthcoming Classics?

PS: Jacqueline, Cabriolet and Astral Flash. Onassis has run a very good race this week. It's too early, but anything is possible. He has blood on his side—he is half brother to Diego Rivera.

PG: Who do you think are the horses you will have to beat?

PS: Versaki and Sea Ruler, and maybe Becket if he continues improving.

PG: You seem determined to regain the championship?

PS: It's a nice thing to win the championship, but it's not a top-of-the-mind issue for me. I don't think about it. I only want my horses to do well and win as many races as possible.

©MiD DAY