Bad times cannot put a good jockey down for long.

B Prakash just proved it on Sunday at Mahalaxmi when, after a gap of nearly two seasons, he hit the headlines.

He won the silver whip reserved for the best jockey in the 'Clash Of The Titans' contest between Indian and foreign riders that took place on the Dr SC Jain Sprint Championship card.

He rode three winners on Sunday, and two of them were chance mounts! They were decided by lots in the races earmarked as legs of the contest. But it is not the first time that chance or co-incidence has played a prime role in Prakash's riding career.

How many racegoers know that the jockey who won the silver whip on Sunday was rejected when he had tried to enrol as an apprentice to the RWITC riding school, but a lucky co-incidence saw him being recalled almost a year later?

In 1993, when 15 year old Prakash Poonaji Bhosale (his father P Bhosale was also a jockey who, as apprentice, had won the Bangalore Derby astride Manitou in 1977 when he too got a chance ride on the horse due to a sudden strike by senior jockeys) went to enrol at the Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC) Ltd apprentice riders' school, he was sent back home for being two kg overweight. Apprentice riders need to weigh less than 40 kg, and Prakash, unmindful of this rule, tipped the scales at 42 kg.

After sulking on the sidelines and ruing his luck for almost a year, he was recalled one day by the club. "One of the ten selected boys, unfortunately had to drop out as he started having epilepsy attacks, and I got my chance when all seemed completely lost," B Prakash had told MiD DAY on the eve of one of his Derby rides, adding, "of course, there was a severe handicap—I had missed the entire first year's training!"

The lucky co-incidences did not end there. Being a late addition to the apprentice batch, he was sent to trainer Hosidar Daji, who did for Prakash what not many trainers will choose to do for an apprentice. Recognizing the spark of talent in the boy Daji, who himself had only a small string of horses, went out of his way and practically begged rides from other stables. Prakash notched up 21 wins to become the champion apprentice.

An accident then put paid to his starry dreams when he missed three months of racing. But Adi Narielwalla, horse owner and partner of Khushroo Dhunjibhoy of Nanoli stud, was quite impressed and had already made up his mind to engage this boy as their second rider after Malesh Narredu. This fortunate entry into the big league was all this prodigal talent needed to shine at the top of the Indian riding horizon.

In 1999, Dr MAM Ramaswamy had engaged Richard Hughes as his first rider, and was looking for a light-weight rider (Hughes rode at 53 kg) when, in another lucky break, Prakash hit the headlines at Mahalaxmi by riding four winners on a day's card. The southern racing baron was quick to send a feeler, and made an offer that Prakash could not refuse. More than the terms of the offer, what weighed with Prakash was the chance to ride for Dr Ramaswamy, a man famous for possessing absolutely legendary horse sense as well as top class horses.

Since then, Prakash has been riding high at all centers in India all these years except the last season or two, as Dr Ramaswamy seems to have lost appetite for big races, and the yard is going through rough weather for reasons that are not too difficult to locate.

But then, as I said in the beginning, bad times cannot put a good jockey down for long--Prakash just proved it!

(c) MiD DAY