"I thought Picasso was a goner": DhunjibhoyKhushroo Dhunjibhoy, owner of Picasso who won the prestigious Poonawalla Breeders' Multi-Million (PBMM) on Sunday at Mahalaxmi, was not among the horse's supporters who shouted at the top of their voice to cheer the winner. The reason was simple: Dhunjibhoy was so shocked by Brazilean Sylvester DeSousa's antics astride Aidan (who caused severe interference to Picasso with 200 meters to go) that he temporarily lost his voice due to extreme anxiety.
"I thought my horse (Picasso) was a goner when Aidan went on to him so dangerously," he told MiD DAY after the victory, "luckily, my jockey could gather the horse in time to renew his challenge."
Brazilean rider DeSousa's antics astride Aidan not only inconvenienced Picasso, but also opened a wide gap for public choice Amadeus (B Prakash up) who grabbed the opportunity to wrest the initiative momentarily before again being overpowered by Picasso & Aidan in the shadow of the winning post.
DeSousa later owned up his mistake in an enquiry conducted by stewards after the race, and apologized for the same. The stewards however decided not to change the placings, thus allowing Aidan to retain his second place.
Interestingly, Khushroo Dhunjibhoy, as an owner, rode a wave of luck for nearly an hour and a half in which he led in winners of three successive races--Solor owned by his wife Deepa (along with Sudhir Ruia) who won the Intervalve Trophy, Harlamoff, winner of the Melbourne Spring Carnival Cup, which he owned in partnership with friend Vijay Shirke, and Picasso, who topped it all by winning the PBMM, the richest juvenile race. To top it, horses bred by his Nanoli stud farm won six of the nine races on the PBMM card.
(c) MiD DAY
Dear Prakash,
ReplyDeletethis seems out of context but i have been trying to learn as to why did the 93 Indian Derby run on the last sunday of feb. google does not seem to know. could you spend some precious moments and mail me...
thank you
rajendrashetty@gmail.com
Hello Ajar,
ReplyDeleteThe Babri Masjid was demolished on Dec 6, 1992, and a month later in January 1993 there were riots in Mumbai. The law and order situation was still precarious in the first week of February, so the Indian Derby was postponed to the fourth Sunday of February instead of the traditional first.
Hope this answers your query.