Jockey Daniel Grant (center), flanked by his girlfriend and Dr Cyrus Poonawalla, chairman, RWITC, while receiving the Champion Jockey trophy [pic: rwitc.com]
The last time Cooji Katrak won the champion trainer's title he was in South Africa. Yesterday when he won it for the second time, he was on ‘top-of-the-world’."
“Yes, it’s a special kind of joy, like a top-of-the-world feeling,” he said to MiD DAY, after receiving the trophy form club chairman Dr Cyrus Poonawalla, and added, "I am especially pleased because I won more than two crore rupees in stake money for my owners."
Katrak, who scored a double on the concluding day, topped the trainers' tally with 35 wins, while erstwhile champion Pesi Shroff finished runner up with 31 winners. Jockey Daniel Grant, who had a hand in most of Katrak's victories this season, picked up the champion jockey title, and the race club, as a special gesture, had presented the trophy to him a day before as he had to fly to his home country to fulfil his riding engagements there.
Apprentice rider Nikhil Parmar picked up two titles, that of the leading apprentice and also the one for the leading apprentice with allowance. He rode 9 winners which included a hat-trick on the April 5 card. The leading owner prize went to Dr Vijay Mallya, while the Poonawalla stud farms emerged as the leading stud farm.
"It has been our best season ever," said Vivek Jain, chairman of stewards and head of marketing, RWITC, speaking to MiD DAY, "it was great racing all the way--record sponsorships, higher attendance and betting--and most important, much improved media coverage and visibility for the sport."
He added, "I am happy we managed such a show despite a delayed start on account of the horses's health, and weather concerns about heat and humidity that couldn’t be wished away. There was a special flavor of energy to all Sundays that took the racing experience to a new level."
