MAHARASHTRA / Bangalore, KARNATAKA :
The Royal Western India Turf Club mostly prefers to stick to its traditional format when framing its year-long horse-racing programme. But the turf club’s management does make occasional concessions as it did when springing a pleasant surprise with the inclusion of a race in memory SM Shah on Sunday. Late SM Shah, incidentally, was veteran SS Shah’s elder brother who passed away earlier this year.
The younger generation probably may not have heard much about Majeed Shah but old-timers would certainly recollect him as a hard-working and celebrated trainer who carved a place in the heart of the ardent horse-racing fans during an era, which was dominated by the likes of ALJ Talib, Aziz Mahmoud, DP Pandole, Dady Adenwalla and Major VM Lad. He held sway for over two decades before moving permanently to Bangalore in the late 70‘s.
Shah saddled three Indian Derby winners: Nijinsky (1967), Our Select (1968) and Bright Hanovar (1971). He also trained other prominent winners like Hard Held, Bade Miya, Beandaz and Bakhtawar. Apart from MD Mehta and Laxmi P Lala, Shah was patronised by late Mary Homi Wadia aka Fearless Nadia and Mehmood, the actor par excellence and a superstar in his own right who brought glamour to the game with his presence at the racecourse.
Fitting finale
The race framed in memory of the late trainer who spent two decades in Western India was not in RWITC’s prospectus but Shah’s eldest son Kaleem, an American citizen now, helped RWITC pay a perfect tribute to his father. Not only did he sponsor a glittering gold trophy worth a lakh of rupees for the winner but, in a noble gesture, also gave away twenty thousand rupees each to the grooms of five best turned out horses during the day.
By the way, Kaleem, contrary to his father’s wish, ventured into owning horses in USA by purchasing his first thoroughbred in 1996 and gradually increased his bloodstock to become one of the big owners. Kaleem’s famous win till date has been with Bayern who won the Breeders’ Cup Classic, worth US$ 5 million, in 2014. Bayern was saddled by one of USA’s top horse-trainer Bob Baffert.
Returning to the running of the SM Shah Trophy, call it providence if you like; it was won by the filly Priceless Art, owned by none other than Cyrus Poonawalla. It was only fitting that the trophy was presented by one passionate racehorse owner-breeder to another.
Chivalrous gesture
On a day of festivities when the entire Shah clan was in attendance at Mahalaxmi to witness the race, what came as a dampener was that most race-goers were unaware of the significance of the event. The RWITC replayed a video clip which showed some of India’s senior professionals paying tribute to one of their colleagues and that was it.
No effort was made to highlight Majeed Shah’s achievements as a professional or his son’s feat as a race-horse owner in the United States. It was Kaleem’s sobriety that neither did he demand attention from the club’s administration nor the club’s officials.
However, it was Cyrus Poonawalla’s chivalry that saved RWITC some blushes as the former was only too happy to accompany Kaleem for most of the time till the day’s races were over.
source: http://www.punemirror.indiatimes.com / Pune Mirror / Home> Columns / by Usman Rangeela, Columnist, Pune Mirror / December 27th, 2017