AND THE TEMERITY OF IT ALL! - By Berjis Desai
Posted on - 09 Mar 2017
AND THE TEMERITY OF IT ALL!
- By Berjis Desai
I am known as the rag picker and the one who scrapes the bottom of a barrel, at the Goffs November auction for ‘in foal’ mares. Five years ago, at this auction, my friend, Shyam Ruia, having completed his expensive purchases earlier in the day and eagerly looking forward to his glass of Merlot, condescendingly told me that I was permitted to buy one of my ‘crappy’ mares, in which he would take a half share. ‘May I go upto 6000 Euros?’, I asked. ‘You beggar, what (expletive deleted) are you intending to purchase!’, exclaimed Mr. Ruia.
As usual, I had shortlisted the so-called ‘cheapies’ - nine mares from the Goffs’ catalogue, which I had studied extensively with Gaurav Rampal, our bloodstock agent, in Mumbai. All these nine mares barring one, Narmina, the dam to be of Temerity, had been sold. The dying hours of the auction meant that the ring was half empty. Shyam and Amay sat beside me and chuckled away. When Narmina came in the ring, I pressed his hand to indicate she was our targeted purchase. ‘Oh lord!, he said, ‘you want to me to breed this piece of shit at my farm!’ I gave him one of my foolish smiles.
Gaurav whispered in my ear, ‘Sir! She is unraced and her breeding record is disastrous! 2006 – barren; 2007 – unraced; 2008 – winner over hurdles!; 2009 – unraced; 2010 – unraced! Being an optimist, I replied that her 2010 baby, by Dubawi, was only 2 years old, and may yet race. I will take my chances, I told him.
Narmina’s sire so-called cheapies to his Merlotwas the unfancied Alharth and her pedigree, at first blush, appeared pedestrian, However, with my lawyer’s training of not missing details, I had noted in the catalogue that Narmina was a half-sister to Group 3 winner, Narwala (Darshaan). More importantly, she was an Aga Khan Stud mare. The very fact that the Aga Khans had persisted with her, year after year, meant something valuable. Narmina was in foal to Intense Focus, although a Group I winner as a two year old, a stallion having a so-so racing record and an insipid stud record. Few of his winners had gone beyond a mile and none beyond 10 furlongs. He was one of those stallions who was neither a success nor a failure.
The tired auctioneer’s voice, after two days, was hoarse. Some mild interest in Narmina saw the price at 5,500 Euros. I kept quiet. ‘Aren’t you going for it?’ mocked Shyam Ruia. At 6000 Euros, I raised my hand. At 8,000, I told Ruia, this is going beyond my budget; at which he rolled over in laughter and egged me on to make one last bid. Reluctantly, I raised my hand, and the mare was knocked down to us for 9,000 Euros – then around Rs.6 lakhs, landed cost around Rs.10 lakhs).
When Narmina reached Equus, the Ruia Stud, Shyam found her to be rather ugly and suggested that I parcel her off to Nanoli Stud; which I did. Temerity was thus born at Nanoli. I loved her markings – on the forehead, and her three white socks – she will bring us luck, I thought.
Within months of her birth, Narniyn, Narmina’s 2010 fily by Dubawi, who had turned three, started racing and how! She won a Group 3 in France (when Gaurav phoned Shyam and me to convey the news, Shyam first thought it was a joke), and then another listed race in France. At 4, she won yet another Group 3 in France and was a close second in a Group I in England. Narmina had suddenly become valuable and my dear friend had a look of grudging respect in his eyes.
It was decided that Narmina’s filly will be trained by Pesi Shroff, and of course, it would run in the dark blue silks of the Ruia’s. At best, she will be a miler; even her half sister, sired by the great Dubawi, had failed to win beyond a mile and a quarter. If Dubawi was Amitabh Bacchan, Intense Focus was Johnny Lever. In all fairness, Shyam Ruia was always confident that our filly would go all the way upto the mile and half.
While I never care for my colours, I insist on the naming rights of a horse in partnership. Can a 9000 Euros purchase win the Indian Derby? Will this filly, like her half sister of much superior pedigree, bring honour to its owners? Can an Intense Focus go the full distance? Why not, uttered Mr. Ruia, exuding supreme confidence. ‘Then, we shall call her – Temerity’, I said. The fusspot that he is, he loved the name for once (having suffered the indignity of names like ‘Menage a trois’ and ‘Le flagrante delicto’, given by me for our partnership horses, which mercifully never ran). Perhaps, the closest Hindi translation of temerity is jurrat.
After a few months of training, Pesi stated that Temerity was a nice horse. In Shroff speak, it means it was a damn good horse. His son, Yohan, who has a keen eye, whispered to me that she was the best baby in the stable. However, she ran an indifferent maiden, though a fast finishing fourth. She would go on to win the next four races including the F. D. Wadia and emerge as a strong favourite for the Indian Guineas. Although the cognoscenti said that she will sail through, I had a queasy feeling in my stomach. Temerity is certainly temperamental – docile and sweet, and then suddenly, edgy and worked up. When she arrived in the paddock, she started bobbing her head up and down and did not look particularly pleased with herself. Of course, like all of Pesi’s wards on a big day, she looked picture perfect otherwise.
In racing matters, I am superstitious. Superstition is natural – it is Nature’s way of preparing you for a disaster. During Jacqueline’s four Indian classic wins, I wore the same clothes; Shirkes, Dhunjibhoys and my wife, Vandana, a late convert to avid handicapping, visited the same little fish restaurant the night before; we posed the same way while receiving the trophy; and furiously worked out some amateur numerology. Hence, in this race, my something-not-so-right feeling became intense, when Vandana sneezed in the paddock (much to Shyam’s distaste) and then a squirrel grazed past my finger. Sure enough, in her stall, our heroine intensified her head bobbing efforts and then suddenly ducked beneath the gate. Neeraj was lucky to escape only with a sore hand. She suffered an abrasion, which apparently was not seen, and she was not withdrawn, as she perhaps ought to have been. All these decisions though seem easy only in hindsight. She was traumatised, hurt, ruffled and anxious. No wonder she finished last of the sixteen horses.
Our plans, of pocketing the Guineas, skipping the Oaks, and going in well rested for the Derby, had gone awry. Although I am a bawa by birth, I think like a baniya. Let us go for the Oaks, I said. Shyam and Shroff somewhat reluctantly concurred. In the Oaks, Temerity created no fuss and Neeraj rode out his instructions to perfection. Although she was not terribly overstretched, the Derby came a week too early. There was no hard luck story in the Derby except that Neeraj felt that he had a bit less horse than the Oaks. Our decision to participate in the Oaks was perhaps unconsciously affected by the story of Pesi Shroff’s Set Alight, who had opted out of the Oaks but had lost the Derby. On the other hand, the great Jacqueline (beset with a million niggling problems throughout her illustrious career) had annexed four Indian classics in six weeks, partnering with that legendary saddle artiste – ‘come-from-behind’ Richard Hughes. Such was Pesi Shroff’s nurturing and caring and preserving the best for the last.
The connections sensed that the Invitation Cup was not going to be a re-run of the Derby. Sure enough, Serjeant At Arms chose to be the champion miler. Can that master strategist, Padmanabhan, and his wonder filly, Hall of Famer (HoF) be tamed? The other horses frankly, did not worry us much. Temerity travelled very well to Bangalore but gave us anxious moments by refusing to eat well. Later, she put on three kilos more than the Derby. ‘She is happy and looks well’, observed the legend’s wife cum manager, Tina Shroff. Indeed, she did, in the paddock. HoF, though, appeared a bit out of sorts. As I was leaving the paddock to watch the race, Padu (Padmanabhan) told me that my baby in training with him was going to the gates next week. I smiled. A thought passed in my mind that at such a critical juncture, Padu was talking about some baby in training, means that his otherwise ever alert racing mind was drifting. I was, therefore, not surprised when David Allan did a Kamikaze(suicide attacks by Japanese airplanes in which 3,862 pilots perished in World War II) with HoF. Maybe, in the circumstances, this was the right thing to do. Neeraj Rawal rides these days like Lester Piggot. He kept his cool, even when HoF was nearly nine lengths ahead of Temerity. However, as soon as the former blew after the bend; Rawal changed gears. Temerity ran a race which was picture perfect, not flamboyant or flashy, in a workman like style. The Invitation was annexed with a new course record, that too, bettered by one and a half seconds. Even the unflappable Pesi Shroff allowed himself a smile. Temerity had displayed sheer class like her co-owner in whose silks she raced. In the process, she had also done this rag-picker proud. She, like her fancied sister, Narniyn, had done her mother Narmina, proud too (incidentally, Narmina has produced a smashing colt and is in foal to Ruia’s new stallion, Ampere). She had proved the dictum that the price you pay for a horse has nothing to do with its performance.
As we relish the moment, a lot of ifs and buts arise. What if Shyam Ruia had not egged me to raise my bid by 1,000 euros more; what if Narniyn had won before the auction; what if Temerity would not have misbehaved in the Guineas; what if we had skipped the Oaks. Those, whom these questions bother, will name their horses – serendipity; and those who are bloody reckless, will call them, Temerity.
