Uttam Singh, the fillies' maestro, turns 99 - By Vivek Jain | TOI
Posted on - 03 Oct 2018
Uttam Singh, the fillies’ maestro, turns 99
- Vivek Jain | TOI
WHEN a batsman is on the crease at 99, there is a hush around the ground, in anticipation of the milestone. And when the master of fillies, Uttam Singh, turned 99 on September 19, one cannot but help recall his memorable career, in tribute to not only his outstanding skills but also for a supremely disciplined life that has him just a short head away from a landmark century.
Uttamji, as he is fondly called, started as an apprentice jockey in 1939, and became one of the first riders to graduate to trainership, when he got a private trainers license to Maharaja Himmatsinghji of Idar in 1952, he was only 33. His career spanned a full 50 years, giving up his license only in 2002 after winning 19 Indian Classics, mostly with fillies, of which were six 1000 Guineas and seven Indian Oaks- of which five came in one golden span in the 1980s. Uttamji was known to have a roving eye for the four legged female beauties and was quick to spot a potential champion within days of it arriving into his yard.
His most notable and rare triumph was the treble of the 1000-2000-Oaks with Highland Rule in the 1979-80 season, a feat that was emulated only recently by the hugely talented Jacqueline. He once said that his mantra for success with fillies was as he treated them like his daughters! Another unique feat was the three successive Byculla Cup wins with Ferrari- in each year that race being the colt’s only start, and later his son Zadmal was also to win the Byculla with Supernal in a start to finish record timing success.
Uttamji trained with distinction for some of the biggest owners of the time- The Poonawallas, Jains, Khaitans, Ruias and VP Singhania, to name a few, who trusted the man with the midas touch with the fairer sex with their prized equines. Uttamji was unlucky not to win the 1975 Indian Derby, as his Rock Deposit had beaten both that year’s Oaks and Derby winners- Lady Madonna and Pyare Miya at his previous two starts, but broke down after leading into the straight.
Uttamji always maintained that patience was the name of the game, and his owners never hurried him into running their horses and not being a betting stable (as most of his illustrious owners were for the pleasure of the sport) the man had a near flawless record and stood for integrity in a sport that is finding it difficult to even spell the word. Having seen at close quarters, since I was a teenager, not only his unmatched ways but also in the value of giving time, and more so his spartan life style which never wavered and kept him single mindedly focused and dedicated to the sport, is a life lesson right in front of us.
Uttam passed on the baton to his son Zadmal, who tends to him like a baby, and to his grandson Subhag, who have been groomed under his tutelage. The RWITC’s most capable and affable handicapper, Niranjan, is also a grandson so one can see racing is in the family’s blood. The grand ‘ol man’s favourite saying, one is told is Ati Sarvatra Varjate (too much of anything is to be shunned) and how true to this has he lived his life. Still at the stables most mornings or evenings, and riding till he was 94, a horseman like him will rarely stride our Turf.
