More than words - By Preeti Devnani l DNA
Posted on - 05 Aug 2010
More than words
By Preeti Devnani
DNA
August 5, 2010
With the racing season on, Deepak Rajpal and Mahendra D Mallya share their experiences as commentators at the race course
A momentous journey: Deepak Rajpal (sitting) & Mahendra D Mallya
The fillies and colts aren't the only ones at the turf club who zoom ahead in full speed during the races. The pacy commentary of two familiar faces on the race course keeps up with the horses. Deepak Rajpal and Mahendra D Mallya are experts at narrating the action live and super quick for the audiences at the ongoing racing season in Pune.
"A horse race can start and finish in anything between less than a minute to three minutes flat, which is why you have to be super quick in order to cover all the horses and action," says Rajpal.
Deepak, who originally wanted to get into cricket commentary, once accompanied his father to watch a race in Bangalore in 1985, and fell in love with the sport. He then tried his hand at horse racing commentary instead, and realised that this is what he wanted to do. After a two year stint in Bangalore, he headed to Mumbai. "After calling out a few races there, RWITC in Mumbai offered me a permanent job of which I am completing 25 years now," says Deepak. He adds that there is no professional training to become a horse racing commentator.
Having seen the racing scenario rather closely, Deepak shares a few highlights of his career. "I have witnessed surprising events such as the least favourite horse galloping to victory, to humorous moments where a jockey who got off-balance, and jumped on the horse beside him resulting in two jockeys riding one horse. There have been sad moments too, where horses have tumbled and jockeys have got injured. But the most tragic of all was when a jockey named Yogender Singh, fell off his horse in the midst of the race and died on the spot. He had injured his spinal chord. At such times, a commentator really has no words to say."
"Horse names are another aspect the commentators have to get a rein on. And there's really no room to rectify your error as the time limit is so short," says Mahendra, who joined RWITC as a commentator in 1990, thanks to Deepak!
He adds that it becomes more confusing when horses have similar names. "For example, owner Rakesh Wadhawan has most of his horses starting with river, sun and sea - river bliss, river goddess or sea star and sea ruler. They wear the same colours because of the same owners and so we have to be very sharp and attentive in such cases," he says.
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