A glorious era comes to an end with Adenwalla's demise - By Usman Rangeela I Mirror
Posted on - 20 Feb 2012
A glorious era comes to an end with Adenwalla’s demise
By Usman Rangeela I Mirror
At the race course every other person you meet is a lover of horse-racing but with varied interests. Some love to punt while others are enamoured simply by the sight of a magnificent thoroughbred. Dady Adenwalla fell into the latter category and was indeed a rare breed.
Where can you find a man who dedicated over six decades of his life to horse-racing? It was difficult, nay impossible, to keep him away from horses. Like many others, he fell in love with horses as a teenager but his passion was restricted to riding them.
As he grew up so did his obsession with the equines. Along the way, Dady became a horse-trainer and went to Delhi with a small string. He also visited England in the early fifties and learnt the ropes of the trade from Sam Armstrong before making Mumbai his base.
Dady may not have been a horse-whisperer but had mastered the art of tending horses. He trained horses over a span of thirty years during which he saddled eleven Indian classic winners including Balchand (1957) and Fair Wood (1959) in the Indian Derby for the Maharaja of Parlakimedi and the Maharajadhiraj of Jammu and Kashmir respectively.
NEW AVATAR
Around 1985, when in his mid-50s, Dady donned a new avatar heeding a call from the turf club’s management to lend his services as senior stipendiary steward.
Well-versed with the nitty-gritty of the sport, Dady had no problem in the transformation of his role. Unidentified goons also attacked him while he on his way to Mahalaxmi probably to scare him from taking his new job. But he remained undeterred.
Fearless as he was in expressing his views, he earned the respect of the stewards whom he guided on issues of maintaining the integrity of the sport. After quitting his responsibilities as chief stipe, Dady was later elected as a Board of Appeal member, a post which he held till his untimely demise as an octogenarian.
But it was not only his love for horses or his persona as a chief stipe which made him stand out. Dady was a perfect gentleman and a kind-hearted human being too.
FATHER FIGURE
Giving a glimpse of a father figure that he was to his staff, former RWITC stipe Shujaat Hussain pays tribute to his mentor: “I was all of 25 years old when I joined the RWITC to work under the legendary Dady Adenwalla in 1997. I have many memories of my tenure as an assistant stipendiary steward under him.
“Once I remember a steward telling him jokingly in the paddock ‘relax Dady it’s only a race day’. He only grinned back at the steward (who he must have seen as a child) and moved on. For him it was never ‘only a race day’ or ‘only a steward’s meeting’ or just ‘another race course’; this man was not only passionate about his horses, the club (RWITC) but also took his duties and responsibilities as a chief stipe like none other. From him I learnt what decorum, dedication and discipline meant and that’s what he stood for.
“He respected the stewards and the chief stipe’s chair like a chief of the army would respect his post. Under his stern and strict exterior was hidden a gentle and soft human being. I have a lot to thank him for; he is one of the few people who have shaped my life. It’s a sad day and a huge loss not only for me but the entire racing fraternity. May his soul rest in peace.”
