Bengaluru: The immensely successful jockey-turned-trainer Pesi Shroff has a special love affair with the Bangalore Turf Club and hoping to sour that bond will be high on the minds of the Narredus, one of City’s highly decorated families in horse racing.
The 59-year-old Shroff largely plies his trade in Mumbai but like every big trainer in the country he too checks into Bengaluru for all the major events, and over the recent years has accumulated big success which he will be trying to replicate with Santissimo, one of the favourites for Sunday’s HPSL Bangalore Summer Derby (Grade 1) over 2000m.
As a trainer, Shroff has triumphed four times in the summer derby here, including two successive wins with Jamari last year and Supernatural in 2022. As a jockey too, Shroff has won summer derbies with the first victory coming way back in 1993.
Shroff’s success at BTC is not just limited to summer spectacle alone. In the 2022 Winter Derby, he engineered Zuccarelli to a dominant win, totally living up to the status as the overwhelming favourite. Even in the Turf Invitation Cup, the biggest racing weekend in the country, Shroff lorded with Temerity in March 2017. He has also won three Stayers Cup and two Super Mile Cups when Bengaluru hosted the Invitation Cup weekend races.
This winning pedigree is what gives Shroff and his horse Santissimo the edge although the three-year old lost in his last start here, finishing second to African Gold in the Colts Championship Stakes early this month. The mile-long race was a hard-fought one till the finish line and Santissimo lost out by the barest of margins — a short neck or three-hundredths of a second.
That loss apart, Santissimo, which will be piloted by S Saqlain for the first time as regular jockey Vivek G will be riding Shroff’s second horse in the fray (The Panther), has been solid, winning the other four races convincingly — one in BTC and three in Mumbai.
“We are looking forward for a hat-trick,” said assistant trainer Imran Khan. “The colts didn’t go as per plans but we were very confident of the derby. We are running him over 2000m for the first time and we are confident of his staying power. The track conditions are ideal and it should be a cracking race.”
Plotting a second successive defeat for Santissimo is what trainer Rajesh Narredu and his jockey brother Suraj will be attempting with high-class filly Excellent Lass. The three-year-old warmed up for the big event with a brilliant five and half length triumph in the Fillies Championship Stakes here, and has two more wins and a third-place finish from the four starts she has made.
Suraj, one of the finest jockeys from the country, is a big-match player and he sounded extremely positive of anchoring Excellent Lass to victory.
“She has won two big races where she has beaten some quality horses. I know she has lot of class in her. She’s peaking at the right time, looking much better than what she was in the Fillies Stakes. Very importantly, she’s got the bloodline to stay. Being a Bangalore-based horse, she is familiar with taking those two sharp turns which may prove crucial.”
Strategy will play a defining factor in the marquee event. With BTC getting permission to conduct racing only in mid June, horses here didn’t get much time to test their skills. The outstation horses that normally travel to Bengaluru in June-July too had to alter their plans and it remains to be seen in what the trainers and jockey execute on the big day considering 2000m is first time for most horses.
While the spotlight is on Santissimo and Excellent Lass, Nyx, Casteel and The Panther have the potential to spring a surprise.