BUSINESS FIRST, HORSES LATER!

Persistence and patience have paid off both in business and on the tracks. After savouring his first major success with Shamaal in the A.V. Thomas Sprinters' Cup, Geoffrey Nagpal is full of enthusiasm and optimism about the year ahead, in sight of the elusive classic

The last issue carried an overview of the Invitation weekend held in Mumbai. I had the distinct pleasure of meeting a low-profile owner Geoffrey Nagpal in connection with Shamaal's win in the A.V. Thomas Sprinters' Cup. The short meeting with the man was as intriguing and fascinating as the desire to know more about this dynamic businessman. He has a distinct love and passion for the animal and the sport but yet has his priorities right and is candid enough to admit that business is top priority whereas horses come later and are way down the list. But the track record is one that would be the envy of any horse owner.

Luck was in my favour as I caught up with this enthusiastic owner on the eve of his departure for a business trip. He was gracious and magnanimous enough to invite me for a tete-a-tete in spite of his busy schedule. Unlucky to be caught in a lucky shower, Geoffrey was waiting patiently for me in the warm confines of his study, which was a reflection of the man's love for the sport. Several trophies adorned the room and a huge bookcase crammed with books on pedigrees gave ample evidence of the man's growing interest in breeding.

Geoffrey could be credited with inheriting the love for horses more by chance and destiny than desire. His father, the late B.B. Nagpal who lost his life in a tragic car accident in 1974, was a horse owner and owned horses in the late 1960s and early 1970s like Trackstar, Hector and Handsel. The first mentioned was a winner of the Eclipse Stakes of India and also held a track record for the 1,200m distance for quite some time and won nine out of his ten starts. Geoffrey, 19 years of age at that time found himself shouldering the business responsibilities and for some time the tracks lost their fervour.

After his father's death followed a 14-year exile and a low profile in the sport till 1988 when chance visits to the racecourse rekindled the love for the `king of sports'. The first few years after that proved to be a learning process for him and he commenced buying one or two horses a year but started tasting success after the mid-1990s with horses like Kinski, Golfing and Esterelli.

The one notable feature in Geoffrey's purchases over the years has been a preference for buying fillies. As he clarifies, "There is a greater attachment of continuity. You not only have them for racing but you subsequently have them for breeding. Your involvement with them is much wider from racing, pedigree, breeding and offspring viewpoints. Otherwise if you are buying something else it is like buying a car and changing it once every two or three years."

The breeding aspect has always been at the back of every filly that he has purchased over the past few years. He admits that initially he made a few mistakes in his purchases where the emphasis was on the female line while viewing the pedigree. But having emerged wiser the female line is viewed now in accordance to the sire also. In this regard he makes a special mention of his friend and guide Dhun Kotawalla who has helped him in this regard and consequently the knowledge thus garnered has been reflected in the performance of fillies like Kinski, Golfing, Esterelli to the recent sensation Shamaal and the promising Raphaela. Today he has an average of two to three mares stationed at four to five top farms and he breeds on a small scale with the focus more on the qualitative side. The colts are usually sold and the fillies retained. His first own-bred was a colt Interstate by Tocave Botta out of Numaish, which he sold and who eventually did well.

Speak to him about the thrill of winning with an own-bred and Geoffrey strongly refutes it as he feels that according to him the thrill of buying a horse and watching it become a top performer is more satisfying. The noteworthy feature here is that compared to other owners who might be buying five to ten horses a year, he buys only one or two horses a year and enjoys a winning ratio that would make any horse owner envious. As he confides, "I have bought five horses in the last five years and I have recovered their cost in the stakes' money from their wins itself!" He cites the instance when he bought Shamaal and Cats Whiskers from the same batch and while the former has brought him fame and glory the latter has also gone on to become a class one horse.

From his first runner and winner with Mother Goose in 1988-89, Geoffrey has climbed the ladder of success slowly and steadily, improving over the years and has been making his presence felt in recent times. Though he is modest enough to admit that he still has some way to go. After coming second to Free Radical in the Indian 1000 Guineas last year, Shamaal clinched the A.V. Thomas Sprinters' Cup this year catapulting him into the top league - a win that he also rates as his best among the approximately ten graded races that he has won so far. But he feels that the best is coming in the form of Raphaela, who he hopes could bring him the classic glory that has been eluding him for a number of reasons since the past few years despite owning fillies like Kinski, Golfing and Shamaal, that were classic material. The other promising horses from his stable in the future are his own-bred Gatling (half sister to Golfing) and Rivaz out of the unfashionable sire Bin Khaldoum out of Taj Mahal, one of his own mares, which has been bred in the purple from a very good family but has not done too well in India according to him.

The earlier days saw him associate with trainers like S.S. Shah and S.K. Sunderji but nowadays his partner in success is the dedicated and talented Sanjay Kolse, with whom he feels he has really started to enjoy the sport. They came about together when he entrusted Sanjay with an unfancied self-bred filly - LA Woman. Under Sanjay's care and nurturing, the filly eventually started her career by winning two baby races in Pune and earned more than she was worth. What endears him to this young trainer is the absolute transparency and honesty that exists between them and has helped form a strong bond of trust and faith that is spelling success. He also has a couple of horses in Bangalore since quite some time now under the doyen Rashid Byramji.

Among the jockeys he feels that Nail McCullagh is one of the best judge of horses that he has come across in recent times. He recalls Nail's valuable inputs with his fillies like LA Woman, Cats Whiskers and Raphaela that have proved to be of immense help in shaping their careers. Nail's judgment of right distances for horses is a quality that deserves special mention and Geoffrey feels that even as a jockey he has improved vastly over the past couple of years.

But for now his attention is firmly on Raphaela with plans afoot to run her towards the end of the 2004 Pune season and then take a shot at the Indian 1000 Guineas, the Indian Oaks and finally if all goes well, the Indian Derby 2005. As he sums it up, "Racing should be fun and played fair. With the number of other diversions and options available for entertainment it is vital that the sport should be administered in a professional manner and provide wholesome entertainment. If it takes up all my time and energy then I would rather put my time and effort into business and make it worthwhile." But as of now he certainly seems to be enjoying his business and the `king of sports' too!