ONE IN A MILLION!

A colourful personality on the racecourse, D.P.C. Kapadia has been in the sport for about five decades now, judiciously placing his bets and owning horses too! In all these years he has won about 200 races but has only one classic to his credit - an Indian Derby win with Pyare Miya in 1975

The racecourse and the sport abound with strange tales. People have been witness to a myriad of events ranging from fortunes being made or lost, all within minutes. When I got a whiff of the fascinating story of Pyare Miya, I thought it was well worth a trip to Pune and meet up with the owner of Pyare Miya - D.P.C. Kapadia - for a first hand account. Arriving at the wrought-iron gates of his quaint little bungalow I was subjected to a thorough sniff down by a huge dog, bringing to mind that I had still not paid my insurance premiums.

Though down with ill health, the octogenarian was all too eager for a little horse talk. He was introduced to racing by his first cousin Maherjee Poonawalla, a jockey, way back in the early 1950s. From being an avid punter, the love for the sport took on a new dimension and he started buying horses and became an owner. Recalling those days he remembers the very first Arab horse that he bought was Yuvraj, from an Arab trader. From that first step till date, he has bought about 50 horses, mostly in partnership with friends like K.K. Mistry and Mansoor Ismail. According to his estimates his 50 horses must have won him about 200 races collectively. Among his buys, he rates Wild Fire and Ek Nazar as his favourites.

Steering the conversation from his general association with the sport, I come to the main purpose of my visit - Pyare Miya. A smile crosses his face at the mention of his sole classic and Derby winner, purchased at an auction in Mumbai along with another horse, Ek Nazar (who got his name because he had only one eye) in 1971-72. Both of them were purchased at a price of around Rs.45,000 to Rs.50,000/- each approximately. Ek Nazar eventually matured and won his master about eight to ten races in his career. But Pyare Miya proved to be a non-starter.

Reminiscing on Pyare Miya's early days, DPC says, "He was an exceptionally good horse and worked very well but unfortunately used to be stuck at the starting gates most of the times and consequently never won a race in the early part of his career." As fate would have it, famed English jockey Ernie Johnson was in India just before the 1975 Indian Derby. He worked with Pyare Miya and found nothing wrong with the horse and in fact fancied his chances in a big race. Having already committed to jockey P. Khade to ride Pyare Miya in the Ruia Cup before the Derby, DPC promised Ernie a ride on his mount in the event Pyare Miya failed in the Ruia Cup. And as destined, Pyare Miya added another loss to his string of flops.

Pyare Miya was bred by His Highness The Maharaja of Kolhapur and was by Punjab out of Neemah. Trainer Hayat Mohammed was entrusted with the job of shaping up Pyare Miya. While working with Pyare Miya, Ernie diagnosed and narrowed down the problem to the horse being uncomfortable with long stirrups. Traditionally, Indian jockeys are known to ride with longer stirrups whereas English jockeys prefer shorter stirrups. When the horse was kicked at the starting gates to set off, he experienced great discomfort that left him standing at the starting gates or losing precious ground at the start.

So great was Ernie's confidence in the horse's talent and abilities otherwise that he proved his point when he helped Pyare Miya shed his maiden status in the mother of all races - The Indian Derby - and created history by going down in the annals of Indian racing as probably the only horse to have achieved such a feat. He won by a convincing two and a quarter lengths in a 10-horse field. Adding aura to this was the fact that subsequent to his win in the Derby, Pyare Miya never won another race in his career.

The excitement and joy that DPC must have experienced on that February 2, 1975 can be gauged by the animated manner in which he showed me the paper clippings of the next day in his album, which showed all the headlines screaming about Pyare Miya's shock win. But the man himself was upbeat as he recounts, "I was confident about his chances as he was working very well." Undoubtedly, he rates this win as the best in his five decade racing career that has seen him working with all the greats on the Indian racing scene.

The spirit within is still as fiery as must have been in his youth but DPC has stopped owning horses since the past three-four years due to his ill health. The wall behind his bedside table sports pictures of some his favourite horses like Ek Nazar and Wild Fire and not to mention his sensational Derby winner in Pyare Miya. Life may have come a full circle for this bubbling personality but the memories and moments of his association with the `king of sports' are as fresh as the early morning winter dew on the time-frosted glass of time.