RASHID R. BYRAMJI A LEGEND RETIRES

“To achieve the impossible, one must think beyond; to look where
everyone else has looked, but to see what no one else has seen. The
secret of success is to do the common things uncommonly well.”

[dropcap]R[/dropcap]ashid R. Byramji did just that for 62 years of his life. He did an ordinary job of training race horses, to achieve extraordinary results. He built lasting relationships in a fraternity that is prone to ever-changing affiliations. He was the toughest taskmaster, driving others to levels of perfection, unselfishly imparting his knowledge in a competitive world that selfishly today hold their secrets and knowledge to themselves. He is able to see in horses what others cannot and then nurse them to achieve more than what is perceivable. He is revered for his achievements, loved for his humility and respected by all you know or hear of him. At 82, Rashid R. Byramji has decided to call it a day, but one is sure to see him grace the turf to share his incredible wealth of knowledge and experience to all those who aspire and will be content if they can achieve even a fraction of what the true legend in Indian racing has achieved.

Rashid Byramji, is the only trainer in India who has the distinction of having won 3150 races and 229 classics including 31 Indian Classics. He is the only trainer to have won eight consecutive Indian Classics starting with Commanche winning the Indian Derby in 1976 to Reflect winning the Indian 1000 Guineas in 1977, and this is the longest winning sequence achieved by any trainer.
He trained the winner of the Indian Derby in three consecutive years, twice. He first did it with Commanche (1976), Squanderer (1977) and Manitou (1978) and that was followed by Astronomic (1993), Littleover (1994) and Elusive Pimpernal (1995). Horses trained by him won the Indian Derby four years in a row; Mohawk (1980), Track Lightning (1981), Almanac (1982) and Nelston (1983), though Track Lightning and Almanac ran in the names of his assistants when he was banned from racing in Western India. He achieved the distinction of winning three consecutive Indian St. Leger’s with Sweet Memories (1975), Commanche (1976) and Squanderer (1977). He once made a clean sweep of the Classics at Madras winning all five Classics with five different horses. The race for champions, the Indian Turf Invitation Cup, Gr.1 was won 12 times, with three hat tricks. First with Commanche (1976), Squanderer (1977) and Manitou (1978); then with Everynsky (1980), Track Lightning (1981) and Almanac (1982); and lastly with Delage (1991), Bugs Bunny (1992) and Adler (1993).

He has won each of the Indian Classics many times over. The Indian 1000 Guineas, Gr.1 (6 times); the Indian 2000 Guineas, Gr.1 (5 times); the Indian Oaks, Gr.1 (3 times); the Indian Derby, Gr.1 (11 times); the Indian St. Leger, Gr.1 (6 times) and innumerable Trainers Championships. He has won all the five Indian Classics in one season, with Reprint and Squanderer in the 1976/77 season.
Having achieved all this in his career, he still fondly remembers his first win with Ling Mala in 1956, who went on to win four races in a row, setting him on this incredible career, achieving what none other has done before him, setting records that will be hard to beat in the future, and high standards for others to follow.
Rashid Byramji is the epitome of success in training and has won all that there is to win in India, many times over. “You know how good a trainer you are, when you measure yourself against the achievements of Rashid Byramji,” is the statement of a successful competitor that sums up the respect the opposition has for this legendry trainer.
Totally modest of his achievements, Byramji has a doctorate from the University of Glasgow, England for the conditioning of horses. Few know, and no one ever refers to him as “Dr”. And that is the way he likes it. Utterly professional and absolutely likable he has been a magnet for good, loyal non-interfering owners. The strict hard-working disciplinarian believes, “It is better to be envied than pitied. If envied you are on the right path, pity only indicates that you are slipping” and that the only luck you need is “the luck of the race”.
His discerning eye and ability to pick champions is undoubted. Trusting is own judgment he has proved his supremacy with his ability to create champions and keep them peaking when needed most, travelling and conquering, inciting fear into the opposition wherever and whenever a Byramji horse contested. In his hands, even an ordinary horse became a lethal weapon.
A serious misunderstanding with the Stewards of the Royal Western India Turf Club Ltd. saw Byramji shift his base to Bangalore, which turned out to be the best decision as he feels “I would not have achieved what I did, had I stayed in Mumbai.” Byramji’s incredible grasp, intuition and understanding of horses, his honesty, integrity, perseverance and above all his extreme passion for the sport has taken him to the pinnacle of glory.
So on the retirement of Rashid Byramji, the entire racing fraternity has to applaud him for his absolutely incredible achievements, respect him for the standards he set and passed on to his progenies who take his learning forward and wish him a happy retirement and good health as he moves forward.