The 57-year-old Jagjit Singh Dhariwal has reached a milestone. ‘Jaggi’ as he is known in the racing circles with 2000 winners has joined an elite band of trainers recently. He will be felicitated by Bangalore Turf Club on Sunday (July 14).
“The Maharaja Of Cooch Behar introduced me to Mr. Bill Rickaby and soon landed at Newmarket and did an 18-month apprenticeship under trainer Harvey Leader,” Dhariwal said.
Advised by his friends, Jaggi moved to Madras and did his jockey apprenticeship and saddled 40 winners in quick time. “I have ridden more than hundred winners. Maintaining a riding weight was the main problem at that time and I quit riding,” he said.
Good stint
In 1977 he had a brief stint as an assistant trainer with Mr. D.M. Thompson which changed his career for good. Entrusted with a few horses Jaggi soon got going. But when the racing closed down in Madras he shifted to Hyderabad.
“I got the patronage of the late S. Rangarajan, who supported me in a big way and trained his horses for nearly two decades and won many Classics with Bonzer, Regal Star, Noble Quest and Rebecca and then became a private trainer to Mr. Vijay Mallya’s horses, with whom I won maximum Classics with the likes of Storm Again, Arabian Prince, Siachen and Saddle Up,” Dhariwal said.
A professional to the core, Dhariwal spent most of his time as trainer in Hyderabad. He produced good results with every outing, be it Derby, the Turf Invitation Cup or the Sprinters Cup.
Describing Chaitanya Chakram as one of the greatest horses he has trained, Dhariwal said: “S. Pathy, Narasimha Reddy and partners were the lucky owners of Chaitanya Chakram and Chaitanya Ratham. Chaitanya Chakram, who won the Indian Derby, leading from start-to-finish over the 2,400m trip is perhaps the only horse in the history of Indian Derby to have recorded some unforgettable victories.”
