Trainer Sunderji: Rochester fulfilled a long-awaited dream

Jockey CS Jodha guides Rochester to victory during the Indian Derby at Mahalaxmi race course yesterdayPicsBipin KokateIn the end it was neither Prevalent Force nor Lady In Lace and not even Manifold It was Rochester The Phoenix TowerKrasnaya colt bred at the Manjri stud kept his date with destiny when jockey CS Jodha powered him past Lady In Lace Suraj Narredu up in the final furlong to a glorious victory in the Kingfisher Ultra Indian Derby Gr 1 the blue riband of Indian racing that was run at the Mahalaxmi racetrack yesterday Rochesters authoritative performance gave his owners trainer and jockey their first Derby victoryRochester is owned by a syndicate in partnership with breeder Shapoor Mistry and ran in the silks of Akhtar Peerbhoy to the delight of his coowners Saba Peerbhoy Pramod Churi B Agarwal and AK Arora Its great teamwork said Akhtar Peerbhoy during the postrace interview and made it a point to thank the farm hands who nurtured the champion horse trainer Shiraz Sunderji and his wife Irene for training and taking care and jockey Jodha for giving an exemplary rideTrainer SK Sunderji holds aloft the trophy PicsBipin KokateEasy victoryJodha who despite talent and consistency was never regarded as a top league jockey because of his humble roots No wonder he punched the air with a raised whip hand even before passing the winning post Keeping Rochester in midbunch all the way Jodha made his move almost at the same moment Suraj Narredu astride put Lady In Lace in top gear The latter was the first to grab the lead midway in the homestretch but had no answer when Jodha challenged him with menacing stridesThe commentator Deepak Rajpal had no hesitation in calling out the verdict as soon as Rochester passed the tiring Lady In Lace because both Manifold D Probert up and favourite Prevalent Force YS Srinath up who made up some ground in the final furlong were unlikely to pose any threatTop of the worldI feel great almost on top of the world trainer Sunderji said Rochester fulfilled a longawaited dream for me he added For Sunderji the dream had begun 27 years ago when he trained a horse named Desert Warrior and won the Pune Derby with him However due to family pressure he quit the trainers career and went abroad taking a sabbatical for 18 months Ironically Desert Warrior who was sent into the care of another trainer Altaf Hussain ended up winning the 1990 Indian Derby at MahalaxmiI came back and started training again but had to wait for nearly 20 more years before I got another chance with the 2011 Derby favourite Ocean And Beyond But I am sorry to say Richard Hughes gave him a very bad ride and he lost by only a length and a quarter to another horse Moonlight Romance owned by the same owner Rochester finally realised that dream for me Sunderji saidAsked whether Rochesters next target would be the Invitation Cup at Kolkata next month the trainer refused to speculate Let us first watch Rochester for a week to check how he comes out of this race only then we will take the call he saidRecord jackpot collectionThanks to the carried over amount of R50 lakh added to the jackpot pool collection on the Derby day and allowing most other racing centers in India to participate in it the collection grew to a record figure of R1 crore 45 lakh This is a very encouraging sign for the sport an upbeat Khushroo Dhunjibhoy saidCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates hereDownload the new midday Android and iOS apps to get updates on all the latest and trending stories on the go