|
The Awards Ceremony came alive with the deep voice of Mr Suhail Mohammed, the Estate Officer of RWITC and commentator of the Club. After a brief welcome, Suhail ushered in his co-host, Ms Parizad Kohla of the ‘Laughter Challenge’ fame. Both Parizad and Suhail were warm and presented the show with enthusiasm.
The show could not have had a better beginning than a short audio visual on the history and evolution of the RWITC which has a rich history of over two centuries. The voice of Theron De Sousa paid fitting complement to a strong script. This was followed by a very enjoyable fusion music recital by the Rahul Sharma ensemble. The good-looking Rahul was adept with his Santoor performance and had the 2,000 plus gathering nodding their heads in rhythm and ended to a thunderous applause.
The second leg of the entertainment was a peppy song-and-dance sequence by famed diva Sophie Choudry. The synergy she could generate was awesome and the response she got from the audience was equally lively. She crooned some bubbly Bollywood numbers with foot-tapping music.
The Indian Racing Awards were then conferred upon the professionals and owners who received the awards enthusiastically and also made brief ‘thank you’ speeches. The list of the winners is as follows:
Leading Owner – Dr MAM Ramaswamy (MRC)
Joint Runners-up – Capt Jamshed Appoo and Mr Deepak Khaitan
Leading Trainer – Robert Foley (MRC)
Joint Runners-up – CD Katrak and Vijay Singh.
Leading Jockey - B Prakash (MRC)
Runner-up – Suraj Narredu
Leading Stud Farm – Poonawalla Group of Stud Farms
Runner-up – Chittinad & Solavaram Stud Farms
Horse of the year – Icebreaker owned by Capt Jamshed Appoo & Ms Simone Z. Poonawalla, representing the Poonawalla racing and Breeding Ltd.
Runner-up – Golden Bounty
|
The connections of the wonder filly Jacqueline, owners M/s Vijay Shirke, KN Dhunjibhoy, Bergis Desai and trainer Pesi Shroff were conferred a special award for the filly’s sweep of all the four Indian Classics run so far.
In a grand gesture, Mr KN Dhunjibhoy was honoured as a permanent invitee to all the Turf Clubs by the Turf Authorities of India.
Chairmen of the other Turf Clubs presented the various awards amidst sporting applause from the elite audience.
The grand finale was a spectacular dance performance from the Shaimak Davar dance academy, which lived up to the evening’s splendour. The food and beverages complemented the evening fittingly as did the arrangements and the décor. This was one racing show like never before! Kudos to the RWITC, the enormous effort they put in is a shining example for other Clubs to emulate.
