Perfect Ten: Everynsky was an Awesome Finisher |
The early eighties witnessed the renaissance of Indian racing. It also turned out be a golden era for Indian thoroughbreds – four of the ten all time greats listed were from that period. This was just after the Ranjit Bhat-Yogesh Shah owned trilogy comprising Commanche, Squanderer and Manitou had created waves under the care of (who else but) Rashid Byramji in the late seventies.
Everynsky was a year younger than Track Lightning and enjoyed a chequered career. It was no easy task for him to make the list of super horse as two other champions were already calling the shots at that time – the giant (in every sense of the word) Royal Tern and the compact chestnut Own Opinion. Had Everynsky not shared the track with them time and again, he would probably not have made the grade as left to himself, he was nothing to write home about. The duo had raised the bar for him and he had met the challenge successfully. The fact that he signed off in style by beating the pair convincingly in both the Nizam’s Gold Cup and President Of India Gold Cup at Hyderabad, brings him into the top-ten category. To draw a hypothetical parallel, it would be like leaving the conqueror of Federer and Nadal in the US Open and French Open out of a list of tennis greats. Everynsky is sired by Everyday II out of the mare Not A Wink. At that time, Everyday II stood at the Doaba stud farm in UP and enjoyed phenomenal success with a string of splendid colts and fillies. Sir Bruce, Enrico, Aristocrat, Dupont and Grand Parade were all sired by him, not to mention sprinters like Every Time who notched up a dozen wins in his career and earned the diction on the west coast – ‘Every Time, any time’. But Everynsky was no sprinter. He in fact turned out to be quite an enigma – not tasting much success at Mahalaxmi but showing incredible form in Calcutta and the South India circuit. Everynsky started his career during the Bangalore Summer season of 1979. After a maiden win, he went down tamely to MAM’s colt Aristocrat in the Colts Trial. It was the year in which MAM also picked up the Fillies Trial with the splendid filly Nicolette (one of the several Red Indian – Nicola progenies who left an indelible mark on Indian racing). Jagdish rode an absolute blinder on her to get the better of the on-money public choice Highland Rule and then a flawless race on Aristocrat. Not surprisingly, Aristocrat was installed as the on-money favourite in the Bangalore Derby. Vasant Shinde astride Everynsky bided his time in the rear of the field before making his move down the long Bangalore straight to get the measure of his conqueror in the Colts Trial in the very last stride. What a finish! It had class stamped all over it. There was no doubt that the colt was improving with every run and relishing the extra distance too. As a four-year-old, he won the Arc in a canter but had a miserable Bombay season, losing out to Highland Rule in the 2000 Guineas, stablemate Mohawk in the Indian Derby and Ryal Tern in the Invitational Cup. Thereafter, it was a different story. He won the Invitation Cup at Calcutta in record time and easier than verdict. Aristocrat was behind him while Mohawk finished a poor third. Sandy Barclay rode the colt in the big race in inimitable fashion – making his move in the final furlong despite the sharp Calcutta straight. Everynsky lost by a short head to Own Opinion in the Governor’s Cup at Bangalore but the winner was receiving 4 kg from him. Thereafter, he made both Royal Tern and Own Opinion bite the dust twice and thereby strolled into the ‘gallery of greats’. |
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