The passing away of veteran trainer Jaggy Dhariwal on Thursday in Bangalore following month long hospitalization has shocked the racing fraternity. Jaggy was in frail health for over a decade despite which his performance had never waned. He produced top class winners with amazing regularity. Jaggy is best known for the performance of Chaitanya Chakram who was the first and only horse from Hyderabad to have conquered the Indian Derby. Storm Again was another who provided Jaggy with his second Indian Derby success. Both these horses also won the coveted Indian Turf Invitation Cup.

Jaggy was a friendly person who enjoyed the good things of life. He was hospitable and loved good company. There was always a surprise element in store for race goers as he would transform what appeared an ordinary performer into a classic winner. What made him different from his contemporaries was his ability to keep the form of a horse going for long periods of time. He was not flashy but efficient; and more importantly delivered the goods. He could slip in a gamble for some of his owners who loved to punt within the frame work of being a straightforward trainer. He had over 50 classic successes to his credit and a century of graded race success.

Jaggy began as a jockey and even won the Nilgiris Gold Cup which was one of the most prestigious races of his time. However weight problem shortened his career, resulting in him taking up training. In the days when racing at Chennai was well patronized, he got his license to train there. When things began to deteriorate, he moved to Hyderabad where he built up an enviable record, winning the trainers championship year after year. He was the only trainer from Hyderabad who looked capable of preventing the clean sweep of local classics by trainers from Bangalore. Not only that, he got horses from Hyderabad to win classics at other centres as well. Jaggy shifted out of Hyderabad to Mumbai as he became a private trainer for Dr Vijay Mallya at the turn of the century and later settled down in Bangalore.

Young Rajput provided him with his first success in the Bangalore Derby under Robin Corner. Chaitanya Chakram and Classical Act helped to swell his Bangalore Derby tally. Chaitanya Chakram was the one of the best horses he trained in his glittering career. The Chakram as he came to be known fondly was a horse which had the opposition gasping for breath with his blistering run in front. Such tactics rarely got success in big races especially in the Indian Derby. Chaitanya Chakram achieved the feat of winning the Indian Derby from start to finish under Lloyd Marshall. Jockey Lloyd who won a fair number of classics including the Invitation Cup owned it greatly to the patronage he got from Jaggy.

Jaggy`s career was embellished with big race success right till the very end of his life. His last big winner was Agostini who won the Bangalore Derby in January this year. Though he had been in and out of hospital in the last couple of years and had a bye pass surgery in the last decade, his enthusiasm never waned. He was regular in his visit to the stables. More importantly he could instinctively get things right even if he could not devote the kind of time that he, in normal times, may have given. Despite all the problems, he was not short on consistency in winning races.

The passing away of Jaggy is the end of a glorious chapter in Indian racing. Though he did not have the patronage of very big owners barring Dr Vijay Mallya much later in his career, he was able to cross the magical figure of saddling over 2000 winners. That day when Jaggy hosted a party to celebrate the feat, he had the energy to dance all night and entertain the guests whom he had invited to celebrate the occasion. Such was the enthusiasm which marked the man despite failing health.

Former Chairman of Bangalore Turf Club P G Belliappa said: ``Jaggy had the most sporting owners in his stables, the kind of whom we don`t see these days. Rangarajan, Suresh Mahindra and others who patronised him were all great enthusiasts of the sport. The success of Chaitanya Chakram in Indian Derby was one of the most exciting moments of racing. Indian racing has lost a towering personality.``

India racing will be poorer without the colorful presence of Jagjit Singh Dhariwal.