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ZAREER APRIL-MAY 2017
DARASHAH 2/24/2017 5:37:00 PM

Search as hard as you want and you won’t find another
in the mould of Zareer Darashah. Fiesty, fiery, restless
to win, highly excitable, enthusiastic, honest with an
incomparable sense of humour, Darashah has for over 4
decades established his domination of the turf in Bangalore
and Mysore.

Commencing his career with a temporary license issued
by the Madras Race Club in 1967 for the Hyderabad
Monsoon season, which was run for the last time at the
old Secunderabad Race Course, Darashah wasted no time
winning his first race in Secunderabad with You Will in
September 1967. He crossed his first century five years later
with Smiling Princess in August 1972 and the landmark
1000th win in October 1988 with Hohenzollerns.

With the words of trainer Sam Hill echoing, “hard work,
honesty and dedication will take you to the top” Darashah
was at the helm of the tally, season after season, fighting the
competition fiercely and by December 2006 he joined the
exclusive rank of trainers who crossed the 2000th winner
milestone with the Dr. M. A. M. Ramaswamy-owned Sharp
N Smart. This was matched with the fact that no trainer
has won more races than him in Bangalore (1127) and
Mysore (912).

With 28 Championship titles to his credit; Ootacamund
(2); Mysore Main Season (12); Mysore summer (3); Mysore
winter (3) and the Bangalore Summer season (8), his record
of 7 consecutive Bangalore Summer Championships will
be hard to match. A habit of taking shares in horses in his
or/and his wife’s name has seen him become the biggest
owner-trainer having won over 581 races with horses
owned this way. With no motivation to compete at any
other centre he dominated the Classic scene in the South
with 16 Classics to his credit.

Friends and professionals who were at the receiving end
of his barbs acknowledge the fact that success has come
through hard work and sheer determination and that his
tally of 2232 wins that he has accumulated are all well-
deserved. And now that he has decided to call it a day, he
and his wife Linda, who has been by his side for the past
45 years, retire with a chest full of fond and wonderful
memories of days on the turf.

22 RACING WORLD
ZAREER DARASHAH.indd 22

You Will - Secunderbad 1967 (Jim Foley up) His first winner Lovely Smitha - Bangalore Oaks, 1975 SHARP N SMART - Mysore 2006 - His 2000th Winner

Dupont - Bangalore Winter Derby, 1986 Lucky Shrike - Colts Trial Stakes, 1988
APRIL-MAY 2017
President of India Gold Cup won by Tobin Bronze, owned by Zareer Darashah,
ZAREER DARASHAH.indd 23 Madras 1977. The trophy being presented by the then President Frakruddin Ali Ahmed

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2/24/2017 5:37:09 PM