Janak Jethmalan - A horse owner and a gentleman

Janak Jethmalani. Pic/RS Gupta

The doorbell rang shortly after midnight.

'Midnight visitor? Who could that be?,' I wondered as I opened the door to find my friend Janak Jethmalani's driver standing outside.

"Sorry Madam, but your phone is switched off, so I came all the way to tell you," he said, "Janaksaab is no more."

For a moment, I didn't grasp what he meant. Just last Sunday, when I was returning from Ananda in the Himalayas, he wanted me to directly fly to Hyderabad to join him for the Colts' Trial to be run there the next day. His horse, Whomakestherules, was taking on Accolade, considered by many as the best three-year-old horse in the country.

"You are calling me? You shouldn't be there in the first place, Janak," I admonished him because when I had last spoken to him three weeks ago, he was in a Pune hospital due to blood sugar issues. "I am perfectly all right, don't worry," he said, "I am hoping my horse will win the Colts' tomorrow." After Whomakestherules finished runner up to Accolade, I did speak to him again, but how I wish now that I had listened to him and joined him in Hyderabad!

Whomakestherules was a special horse for Janak. He and Pradeep Vora had picked him as a one-year old baby during the Pune auctions two years ago. Janak always dreamt he would one day own a champion racehorse, and he saw a lot of potential in this son of Multidimensional, bred at the Usha stud, who was later named Whomakestherules. Malesh Narredu was to train the horse, and Janak wanted all of his friends to pick up a ten percent stake in the horse and urged me too. But I declined because I cannot face the anxiety a horse owner goes through when his horse runs a race.

"Not my cup of tea," I had told him. Janak and Pradeep therefore had to retain an extra 5% share in the horse, with seven other friends picking up ten percent each. So he was quick to thank me when Whomakestherules won the rich purse of the Audi Million in March at Mahalaxmi, "Thank God you didn't take the share," he joked, "I am now getting extra stakesmoney."

"Luck was to come to nine of you, Janak. Maybe if I were in, the horse wouldn't have won," I retorted.

A passionate horse lover and a thorough gentleman, that's how I will describe my friend Janak Jethmalani. As horse owner, he was a trainer's delight--always picking up tabs with a smiling face and always paying promptly. He was very fond of visiting the stables in the evening after the races. He was also an astute handicapper and had a keen eye that was able read a horse's fitness in the paddock.

Whomakestherules is scheduled to run again in the Hyderabad Derby soon, and I hope he runs a good race to make those nine men proud, including the one who, I am sure, will be watching the race from the heavens above.

As told to Prakash Gosavi