When I look back on my life and career today, I feel satisfied. But more than that, I wonder at what fate allowed me to accomplish despite the odds being steeply stacked against me when I started out.
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Can you believe that a jockey who rides 1,665 winners in his career was struggling to ride his first winner for two long years? You better believe, because that's me.
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I studied at St Patrick High School in Pune. There was a funny thing about this schoolu00a0-- unlike other schools' students, who dreamt of becoming doctors or engineers, most St Patrick boys aspired to become jockeys! They studied harder for the jockey school entrance exam than the school exams. Then, how could I be an exception, especially when my elder brother, Satish was already riding in races at Mumbai & Pune?
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Getting into jockey school was not difficult, but the real test started when I was apprenticed to trainer CA Kuttappa. He was a real taskmaster--a martinet! But thanks to him, a lazy boy like me, whose favourite pastime was catching sleep anytime and anywhere, learnt the value of hard work and discipline.
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To say that I was slowly out of the gates would be an understatement. I was stuck in the gates, and looked like I would stay there forever.

My batchmates, I Pasha and T Bernard were marching ahead, piling wins after wins, and however hard I tried, I was unable to get off the mark. Nothing seemed to work, and after two years I was almost convinced my career was finished. Then came Amiable Lady.