Shroff, Patel adjudged the best

 Accomplished jockey-turned-trainer Pesi Shroff and top jockey Trevor Patel added another feather to their caps at the annual Indian Racing awards here at the Bangalore Palace on Saturday.

Shroff, who has won the Indian Invitation Cup as a jockey a record seven times but has been a full time trainer for a while now, got the recognition he had been waiting for — top trainer for the period November 1, 2015 to October 31, 2016. He fought off competition from the accomplished duo of S Padmanabhan and R Foley.

Trevor, who earlier in the evening piloted Captain Morgan to a sensational come from behind  victory in the Stayers’ Cup, was adjudged the leading jockey of the country.

Although Padmanabhan lost out to Shroff, it wasn't an entirely disappointing night for the veteran as his horse Desert God took home the Champion Horse spoils.

“My journey started with Don’t Worry 35 years ago. From then till Desert God, it’s been a long walk. I thank my staff, work jockeys and jockey David Allan especially. Kudos to A Sandesh who took over from him. I also want to thank Col (Swapan) Badra with whom I co-own the horse. I thank my wife Sharmila for putting with my temper tantrums,” he said.

Karnataka’s Kunigal Stud Farm was named the Champion Stud Farm while Dr M A M Ramaswamy Chettiar of Chettinad Trust, run by A C Muthiah, picked up the Leading Owner award.

Yesteryear Sandalwood actor Dr Ambareesh, a well known racing aficionado, was inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Former BTC chairman A C Satish Chandra and long-serving secretary S Nirmal Prasad were handed permanent invite to the Turf Authority of India.

Awards list: Leading owner: Dr M A M Ramaswamy Chettiar of Chettinad Trust. Top trainer: Pesi Shroff. Leading jockey: Trevor Patel. Champion Stud Farm: Kunigal Stud Farm. Champion horse: Desert God. Hall of Fame: Dr Ambareesh. Permanent invitees to the Turf Authorities of India: A C Satish Chandra and S Nirmal Prasad. Bangalore Turf Club felicitation: Dr Hasyen Mirza, Roseyln Craig Jones, S Padmanabhan, M Jagadish, Arvind Raghavan, Vinod Sivappa.