Legendary horse trainer S Padmanabhan passes away at 71

Bengaluru: S Padmanabhan, one of India’s foremost trainers and a towering personality in the country’s horse racing circuit, passed away on Sunday morning at the age of 71 following a battle with illness.

The soft-spoken trainer, whose career started slowly but then gathered immense momentum like a typical long-distance race, strode like a colossus where his accomplishments were considered second to none. After obtaining his licence in 1981 from the Madras Race Club, Padmanabhan, fondly called Paddy, soon shifted base to the Bangalore Turf Club and the City became his home since then.

An instinctive yet intelligent trainer who knew how to decode the big races, Padmanabhan delivered over 1000 winners that included an astounding 113 victories in Classics and around 200 in Graded ones.

What propelled him to greatness was his three Indian Derby triumphs — the pinnacle of racing in the country — through In The Spotlight, Desert God and Hall of Fame — and five wins in the Indian Turf Invitation Cup, where the best of the best from the country gather for a weekend of elite racing. His legacy is almost as good as two late greats — Rashid Byramji and Aris David.

Of the several horses Padmanabhan trained, Desert God will probably rank as his best; in fact, one of the finest the country has seen so far. Bred, owned and trained by him, Desert God aced the Indian Derby, Indian Turf Invitation Cup, Deccan Derby and Calcutta Derby.

The feat remains unmatched till now and is unlikely it’ll ever be given how the dynamics have changed completely now. 

Although he was ailing for the last couple of years and at times using a walking stick, Padmanabhan continued to train horses with the same passion because of his immense love for the sport. In the just-concluded Bangalore Summer Season, he delivered eight winners and a third-place finish in the Derby through Miracle Star.

Several top foreign jockeys like Frankie Dettori, Richard Hughes, Christophe Lemaire, Martin Dwyer and David Allan loved working with Padmanabhan.

In fact, Allan shared a decade-long partnership with Padmanabhan, the two producing some stirring wins.

Padmanabhan, who leaves behind his incredibly supportive wife Sharmila, was also a respected figure abroad. Padmanabhan would often travel to the United Kingdom and France to broaden his horizons and loved inculcating the lessons he learned from training legends like Henry Cecil and Andre Fabre. 

Despite his hectic schedule, Padmanabhan loved giving it back to the sport. He served as an office-bearer of the Karnataka Trainers Association, Indian Racehorse Trainers Association, and the Karnataka Racehorse Owners Association.

The Turf Authorities of India honoured him as a Permanent Invitee.