Rashid Byramji

Rashid Byramji (5 November 1934 – 29 January 2022) was an Indian horse trainer. He was popularly known as the "horse whisperer" of Indian horse racing. In a career spanning over six decades, Byramji held the records for 3,170 wins including 230 classics. He was the only trainer to have had 10 Indian Derby winners and 12 Indian Invitation Cup winners.

Early life Byramji was born on 5 November 1934 into a parsi family of horse trainers. He was exposed to horses at an young age watching his grandfather, Byramji Rustomji, and his father, Rustomji Byramji, train horses. He started his training career working on four horses provided by Indian businessman and founder of the Serum Institute of India, Cyrus S. Poonawalla. Byramji had his first victory within six months of starting out when he trained Lingamala to victory. He would go on to win four more races with the same horse.

This initial streak of victories was followed by a lull, in which he did not see many victories. Byramji went during this time to the stable owner, S. A. Irani, and asked to be relieved of his duties. Irani, however, persisted and Byramji was back to winning ways, winning nine of the next races in a row.

In a career spanning six decades, he held the all-India record at 3,170 wins, including 230 classics, and was the only trainer to have had 10 Indian Derby winners and 12 Indian Invitation Cup winners. Byramji was crowned 'Champion Trainer' 42 times in a career that started in 1956. He also held the record for two hat-tricks in the Indian Derby and three hat-tricks in the Indian turf invitation cups. Through his career, he won 11 consecutive Bangalore Summer Championships. and Squanderer (won 18 of 19 starts). Through his career, he worked with various owners, including Vijay Mallya, Cyrus Poonawalla, Sunit Khatau and jockeys, including Pesi Shroff, Aslam Kader, and Lester Piggott.

Byramji died at his home in Bangalore, on 29 January 2022, at the age of 87.