I didn't know I had won: Jockey PS Chouhan, rider of Oaks winner Immortality

Mahalaxmi racecourse in Mumbai. Pic/Shadab Khan

It was a close finish for the grade 1, Villoo Poonawalla Indian Oaks, the feature race of Sunday's Mahalaxmi card. It was so exciting that even as Forest Flame (P Trevor up) and Immortality (PS Chouhan up) passed the winning post locked together, commentator Deepak Rajpal, who has a trained eye and generally calls out photo finish verdicts accurately, refused to commit. Rajpal did give a hint that Immortality might have put her nose ahead of Forest Flame, but refused to take sides. "It's anybody's race," he shouted into the microphone, "it's a photo finish!"

Both fillies raced closer to the rear end of the field for most part of the mile-and-a-half trip, and both riders made their moves around the final turn before straightening up--Trevor astride Forest Flame choosing the inner rails; Chouhan on Immortality taking the outermost lane.

However, P Trevor had to ease his momentum for a fraction of a stride when he found a tiring Successor (NS Parmar up) and an all-out Arcadia (TS Jodha up) blocking his path, and angled out Forest Flame, even as Chouhan, by that time, got Immortality into rhythmic strides, and started devouring ground. From the final 100m marker, both went neck and neck all the way down to the wire, almost nothing separating the two.

Deja Vu

After the judge consulted the camera, and ruled Immortality to have won the Oaks by a short head, her backers erupted in joy and jockey Chouhan punched the air in ecstasy. Immortality, the bay filly by Multidimensional out of Psychic Light, is owned by breeder Ms Ameeta Mehra. Pesi Shroff trained the filly.

Interestingly, this was a deja vu moment for all--jockey Chouhan, breeder Ameeta Mehra and trainer Pesi Shroff--who had won the same race five years ago (2016) with Myrtlewood, another Multidimensional filly which had raced in the silks of Mehernosh H Deboo.

"Actually, I didn't know I had won," P S Chouhan frankly confessed to mid-day after the race, "in a finish like this you have to just put your head down and go all out. But Trevor congratulated me when we were pulling up after passing the winning post, so I kept up my hopes and waited for the official photo finish verdict."

Blessing in disguise

Jockey P S Chouhan, who many felt was perhaps closer to his retirement--and in any case, certainly past his prime--has been in the limelight in recent months. He rode doubles and trebles at the Pune racetrack before creating a sensation by winning six races on the card only a fortnight ago. When mid-day asked him what was the secret of his incredible riding form at this age, he gave all the credit to the lockdown imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The lockdown was a blessing in disguise," he said, "Like all jockeys, riding for years had taken its toll on my body too. But the longish lockdown gave me a chance to look after myself, tone up my body and raise my level of fitness. I think that is now showing up in my performance."