Maniram Boboy Maharaj is quietly taking an exit from racing. However, on Independence Day at Santa Rosa Park, Arima, he served notice that he is no back-number by saddling the 23/1 outsider First To Fly to a win in the feature Grade One Bernard Dulal-Whiteway Independence Cup over 1,800m on a good/soft turf track. This is the man who, I remember, would race as many as 27 horses a day just to ensure racing came off. However, with all he has done for racing, Maharaj's contribution to the sport is not always remembered and rewarded adequately, but on Wednesday last, he got some much needed satisfaction.
Keishan Balgobin gave First To Fly a confident ride to land the $120,000 first prize cheque by two and a half lengths. The Glenn Mendez-trained Perfect Circle ran on well for second while Raging Halo nabbing third. Favourite and 2009/10 Horse of the Year Bruceontheloose placed fifth on his turf debut. An elated Maharaj, who stated at the Neal & Massy Press Conference that he could win the event should Bruceontheloose not handle the track, was again vindicated.
He said: "Bernard was my friend and I wanted to win this event in his honour, I am very happy to have done it. This horse is a very good horse and I had the confidence that he would go close. Keishan Balgobin rode him well and rode to instruction and won it the way that I thought he could. "I told Keishan to break him from the number seven box and carry him down to the inside and don't ask him to run until they get to the far turn. He did that and once he gave him his head there was only one horse running. He really made it look easy as he sprinted clear of his rivals with 500m left to run. I was indeed shocked at his price, as I thought he had an excellent chance." Looking back, Maharaj has won almost all the major events on the local calendar and with him acquiring the horses formerly owned by Junior Sammy, he could finish the season in style. Having been honoured by the Arima Race Club in 2001, he has continued to work just as hard and tirelessly in the sport of kings as Austin Jack Warner has done for football.
He has had his share of criticism, a lot of it unjustified. All will remember how Warner was vilified and sometimes humiliated over the years. Today, he is a national hero and the best performing Minister in the T&T Government. There is some similarity in both men. Both are patriotic and generous citizens and have put their money where their mouths are. Maharaj, who has been racing for the past 52 years, has the distinction of holding the industry together. He has never been discouraged or deterred and he has persevered when others threw in the towel. During the last decade, local racing would have been shut down had it not been for Maharaj's courage and unwavering spirit, which clearly showed, despite surgery which kept him out of the sport. He had a knee replacement operation which was successful. He still has to deal with type one diabetes and must take insulin twice a day.
As an owner, breeder, trainer and racing administrator, Maharaj has done everything possible to see the sport remain alive. In 1988, he won his first Derby with Song N Dance and this year produced Sara's Music to win two legs of the Triple Crown inclusive of the Royal Oak Derby. Maniram "Boboy" Maharaj has been having the quietest time of his training career, but last Wednesday, the former champion trainer returned to form to win the feature on Neal and Massy Day At The Races. The largest single stakeholder in racing had a welcome return to the winner's enclosure, a place he did not frequent for much of this season. Over the years, Maharaj would always be in the firing line for the trainers title, but this year was his worst start in his 52 years of saddling horses in the sport of kings.
