Double Lady luck shines on Narredu family as Eaton Square wins mid-day Trophy

Jockey Yash Narredu with Eaton Square; (right) mid-day’s horse racing correspondent Prakash Gosavi (left) presents the mid-day Trophy to Anaheeta Mehta, the mother of Eaton Square’s owner Jehangir. Pics/Satej Shinde

The Narredus, with so many of them training and riding at different racing centres across the country, have been famous for breaking records and creating new ones, but even they didn't see this coming: Two ladies in their family, one making her debut as a racehorse owner at the age of 50, and the other, a one-day old baby girl (Malesh Narredu's son trainer Deepesh Narredu and his wife Malavika were blessed with a daughter) literally squared the power of the double lady luck to win the mid-day Trophy at the Mahalaxmi racetrack on Thursday.

Eaton Square, ridden by jockey Yash Narredu, hit the front soon after the starter flagged off the mid-day Trophy, led all the way thereafter, and then ran away with the race, mocking all his rivals who tried to step up speed in the final furlong. Eaton Square was trained by the jockey's father, Malesh Narredu. This was the second success for the father-son duo in the mid-day Trophy which they had won 10 years ago with Speed King (2015). For Malesh, this was the third mid-day Trophy as he had also bagged it in 2016 with Silver Beauty ridden by nephew Suraj Narredu.

"I am elated to win the mid-day Trophy," Asha, the wife of the trainer, said over the phone from Pune. "I would have loved to personally lead in my first winner, but we were blessed with a granddaughter on Wednesday so I stayed back in Pune, and forced Malesh too.

"It's grandparenting duty for us," remarked Malesh. "Here, Asha is the boss, and I have to obey her orders."

In the absence of the Narredu couple, Eaton Square with Yash astride was led in by members of the Mehta family (Homi and Jehangir), who co-own the winning horse with them.