Legendary racehorse trainer Rashid Rustomji Byramji (88) passed away on Saturday morning at Bengaluru.

He received his trainer’s license at the age of 21 from RWITC in May 1955 and retired at the end of the Bangalore Winter season in March 2017.

Rashid Byramji was rightly considered the greatest Classic trainer this country has ever seen. He saddled a record 3,170 winners, including 230 Classics, across the country.

Byramji is the only professional to have achieved the rare feat of winning 10 Indian Derbies and 12 Indian Turf Invitation Cups. He also holds the rare record of scoring hat-tricks twice in the Indian Derby and thrice in the Indian Turf Invitation Cup.

Elusive Pimpernel was Byramji’s favourite horse, as he himself has said on several occasions. Elusive Pimpernel raced and won at six different centres, winning 22 of his 23 starts.

10 Indian Derby winners saddled by R.R. Byramji:

Prince Khartoum (1972), Topmost (1974), Commanche (1976), Squanderer (1977), Manitou (1978) , Mohawk (1980), Cordon Bleu (1988), Astronomic (1993), Littleover (1994) and Elusive Pimpernel (1995).

12 Indian Turf Invitation Cup winners: Prince Khartoum (Chennai, 1972), Topmost (Mumbai, 1974), Comanche (Chennai, 1976), Squanderer (Bengaluru, 1977), Manitou (Hyderabad, 1978), Everynsky (Kolkata, 1980), Track Lightning (Chennai, 1981). Almanac (Bengaluru, 1982), Delage (Chennai, 1991), Bugs Bunny (Bengaluru, 1992), Adler (Hyderabad, 1993) and Elusive Pimpernel (Kolkata, 1995).