Capricorn with Vasant Shinde up wins The Indian St Leger 1987

Chenoy and his jockey Pesi Shroff soon found that once on the track Capricorn was a different proposition altogether. They proved it for the first time in Pune last year, where Capricorn won the Derby and several other races, winning Bhatia the season's top owner award. Later in Bombay, Shroff rode the colt to victory in the Indian 2000 Guineas, making Capricorn the favourite for the prestigious Rs 12 lakh Indian Derby.

Unfortunately for the lazy, eccentric thoroughbred, a simmering dispute between Chenoy and Shroff led to a break-up shortly before the Indian Derby. Shroff was replaced in the saddle by Vasant Shinde, who is a highly rated jockey, but his unfamiliarity with Capricorn created doubts about whether the colt could be guided past the winning post in the 2,400-metre Derby. "For racing aficionados, the separation has come at a most inopportune moment," complained The Indian Thoroughbred.

The Chenoy-Shroff separation may have deprived the Cinderella among champion thoroughbreds from achieving fairy-tale success. As it turned out, the less fancied Chaitanya Chakram won the Indian Derby in a record time of 2 minutes 31.3 seconds, beating the favourite Capricorn by a neck.