 "Silva Storai")
On a no-race day at 6 am, a few men sit with their eyes trained on the race course in Bengaluru. They aren't just watching horses. Talking among themselves in murmurs, they closely observe every horse, every rider on the horse, and the trainer who is shooting instructions for both man and animal.
Near the tracks, where the smell of mud, grass and horse has become one and is a heady scent, I ask around for Silva Storai. After a moment of confusion, a guard points out to where Storai is likely to be. "She's looking for 'the lady'," he tells his colleague.
In a race course full of male riders and trainers, it's understandable why the guards refer to Storai as 'the lady'. When she came from Italy as a 17-year-old tourist in 1978, Storai hadn't planned on staying back to take up professional horse racing. What followed was a number of races where she'd be the only woman rider.
Racing is still a very male-dominated sport in India, says Storai's trainer, Irfan Ghatala. He has been training riders and horses for 25-odd years. "Women are still considered to be weaker than men, though that's not true. Equestrian is the only sport where men and women compete on equal terms," Ghatala tells me in snatches. All his attention is trained on the varying equations between his horses and their riders - Storai is one of them.
Before she quit in 2007 after a bad fall, Storai started the Embassy International Riding School in Bengaluru. "It was just very difficult to go back after the fall. If we won, they would say the horse was good, if we lost, they would say I was a bad rider. I believe Rupa is the only professional now."
Kolkata-based trainer Arti Doctor
During a race in 2004, Singh and her horse, Tribute to Peace, tripped on the tracks. The horse died on the spot, Singh escaped with a broken collar bone. That was followed by a fractured ankle. Last December, a jockey in Kolkata had a fatal fall, and earlier this year, another one was paralysed when he fell.
During the Hyderabad Derby in 2003, Storai felt a sudden jolt. She realised that her partner for the race, a horse called Brown Sugar, had sprained his right foreleg - Brown Sugar could go down anytime now. But rider and horse trudged on, and Storai became the first lady in India to win a Derby. The following year, Storai won the Mysore Derby 2004.
At the race course, with binoculars glued to his face, Storai's trainer keeps a hawk's eye on his horses and jockeys. "Lean back, lean back," he shouts out to a rider who's hunched over his horse; "Calm her first," Ghatala tells another jockey who's struggling with a restless horse. This sport is about a combination of physical strength, stamina and the right technique, he says.
Silva Storai was the only woman rider in several races since coming to India in 1978
Like others in the profession, 33-year-old Singh comes from a family of horse lovers and riders. In the racing circuit, a lot depends on the horse you ride, she says. Part of proving your mettle as a jockey means to win a trainer's faith in your abilities. "It has taken a lot of hard work for trainers to finally trust my abilities. Initially, people felt I couldn't handle a horse as well as a man, and I'd be stuck with average horses."
In 2014, Singh represented the country at the Shikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Championship Cup in Poland. Pitted against international competition, Singh brought home the winner's trophy. Now she has seven championships to her credit.
Jockeys have to handle horses that weigh over 500 kg. Singh stands at 165 cm and is 47 kg. When Storai was competing, she weighed 51.5 kg. At 162 cm, her frame is much smaller than that of her male colleagues. But they all fall into the lean category, making the diet an important factor, besides strength and technique.
When Storai rides back on a majestic brown stallion, she swings off the horse in one swift motion. "Horse racing is not as popular in India as it is abroad. It is still associated with gambling here and that really affects the image," says Storai. "Look around - there's no other woman here. Abroad, the stables are full of women. Maybe things would have been better if we had a professional centre for jockeys," says Storai, suggesting the need for an eco-system to encourage women.
But Mumbai-based Nina Lalvani, one of the only three women trainers in India, has her doubts. "I'm not sure if that would make a difference. It's a very hard life, you have to make a lot of sacrifices. Those of us working in the field today are here just because of our love for it." Arti Doctor, a trainer based in Kolkata, reaffirms: You need to be extremely fit as a jockey. Strength does matter, but what you need is an understanding of how to handle horses.
None of these jockeys and trainers, who've given a better part of their lives to the sport, knows of any other woman training to be a professional jockey in India. Rupa Singh continues to be the lone Indian horsewoman on the tracks.
