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The Sportsman
In his younger days, Mr Khaitan was a top amateur golfer who played
almost to a scratch handicap; “a man who had the game and could
well have made the Indian Golf Team had he put his mind to it,”
according to Brandon DeSouza, Indian Golf Consultant and Pro. He
was, however, more of a horse racing enthusiast and until quite
recently, had served as Chairman of the Royal Calcutta Turf Club.
Using his keen business acumen, Mr Khaitan had guided the Turf
Club out of financial difficulties by selling properties that could be
dispensed with. He had also introduced several reforms, including
making the stakes the most attractive in India. The Indian Turf Invitation Cup held at RCTC two years ago
“set benchmarks in terms of both hospitality and in the manner it was conducted” according to a sports feature.
Over the years, Mr Khaitan owned many champion race horses but his
favourite was Elusive Pimpernel. This horse that no one else had wanted
to buy went on to win every big race in India and boasted five track
records. A horse he co-owned, Astonish, besides having a successful
career in the country, was the first Indian-bred horse to win back-to-
back races in Hong Kong. The names of some of his horses have been
inscribed in the archives of Indian racing history – among them being
Dandified and Snow Drift, two of the last champions that he owned.
Mr Khaitan was considered one of the stalwarts of Indian racing
whose presence enhanced the prestige of the sport in Kolkata. His many admirers say that it is difficult to think
of racing in Kolkata “without the gold and red colours of Deepak Khaitan flying past the winning post with
amazing regularity.”
The Family Man
In these times, when very few ‘joint families’ have survived the
stresses and strains of modern life, four generations of the Khaitan
family live in harmony under the same roof.
Mr Khaitan was always the dutiful son, caring husband, affectionate
brother, loving father and doting grandfather. His family, in turn,
rallied around him when he needed their love and support, testifying
to the saying, “The family is a haven in a heartless world.”
The Light may have been extinguished and his voice passed on into
the eternal silence but his words of wisdom will forever reverberate
in the minds of those who knew him; his vision will guide his
successors to pursue his unrealized dreams; and his accomplishments
will live on as his legacy, inspiring generations to come.
JULY 2015 05