At the opening of the Elbrus Cup equestrian competitions in Nalchik, Nikolai Nasibov became one of the most interesting and popular people in the press. The grandson of the legendary coach and the greatest of the jockeys of the 20th century, Nikolai (Nasib) Nasibov, he is the author of the idea of reconstructing the Nalchik hippodrome and the organizer of the Elbrus Cup races. Therefore, not having had time to ask all the questions of interest at the official press conference, the journalists decided to continue communication with Mr. Nasibov after it. In which they succeeded. The conversation continued in a small but chic office, where Nikolai answered all questions with pleasure, treating himself to a cup of tea and a cigarette along the way and captivating the press with the manners of a true aristocrat.
Nikolai, when you invested your efforts and resources in the hippodrome project, were you not afraid that the public would not be interested in horse racing?
Of course not! I will not be mistaken if I say that horse racing is a fascinating spectacle and one of the world's favorite entertainments. And, of course, this is a competition, a test of the horse for agility and endurance. The most progressive country in terms of horse racing is Japan. The modern hippodrome industry rests on three pillars - the hippodrome, the jockey and the horse. By the way, the famous Formula 1 races are created in the image and likeness of horse racing.
And what distinguishes today's horse races?
I am sure that today's jumps surpass anything that has ever been in Russia. Our event takes place at the international level. The best jockeys of Russia are invited. From abroad, too, applications were received from those who wanted to show themselves, but we weeded them out - they did not fit our criteria. We had a very tough selection. Today, purebred English horses take part in the races. During the “casting” of horses, they called me, asked: “Why don’t you record our horses?”, They even threatened me. I answered: “I record everyone, but only the best will perform.” We were also in a hurry with the reconstruction of the hippodrome in order to be on time. You know, as we have from time immemorial in Russia - everything is in emergency mode, everything is brought to readiness on the last night. If we had been given not forty-five days for reconstruction, but sixty, we would still have finished the rest of the work on the last night.
And how do you rate your "brainchild"?
Objectively, today the Nalchik hippodrome is the best in Russia. Yes, Moscow will not be offended, but the capital's hippodrome is already five years old as it's time for reconstruction. In general, the project was created quite spontaneously - thanks to the President of the KBR for deciding to get involved in this adventure. I don't think I let him down either. As for the exclusive, I can say that the stable, built in the shape of a horseshoe, has no analogues in the world. And for the design of the treadmill, we took the cream of the crop from those who know a lot about this - from the Japanese. The racing circle at the Nalchik hippodrome is made according to Japanese technology: from the bottom 30 cm of the drainage layer is large crushed stone, then fine crushed stone comes, then sand screenings mixed with loam. All these layers are very tightly rolled, rammed. The last, top, layer is 10 cm of washed sand. This coating is both fast and safe for horses. This is the first race circuit in Russia that meets international standards.
We are striving to create a Russian racing society in the future, and under this auspices we are thinking of uniting several hippodromes in Russia in order to have a whole network of sweepstakes in the country. We plan to include hippodromes in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan, Rostov and Pyatigorsk in this network. According to preliminary and most conservative estimates, the turnover of the Russian gambling market is about 25 billion dollars a year. In three or four years, the hippodrome industry will be able to receive about 30 - 40 percent of this amount.
We often hear negative statements about the active development of the gambling business. Don't you think that jumps can cause a similar reaction?
Of course, the concept of a network of sweepstakes is related to the gambling business, but only indirectly, because the money received goes to the development of hippodromes, stud farms and the formation of prize funds. A solid prize fund is able to attract private or state horse owners to the hippodrome, and therefore, not only to the races, but also to measures to improve the gene pool.
What is your nationality, if not a secret? Nasibov is not a Tatar surname?
My famous grandfather was a street kid. In the orphanage he was given the name Nasib Nasibovich Nasibov. Translated from Azerbaijani, “nasib” means “happy”, it turns out that my grandfather was three times happy. True, he later changed his name and became Nikolai. As for nationality, I must say that in my case it is very difficult to figure it out - a lot of blood is mixed. When I was first asked about my nationality, I thought about it and answered: “I am a cur!”
HELP "KP"
The legendary jockey Nikolai Nasibov is the only one who managed to win the European Prize three times and become the winner of the most important classical races in the world. During his career, he earned prizes for the Soviet state for a million rubles in gold. In honor of his father's memory, his son Mikhail first created a foundation, and then the annual smooth races of thoroughbred riding breeds for the Nasibov Cup. Now the grandson Nikolai Nasibov is organizing these races. The Nasibov Cup is the Russian analogue of the world-famous races for the Prize of King George IV and Queen Elizabeth II in England, the Stakes Championship in Ireland, the Arc de Triomphe Prize in France.
AND THERE WAS ANOTHER CASE
Funny question: do you like to watch horse races?
Somehow, my friends and I, quite wealthy people, went to races in Turkey. They asked me if we would sit in the VIP seats. And I answered them: “If you want to sit on the “millennium terrace” on the eighth floor and drink, please, then why go to the races at all? Cognac and vodka could be drunk without leaving Moscow. And I want to be near the treadmill.” They took tickets with me to the usual places and got so much pleasure from the races that they told me for a long time: “It’s good that you persuaded us to sit not like VIPs, but like people!”
Elena Sviridova.
TVNZ
Physiotherapist of the national team and CSKA Mikhail Nasibov - about people and horses
Probably, there is nothing that Mikhail Nikolayevich Nasibov, a physiotherapist and masseur of our football team and CSKA, the son of a brilliant Soviet jockey, does not know about the psychology of football players and horse racing. We met with him at the training camp of the Russian national team and talked for several hours.
I have a hard job. But I like her. I have been working for thirty-four years - and I have never regretted it. Himself, like the players, you are always waiting for the game, the outcome of the meeting depends on you, albeit indirectly. In other words, you live for football. In Vatutinki, at the training base of CSKA, sometimes you have to work seven days a week. All our thoughts are on how to help players recover quickly from injuries and prepare for games.
- Some players are afraid of getting injured, so they go to games with some apprehension.
Injuries erase weeks, months, even years from an athlete's life. But in any case, the athlete should not be afraid of injury. You can't even think about it. I know from my own experience that thought is a very material thing. I remember that I had one football player in my "clients", so he, let's say, did not burn with a special desire to play for the national team. He said: "At least get a little injury - and then you won't have to go anywhere." And what do you think, at the very end of the season, he received such an injury, after which he was treated for six months.Before the game, many guys are nervous. But when they enter the field, their fear disappears - they just need to play. When the players start talking about the upcoming match, we also try to set the guys up. Phrases are common, like “there are no weak teams here” or “don’t say that you will “eat” them tomorrow”.
- Are there any preferences of the guys at the training camp?
- Do you work only with adult players?
Sometimes kids come to practice. They sit on the grass and look at the adults. I say: why are you sitting idle? Take the press shake. I give them an example: there was such a player Andrei Kanchelskis, he did press and stretching all day long. That's right: the more you stretch your muscles and pump the press, the more strength and less chance of "breaking" in the game.
- Have you ever played on the field?
Once, Lobanovsky's goalkeeper Viktor Chanov fell ill, and during training it was urgent to replace him - I stood at the gate. That day there was a two-time training session. In the morning I was frisky, active, and in the evening I went out - everything hurts. But I had to keep the brand. (Laughs) I used to play football with my friends. Always been a striker. Now there is no time.
- Which players do you remember the most?
Oleg Blokhin. We communicated closely - both at the massage and after, we talked for a long time about sports, about life. He read a lot. Every day in the evenings he wrote a diary. There was a normal Soviet person, intellectually and physically developed.
- And now the guys are reading?
Read. But not much, mostly they prefer computer entertainment - games, the Internet.
- How do you remember Lev Yashin?
This is an exceptional person. When people talked to him, they could not refuse him anything - he possessed such energy and charm. Yashin often traveled with teams as the head of delegations. We lived with him in neighboring rooms, constantly talked. He is known throughout our vast Earth. “Yashin” is pronounced by foreigners, the stress is on the second syllable. There is no more famous domestic football player in the world.
Who do you like to work with on the team?
We have a single family, and treat everyone equally with love. Sometimes abroad, the guys want to do something nice - bring their favorite dish, for example. The same way they treat us. Here Arshavin - moved to Arsenal. He knows that I collect T-shirts. Just arrived at the training camp - I hear someone knocking on the door. "Nikolaevich, - Arshavin came with a T-shirt, - this is for you." I was very pleased!
- Many say that Andrei Arshavin is very arrogant.
His right to be closed to strangers or the press. This is a neat guy in all respects, very responsible, a real captain of the national team. He never loses heart, is developed completely. He treats the players, masseurs, the entire delegation of the RFU very well.
- Now let's talk directly about the specifics of your work.
I memorize the muscles of the players with my hands and watch how they change. There are three massage therapists in CSKA, the players themselves decide who to go to. I already learned my “clients” by heart. Oleg Blokhin was ideal for my muscles.
- Who do you massage, if not a secret? Do the muscles differ depending on the position of the player?
As a rule, Seryozha Ignashevich comes first. The muscles of the players, in principle, are no different. The only thing is that the upper belt of goalkeepers is more developed, the back is more powerful. Igor Akinfeev, for example, loves a specific massage - arms, hands, feet, cervical region. In addition, these are not all procedures, there is still physiotherapy. Now a very popular procedure - after training, players sit on the ice for up to ten minutes.
- What is the advantage of the Russian school of massage?
Our massage school is the best, without exaggeration. Abroad, our players complain, the massage is gentle, superficial - for a slight tone. In our country, every cell is probed with hands, worked out.
- Your father is a famous Soviet jockey. Do you have horses?
I have a stud at the Voskhod stud farm, the best in the CIS. I have a foal from my horse every year. Now I have a stallion Zhirkov. Strong, age - two years old. This year, he has never played. I feel sorry for him, he does not develop abruptly, but ascending, like Yura Zhirkov himself, who slowly came to today's glory. Still, it is material: whatever you call a horse, it will grow like that. (Laughs.) Yura and I share this stallion, and if he performs well in Russia, Zhirkov will take him to England. I also had a horse Aldonin, now Berezutsky.
- Vasya or Lyosha?
Collective image. (Laughs.) If there were twin horses, I would name Vasya and Lesha.
- I heard that you were going to sell a horse named after Smertin.
Yes, they bought it from me as a manufacturer and took it to Kazakhstan. He failed, he failed: he rolled over the barrier and injured his spine. He began to pull his back left leg - the gluteal muscle atrophied. And then he, poor thing, tried to run on three legs - and with an injury he was the last to never go to the races.
- Do the players have their own horses?
Ignashevich had two horses - sports, not racing. English footballers have a lot of horses. In England, they are well versed in this: only riding horses of the local breed are suitable for racing - the fastest horses on the planet.
- Do any of the players go to the hippodrome?
I remember we held a prize in honor of the UEFA Cup, which CSKA won in 2005, and the whole team was at the hippodrome. I was very grateful to them for coming and supporting Russian horse breeding, placing bets, having dinner, watching the races. He arranged a tour for some of the players, showed the entire kitchen of the jockey, how horses are saddled and weighed. In Russia, this sport is not very developed. Abroad, everyone goes to the hippodrome: it is considered bad form if a normal wealthy Frenchman does not go to the Arc de Triomphe prize. And in England it is considered bad form if you are rich and do not have your own racehorse.
- What problems does this sport have in Russia?
Huge. Russian horse breeding is dying out. And for this reason: jockeys almost completely switched to horses not born in Russia. It is necessary to buy the best producers abroad, queens with foals, and bring them to Russia. And then horses are transported for space money, and then they disappear without a trace, leaving no offspring. No one in other countries has been doing this for a long time. The Turks, for example, have closed their market altogether, buying only manufacturers. There are only three prizes per season, in which horses born outside of Turkey can participate. We urgently need to solve these problems, otherwise in a year or two there will be no Russian horse breeding at all - we will lose the industry and jobs, and people are already going through the crisis hard. We have very good stud farms, but they are being destroyed. I hope officials and businessmen who come into contact with this sport will not let it die.
Help "New"
Mikhail Nasibov is the son of Nikolai Nasibov, a brilliant Soviet jockey who managed to win the European Prize three times, win 654 races in Russia and 175 abroad. Mikhail Nikolayevich worked all his life as a physiotherapist and massage therapist for the Dynamo all-around team, then moved to football - to the Russian national football team and CSKA. In addition, he takes part in equestrian sports as an organizer of cups, including a cup named after his father.
Ekaterina Polishchuk
Mikhail NASIBOV: ABOUT HORSES, FOOTBALL AND ORANGE
NASIBOV Mikhail Nikolaevich
Born on July 26, 1953 in Armavir. Masseur. Graduated from the Institute of Physical Education (1975). He worked in the team "Dynamo" Moscow in modern pentathlon (1976), in the USSR national team in freestyle wrestling (1977 - 1978). Since 1979 - in the medical headquarters of the national football teams of the USSR and Russia. Member of the World Cup-82, 1986, 1990 and 1994, Euro-88 and -92. He was in the youth team of the USSR at the 1980 and 1990 European Championships that were victorious for her.
His father was a great jockey. Nikolai Nasibov has won 654 races in Russia and 175 in the world. He is the only one in history who won the European Prize in Cologne for three years in a row on one horse - the famous Aniline. Almost every second of his start was victorious.
Mikhail Nasibov recalls that in childhood he and his sister once asked their father: "How did you live when you were little?" And could not hold back the tears, hearing his story. "God first tormented my father, tested him for strength, and then, apparently, decided to compensate everything," he believes.
Nikolai Nasibov was born on the border of Azerbaijan and Georgia in the family of a wealthy landowner. Soon after the revolution, the Bolsheviks took away the land and the house, and my father was shot at the cliff of the Kullar Gorge. Right in front of three sons. Six months later, the mother died of grief, and they were left alone.
The eldest was 12 years old, the middle one was 8, and the youngest, Nikolai, was 5. Of course, relatives remained in the village, but, fearing to incur the wrath of the authorities on themselves, no one helped. On the contrary, sometimes dogs were let loose on the boys!
They were homeless, slept anywhere, starved. But fate kept Nikolai. At the age of 12, during an epidemic of typhoid fever, he was picked up on the street with no signs of life, and taken to the morgue. A woman came there for the body of her son and saw that a boy was moving nearby. She took him to her, went out. Later, having already become a famous jockey, Nasibov sent her money for many years.
By the end of the 60s, the total prize money for his entire career was two million dollars. Of these, according to our laws, he was officially entitled to 66 percent. However, the state, of course, was not going to pay such money to Nasibov. As a result, they were divided into almost all domestic horse breeding, and the jockey himself got a minuscule amount. Although by Soviet standards he was still considered a rich man. In 1965, the family from the Krasnodar Territory moved to Moscow. After winning the European Prize, Marshal Budyonny himself handed Nasibov the keys to a three-room apartment.
Until the age of 37, my father went hungry, says Mikhail Nasibov. - At first there was nothing to eat, and then I had to constantly keep myself in shape until I finished performing. Its combat weight was 53 kg. He ate some greens, drank tea without sugar, fat-free kefir. Often he simply moistened his lips with water, and at night, from thirst, he dreamed of waterfalls.
But the son, frankly, the Lord did not deprive him of complexion. Mikhail grew up as a well-fed boy, and it immediately became clear that he would not be a jockey. In the 88th in Cologne, he looked at the hippodrome, where his father once shone. Foreign riders, having learned that the son of that Nasibov was in front of them, asked to stand on the scales. And, seeing that the arrow easily exceeded 100, they gasped: "These are two Nasibovs!"
Nevertheless, Mikhail has a love for horses in his blood. Now he is the president of the foundation for the support of thoroughbred horse breeding. And every year in August, with the help of his friends, he holds the Nikolai Nasibov Cup at the Moscow hippodrome. In memory of my father, who passed away seven years ago.
By the way, among the guests of the tournament you can meet Evgeny Giner, Valery Gazzaev, and Rolan Gusev. And somehow, on a day off, Nasibov invited the entire Russian youth team to the hippodrome. The players, he said, were delighted.
Another passion of Nasibov besides horses is football. In January, he celebrated his jubilee - 25 years of service in the country's football teams. Behind him are four world championships, two European championships and two gold youth championships of the Old World. People, years, life...
It seems like so many years have passed, but nothing is forgotten. The most dramatic moment, of course, was the defeat in the 1/8 finals in Mexico-86 from the Belgians. Lobanovsky, the most intelligent person, the very equanimity, the Swedish referee Fridriksson, who counted two mythical goals for us, then almost tore to pieces on the treadmill. Valery Vasilyevich was miraculously dragged away. In such a rage, I confess, I have never seen him. Our team had different defeats, but only in Mexico, half the team in the locker room burst into tears from resentment ... And I remember my work in the USSR youth team in 1990 with great warmth. The team was unique. When everyone is young, carefree and it seems that only good things await you ahead. After the victory in Yugoslavia over the hosts in the first final match - 4:2 - Milyan Milyanich entered our dressing room. "Guys," he said, "you have a real constellation of players. I have no doubt that a great future awaits almost all of you." The legendary Yugoslav coach, who worked at Real Madrid himself, was not mistaken. Almost everyone from that galaxy really played. But what can I say, if Salenko and Kiryakov were not included in our squad ...
Have you ever regretted becoming a massage therapist?
No. I love my profession, I love football. And I am happy that in my life they are closely connected. I am still looking forward to the start of the training camp, meeting with the players and coaches. Previously, the players were perceived as friends, but now they are more like children ... Oleg Blokhin was my favorite patient. He has amazing muscles. Soft, like plasticine. It is a pleasure to work. Blokhin, I think, generally had an ideal texture for a football player. But, for example, Gena Litovchenko's muscles are very stiff. If they were, like Blokhin's, it would take half the time to recover. Or take Rolan Gusev. He is a hard-hitting guy, and his muscles are also like stone. Such players are always hard to massage.
It happened that Nasibov's functions in the national team were not limited to massage. On the eve of matches with the British, he was sometimes involved in training to work with Rinat Dasaev.
The British in the fight on the "second floor" with goalkeepers usually do not stand on ceremony. So I played the role of a kind of tough guy - pushing, butting, in general, in every possible way prevented Dasaev from catching the ball when serving from the flank. Somehow, at Malofeev, in a two-way game, due to a lack of players, they put me as a left back. And another time, already under Lobanovsky, - at the gate. It was at the training camp in Italy. Vitya Chanov was poisoned the day before by something, the second goalkeeper was not there. Lobanovsky offered me to play, I gladly agreed. Got a uniform, gloves. At the first training session in the morning, he fluttered after the ball like a grasshopper. In the evening, on the second, I barely got there with the only thought: "When will it all end? .."
In whatever team Nasibov works - in the youth, Olympic or national - the laurels of the main merry fellow and joker are always provided to him. With such a massage therapist you will not get bored. "It's hard for the guys to sit at the training camp all year round. So I try to distract them a little from club problems, to cheer them up," explains Nasibov.
His signature trick is head juggling with any round object. At least with a ball, at least ... with an orange, which Nasibov got the hang of keeping in the air for quite a long time. He often offers bets to players - both on time and on the number of strokes - and has never lost.
Somehow, about 20 years ago, I heard from someone from the collections: "There is an eccentric in Brazil who can juggle an orange with his head 50 times." I became interested. Decided to try. It seems to have worked out. True, it's terribly inconvenient. An orange is not a ball - it does not jump, so it constantly needs to be hooked. For the first time, I argued with Lenya Buryak that I could sip this citrus more than 30 times. Seryozha Aleinikov volunteered to be the judge. As a result, the blows counted exactly 80 ...
However, as Andrei Kanchelskis rightly noted in his book, Nasibov has even more important talents: "He knows his business very well. Having been in his capable hands, each of us felt ready for any trials on the field."
Time is running out, and now Gusev, Sennikov, and Akinfeev are probably ready to subscribe to these words ...
Alexander KRUZHKOV
Nikolai was born into a large family of a wealthy Azerbaijani landowner. In 1933, Nikolai's father was shot by the Bolsheviks, and a year later his mother died, and Nikolai and his two older brothers (the eldest was 8) became homeless children. Nicholas suffered from many illnesses, but he was cared for by a Russian woman, to whom he subsequently sent money anonymously for 12 years.
In 1944, the famous Moscow trainer Ivan Fomin took the boy from the Kullar stud farm, where he was herding horses, and began to train him. In the same year, Nasibov first performed at the Rostov Hippodrome.
Nasibov won more than 650 victories in various competitions, and also won the European prize three times in 1965-1967 at the races in Cologne. Finished fifth in the Washington Grand Prize derby in 1958. During his jockey career, Nikolai Nasibov set many records in the Soviet Union, won 25 derbies, won more than a hundred prizes at various international equestrian competitions.
The Nikolai Nasibov Cup is played at the Moscow hippodrome.
Nasibov has not been with us for four years, but his memory remains not only in history. On September 9, 2001 at the Central Moscow hippodrome smooth races for the Nikolai Nasibov Cup took place - henceforth the most prestigious award of the year, with the largest prize fund in the history of Russian races - one million rubles. A new stage of revival and development of equestrian competitions in our country begins. Alfavit weekly also acted as an information sponsor of the Nasibov Cup.
For as long as he could remember, he remembered horses. And myself on a horse. But the memory of the parents was not preserved. Kolya Nasibov grew up as an orphan at the Kular stud farm: a stable boy - a rider - a jockey. At the age of thirteen, in his very first season at the Rostov hippodrome - in the spring of 1944, Nasibov amazed the connoisseurs by winning 40 (!) races. He must compete in Moscow, Nasibov realized, and, appearing before the head of the stud farm in Essentuki, he clearly and unambiguously outlined his plans for the future. "Good," said the nachkon and led the guy to the most stubborn stallion. "Come on, show me what you can do." The boy passed the test with brilliance.
The King of the Rostov hippodrome - that's how the fans called Nasibov - went to conquer the capital with a wicker basket where a crested chicken lived, and a brilliant professional reference, securely hidden in an inner pocket, pinned with a pin. Crazy from a long journey, the Corydalis behaved uneasily, slightly perplexing Nasibov's new bosses. "I'm used to drinking a raw egg in the morning and that's it before lunch," Nasibov later told his biographers. What about lunch? One name. Later, the master admits: "If I hadn't been a jockey, I would have become a cook." The weight "tormented" the rather big, broad-boned Nasibov all his racing life, and he dealt with this problem cruelly and not sparing himself.
The writer, literary critic and amateur horseman Dmitry Urnov, who was friends with the great jockey, noted his reverent attitude towards the historical chicken. Nasibov recalled: “I came to Moscow - there was nowhere to let the chicken out. I had to make a box and lock it with a lock. I accepted it from the customs officers! One asks: “What are you, Robinson Crusoe?” Come, I say, to the hippodrome, see what kind of Robinson I am. ".
The audience came to "look at Nasibov." He was admired not only by connoisseurs of horse racing, but also by those who did not consider themselves a note horseman, and people completely far from racing. "These are born once in a century," professional equestrians said about Nasibov. How long does the jump take? One hundred and twenty seconds of the sharpest struggle, where everything (or almost everything - let's not forget the case) is decided by the skill of the jockey, the feeling of the horse, the softness of the hands and the strong will and instinct that allows not to miscalculate at the decisive moment and ask the horse exactly what he is capable of .
During his jockey life, Nasibov worked with many horses. He galloped and won at the beginning of the 50s, with a dark bay Garnish he went overseas - for the first time in the history of Soviet racing - to participate in the Washington International Prize. The best jockeys from two continents are brought together by the Laurel Racecourse. The first international award - Nasibov with Garnish became winners - appears in the jockey's collection. But the best, special horse in the fate of Nasibov is the red-bay thoroughbred stallion Anilin, born in the Voskhod factory. Their photographs went around the whole world in the 60s, and there was no more effective advertising for foreign hippodromes than the names of Nasibov and Anilin.
A real jockey sees the whole ride. How many cool horses lost in the last meters? And why? The jockey forgot to look back. Nasibov could not afford such forgetfulness. With all the outstanding qualities of Anilin, foreign horses, the selection of which was carried out taking into account the only criterion - playfulness, could at one moment become unattainable at the finish line. It was necessary, using the endurance of the horse, to lead the race, trying to exhaust the competitors. Nasibov had such a trick: before the last turn, he gave the horse a break - after all, after all, he led the entire race - and after a few seconds he rushed forward. "Iron message," say the horsemen. This expression, which is difficult to translate into ordinary language, sums up the ability of the master to take all the agility from the horse, to mobilize all hidden reserves for a throw. Opponents, as a rule, could not withstand the Nasibov's throw. The stands of the hippodrome froze in anticipation of this moment, then the general exhalation was replaced by an enthusiastic roar: "Nasibov went with might and main!"
"There is no such horse that can make two frisky throws over the distance," said equestrian experts. And so it was until Nasibov and Anilin appeared in the equestrian world. In the spring of 1967 in Cologne they competed for their third European Prize. Aniline, as always, led the race. Connoisseurs considered Nasibov's tactics senseless and, most importantly, hopeless: Anilin was "grazed" by the best horses of the race tracks of the continent - the winner of the Grand Prix at the Saint-Cloud hippodrome, the West German Luciano and the Frenchman Taneb. At the finish line, Luciano threateningly and confidently came close to Anilin. Nasibov is doomed, Nasibov lost! And then the second push! The famous Nasib message - Anilin finishes first. Oscar Langen, Luciano's jockey, had only to take off his hat. "Thrice married!" - newspapers of the world enthusiastically wrote about Anilin. Nasibov rode Anilin 27 times, winning 21 races, and only three times did not get into the number of winners. The owners of the best foreign stud farms tried to buy a stallion, offering imaginable and unimaginable prices.
Best of the day
Nasibov left the racetrack in the prime of his glory and began to educate the shift. And now, as a coach, he goes to receive the European Prize together with the stallion Aden and jockey Alexander Chuguevts. Nasibov's pets won the Derby ten times, the last was taken in 1996 by the stallion Shavat. And in 1997, at the age of 66, Nikolai Nasibov passed away. The master left, having probably received almost all the titles conceivable for a Soviet jockey of his time, leaving talented students. The main dream came true: he wanted to be a jockey - and became one, and was happy. And the horses race for the Anilin Prize, and now for the Nasibov Cup.
Nasibov did not like to "swallow someone else's dust." Today there will be no dust - it is firmly nailed down by rain, it simply drowned in the small puddles of the racing circle. There will be a mud shower. Concerned photographers cherish expensive cameras under umbrellas, not considering it an honor to get a lump of stuck together sand from under a prize hoof into the lens.
The racing season is short in our area. In foggy Albion, which is a sin not to mention in such weather, smooth races continue until mid-November. But let's say thank you that race trials are generally carried out in the capital: in 1991, they were discontinued at the CMI for financial reasons, and they were resumed only at the end of the millennium. Today, on the closing day of the first racing season of the XXI century, the prize named after the "millionaire" Nasibov is played. Prizes for the first four horses thanks to the help of sponsors (commercial bank "Neftyanoy", insurance company "Siberia" and the company "Patrik Hellman Collection") amounted to 500,000, 250,000, 150,000, 100,000 rubles, respectively. Last year, the entire prize fund fit into the amount now intended for the third prize (paid) place winner, today a million has been thrown onto the race track.
Alfavit's experts began to estimate the chances of victory for the light-footed red Artura of the Voskhod stud farm. By the way, she is trained (withstands, as they say) by the same Alexander Chuguevets. But she is not the only worthy contender. The discussion is over: start. Jockey Vladimir Melekhov on Arthur led the race early and keeps ahead of half a circle, a circle ... 3000 meters is a stayer distance, it can still change. On the way to the last turn, the main “group of pursuers” has already added agility, a red-haired Brabus under the saddle of Sergey Lavrikov makes a particularly powerful breakthrough, and he stepped forward. With a good lead! Melekhov, from the side of the stands again bypassing his rivals, also makes a final spurt, so he got two horses following Brabus. Artura rushes off the side of the path, throwing a little bit of historical dirt on us, and comes out in second place. All leaders work together with a whip. But the ninth number finishes very quickly, from our place it is not clear whether Melekhov managed to even catch up with him. Bell! "The ninth number, followed by the fifth," one of the regulars shares information. Brabus won three hulls from Artura.
Fans of the winner consider his win more than natural: they say, it is difficult for a mare against a stallion, and in general Brabus has such blood, outstanding and very foreign ancestors. The jockeys who took third and fourth places seem to share this opinion (they are very close to the barrier, and we can clearly see their faces and gestures, the racing uniform, as if doused with coffee goo); but Melekhov stands with a stony, unnaturally tense face, clasping his hands behind his back and taking a deep breath before answering some phrase of his comrades with a smile. It is unlikely that he is consoled by the fact that Anilin himself used to lose in a duel between "driving for strength" and "riding for agility" and that "races are races" in general. Leaving the race track, the jockey believes in himself, in his horse, in luck to the last. The day that faith dies, everything will end - jockeys, horses and horse racing. The Nasibov Cup, like the Derby, a horse can only win once in a lifetime. This is the jockeys still ahead.
However, today Melekhov has already won the Prize in honor of the President of the Republic of Belarus - on the "Voskhodov" Rigodon. Now a holiday on the street of the Abazinsky stud farm. Joyfully shakes hands with friends and sponsors coach Maksud Kantakuzin - also a student of Nasibov. And Sergei Lavrikov is one of those who won the Derby with Nasibov, the coach. The closing day of the first racing season in the third millennium was Nikolai Nasibov's triumph.
