People drop out of PhDs for all sorts of reasons: Stress, loss of interest, falling out with their supervisor. Kuldeep Singh Rajput, the man behind Gandharvi Racing, is a PhD dropout. But, while that description is truthful, it’s more than a little disingenuous.
Rajput grew up in Bangalore, India and completed his undergraduate studies in electrical engineering before moving to MIT in the US. There he worked in the healthcare sphere, building software and algorithms for cardiac arrhythmia and sleep apnea detection.
Kuldeep Singh Rajput
A fascination with neuroscience, in particular brain implants to control neurological impulses and motor function, led him toward a PhD. He moved to Singapore with his professor who was at John’s Hopkins University to study his PhD at the National University of Singapore.
He built and studied the implants, focusing on epilepsy and Parkinson’s diseases, but after a year and a half, he quit. So why is it so unfair to describe him as a PhD dropout? Because he didn’t abandon it for any of the usual reasons; he quit because behind his affable personality simmers a potent mix of pragmatism and benevolence.
Recalling the turning point, Rajput explains: “If I’m working on something I like to make an impact… (on) patients’ lives. What I was building would take almost 10 years to get out to the market.”
During his research at MIT Media Lab, he saw a massive proliferation of wearable biosensors. Devices that were used to monitor patients’ physiology in the hospital were, once upon a time, bulky and cost thousands of dollars; they were becoming smaller, cheaper and had the ability to capture continual physiology data in an ambulatory setting. “There was a lack of utility of this huge amount of data being generated,” Rajput explains.
Kuldeep Singh Rajput and his family
Born of this lack of utility was Biofourmis, which now employs 600-odd people across continents. In quitting his PhD and creating the company, Rajput’s aim was simple: “Can we predict disease?” he asked. “Can we then do something about that?” The short answer is yes, at least if the company’s recent valuation of overUS$1 billion (AU$1.45 billion) is anything to go by.
“We started with one clinical condition, heart failure, which affects six million in the US. Less than one per cent of patients are on optimal (drug) dosage.” Focusing on this clinical unmet need, they built a platform that combines wearable biosensors, patient tools and analytics that can predict heart failure exacerbation two weeks in advance of hospitalisation and enable automated optimisation of drug dosages. Today, Biofourmis has evolved to be a global technology-enabled care delivery company that manages patients suffering from cardiometabolic and cancer in the comfort of their own homes.
He discussed the topic with geniality which might make one forget that we were talking about a technology that has the potential to transform global healthcare. This is a man with a Musk-like vision, and no lack of execution to match.
The birth of Gandharvi
If there’s anything that is typical about Rajput, it’s in the conception of his racing interest. Like many of us, it started at a young age and transpired from an appreciation of the thoroughbred.
“My grandparents used to tell me when I was young that their parents used to breed back in Northern India,” explained Rajput. “Apparently, I used to watch racing when I was young, primarily races in the UK... I always had this thing in my mind, especially when it comes to horses; I like their speed, their competitive nature – they’re majestic animals and I always wanted to own a racehorse.”
“I always had this thing in my mind, especially when it comes to horses; I like their speed, their competitive nature – they’re majestic animals and I always wanted to own a racehorse.” - Kuldeep Singh Rajput
The seed planted in childhood meant that when the chance came along, Rajput didn’t take a huge amount of convincing. During a stay in Singapore, he was at a restaurant with friends when a chance encounter paved the way for Gandharvi.
“It wasn’t planned at all,” he said. “…I got introduced to a trainer, Donna Logan. I met her for probably fifteen minutes, and she introduced me to Singapore racing, and a few days later she called and said: ‘Hey, maybe I have a horse for sale’, and that was our first horse. I initially wasn’t 100 per cent sure about buying the horse myself so we got three or four friends together and we said, ‘Okay we’ll buy the horse.’ I give Donna a lot of credit for getting me started with racing.”
Kuldeep Singh Rajput and his family at Coolmore
As things grew, Rajput describes how more of his friends were keen to get involved, inspired by his interest. But the pathway for them wasn’t clear. “They don’t know anything about it, they don’t know how the economics work, they just enjoy it,” he said. “They want to get into this, but access, knowledge and experience were big issues. One of the things we do at Gandharvi is how we bring young people into our partnerships so we can make it more accessible.”
The growth of Gandharvi
The cautious approach to his first foray into ownership in Singapore reflects the mindset of a successful entrepreneur, informed by exposure to the trials and tribulations of any kind of investment; hence, Gandharvi’s focus is on the healthy industries of Australia and the USA and things are set to grow slowly, with risk spread accordingly.
Despite being guided by his business nous, there is nothing clinical about Rajput’s approach here. That he seeks to fulfil friends’ and family's interest in the sport reflects his good nature, and that this is essentially a hobby for a busy, intelligent and high-achieving person. It's an admirable approach.
Nowadays, Gandharvi Racing counts the US and Australia as its primary bases, though they have interest in Europe and Singapore too. “In the US we primarily work with Todd Pletcher,” reports Rajput. “In Australia, we have a diverse group of trainers. Our focus has always been picking the right trainers for the right horses.”
“In Australia, we have a diverse group of trainers. Our focus has always been picking the right trainers for the right horses.” - Kuldeep Singh Rajput
Coordinating the operation is the experienced Michael Wallace, who lives in Lexington. “With Kuldeep being Boston-based, Todd lends himself to that being East Coast-based and of course, he’s a Hall of Fame trainer,” said Wallace. “Australia, being such a diverse nation of sprinters and stayers and (with the split) between Melbourne and Sydney there are lots of opportunities for different horses.”
Because investment in Australia began in earnest at this year’s yearling sales, Gandharvi is not yet a household name in racing circles here. “In Australia, most of our horses are young and yet-to-race,” said Rajput. “Hopefully we’ll start seeing some activity by the end of the year and into next year.”
Gandharvi has a range of shares in horses with Australia’s leading trainers: Chris Waller, Mark Newnham, Peter and Paul Snowden and Ciaron Maher and David Eustace. Earlier this year, Gandharvi Racing invested heavily in Michael Freedman’s purchases at Magic Millions.
Fitting the aforementioned approach, Wallace explains that, “With colts there’s an element of wanting to spread risk and increase numbers. Naturally it seems to be the prudent way to go about things, spreading your risk and your capital.”
With investment in the USA preceding Australia, there have been some promising results there already. Gandharvi Racing bought into Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Aloha West (USA) (Hard Spun {USA}), a colt trained by Wayne Catalano, to partner with Eclipse Thoroughbreds.
Since their involvement he’s been placed in the G1 Churchill Downs S. and was fourth in the G1 Metropolitan H. Battle Bling (USA) (Vancouver), a 4-year-old filly trained by Rob Atras, is raced in conjunction with Michael Dubb and was fourth in the G1 Latroienne S. There have also been 2-year-olds assigned to the stables of Brad Cox and Wesley Ward.
Aloha West (USA) in the 2021 Breeders' Cup
Investment hasn’t been limited to racing stock either; At the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale, Gandharvi made a single, notable purchase in Nomothaj (Snitzel) for $1.1 million. The Listed winner has produced only one foal so far, an Exceed And Excel colt which sold at this year’s Magic Millions National Yearling Sale for $575,000.
In Europe they also have Miss Chess (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}), a well-related young maiden mare from the family of High Chaparral (Ire). She is a half-sister to dual Group 1-winning Deep Impact (Jpn) mare Fancy Blue (Ire) and is currently in foal to Wootton Bassett (GB). There's also Tickle Me Green (Ger) (Sea The Moon {Ger}), a young stakes-winning mare purchased for €800,000 (AU$1.19 million) at last year's Arqana December Breeding Stock Sale with Haras du Cadran and Ecurie Melanie. She foaled a filly by Oasis Dream (GB) earlier this year and is currently in foal to Lope De Vega (Ire).
Evidently, there’s no messing around when it comes to the level at which Gandharvi seeks to be involved. “There’s a focus to have a boutique level of a mare, of high quality,” said Wallace. “Obviously, she fits the Australian profile down to a ‘T’ – a very good-looking, fast 2-year-old, in foal to a very good stallion. She fits the market and she’ll visit I Am Invincible this year and hopefully, she can continue to produce nice foals and see some nice sale ring results.”
Nomothaj when sold at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
Gandharvi won’t necessarily be holding on to the progeny of their mares, “…it’ll be a case-by-case basis with every horse and a decision will be made amongst the team as to whether some are retained and some are raced,” said Wallace. “Ultimately, it’s a business and you need to generate cash flows so… we will be looking to participate in the market in all fashions, buying on one side and selling on the other.”
With their considered approach and careful selection of horses, there’s little doubt that Gandharvi will soon be a name widely recognised in Australian racing. Which means there’s only one question left to ask: Where does the name come from? “It means the first mother of horses, it’s a Sanskrit word,” explains Singh. “Our goal is a boutique, really high-quality breeding operation as well as building a racing operation within two primary jurisdictions being Australia and the US.” And it looks like they’re sure path to achieving exactly that.
