What
is common between Ruben Star, Real Excellence and Haunting Memories? No prizes for guessing that they all belong to Dr. MAM Ramaswamy and are trained by S. Ganapathy. But that’s not the point sought to be made here. It’s about jockey B. Prakash. He’s at the centre of this debate that has
been triggered off after the defeat of Haunting Memories in the Deutsche Bank Indian 1000 Guineas (Gr.1) at Mahalaxmi on Sunday. He was also in the saddle
on the other two horses when they tasted defeat in the recently run Pune
Derby and Bangalore 1000 Guineas respectively.
It’s understood by every one that Prakash’s job of making the right choice in the classics is not easy as it may seem. But the recurring error of judgment from a jockey of his calibre is not expected by them either.
Many steadfastly believe that all jockeys are told to give every contender of the racing baron a fair chance to win in the classics; the pacemaker included. But the question then arises whether Prakash
alone can be faulted for making the wrong selection.
He has the unenviable task of supposedly picking the best from two given horses. It’s okay when it’s a touch-and-go affair but if the performance oscillates as disastrously as witnessed in the case of Ruben Star and Real Excellence at Pune and Bangalore respectively, then no one can fault the racegoer for pointing an accusing finger at Prakash. What aggravates the matter is the fact that the horses that fail to live up to the expectations of the punters, as well as Prakash, are firm favourites.
It is not being implied by anybody that Guest Connections won Sunday's
Indian 1000 Guineas out of turn and there is no problem if it is advocated that she was the better
of the two horses fielded by the stable. However, since the racing public is never known to form its opinion by giving much thought to all aspects of the game, the situation becomes precarious. Things get out of control when doubts of the fairness of the game keep persisting in the minds of the racing fraternity. The recent fiasco at Bangalore is a case in point.
Both Ramaswamy and Deepak Khaitan are considered as big guns of the racing industry and the onus squarely lies on their broad shoulders to ensure that the integrity of the sport doesn’t erode any further. A small section of the crowd at Mahalaxmi was getting increasingly restless during the presentation ceremony of the 1000 Guineas but, fortunately, no toward incident followed.
But who is to guarantee that the situation would remain peaceful if any race is decided in a similar manner in the future?.
