2006 has been a year of discontent as far as the Bangalore Turf Club is
concerned. While the race owners who form the fulcrum of racing are left
dissatisfied at the unfriendly attitude of the of the powers-that-be of
the turf club, who are making every effort to discourage the entry of
new people from becoming race horse owners by putting all sort of
unreasonable restrictions on them, there is not a single section
associated with the sport that is happy.
The turf club was witness to riots by the punters after a lapse of over
15 years as they were upset at the in and out running of horses and the
lackadaisical attitude of the authorities to set right these ills.
Discontent has been brewing with the syces, the provident fund issue
threatening to hurt the very survival of the sport if the club does not
address the issue with the seriousness that the matter demands. The
jockeys too are disillusioned by the acts of the authorities who show
blatant favouritism to selected professionals while others are severely
punished. The Press too is unhappy because the authorities have shown a
scant respect for niceties. Overall, it has been a year of concern for
all those interested in the sport of kings. The only reason for hope is
that it can not get any worse!
In its latest retrograde step, the BTC is now insisting on police
verification before registering new owners. The Karnataka Racehorse
Owners’ Association has strongly resented the attitude of the
authorities by dashing off a strongly worded protest letter. The letter
lists several ills dogging the sport and the lack of concern shown by
the authorities to address the issues. “There have been disturbing
trends at the Bangalore Turf Club which are bound to affect the
interests of the race horse owners. Racehorse owners are not getting the
respect that they deserve. Instead, the Managing Committee of the Turf
Club, which has no representatives of race horse owners in the Stewards
body, is not sympathetic to the problems being faced by the Owners.
Racehorse owners, who are vital for the existence of the turf club, are
being looked down upon and treated as hindrances. Every hurdle is being
put to ensure that race horse owners get frustrated, lose their interest
and leave the sport altogether. Decisions are taken unilaterally without
as much as a dialogue with the representatives of the race horse owners
and there is a callous disregard in the way serious racing issues are
being handled. The Authorities have not learnt lessons from the fact
that the racing industry is facing an acute shortage of race horse
owners because when things are hostile without reason, one is sure to
drive away people who matter for racing. Unless the present trend is
arrested, the Bangalore Turf Club may well end up as any other social
club, losing the very purpose for which it was set up,” the letter
elaborates.
The KROA has strongly made a case for greater participation of race
horse owners in the day to day administration of the turf club. Strongly
protesting the notification of the turf club which requires a person
wanting to be a race horse owner to get police clearance, the Secretary
of KROA, Ashok Raghavan has said: “The Bangalore Turf Club has brought
in a new rule which states that any person who is to be registered as an
owner of a racehorse under the BTC Rules of Racing should be cleared by
the police of any criminal record before his ownership is approved.
Imagine somebody like Narayan Murthy of Infosys wanting to be a
racehorse owner and being asked to go for police verification! Nothing
can be more absurd than this.”
“We appeal to all race horse owners to stand up and be counted and to
support the association in its endeavour to get the unreasonable
decisions of Bangalore Turf Club reversed at the earliest and work
towards greater participation of race horse owners in the running of the
sport by impressing on the government to reserve certain percentage of
posts in the managing committee for the race horse owners body and
people drawn from other walks of life to conduct the sport of racing in
a fair manner,” the Secretary adds in a communication to the members of
the association.
This issue is threatening to snowball into a major controversy between
the BTC and the KROA and there is an urgent need for concerted efforts
on the part of all those interested in the well being of the sport to
make the authorities in Bangalore see reason and ensure that racing does
not end up being a game of manipulation in the hands of a few who have
no stake in racing.
