The announcement of the dates for the state elections has prompted the Bangalore Turf Club to prepone the commencement of the forthcoming summer season. It has advanced the first weekend of racing to the 8th and 9th of May. There were rumours last week about a delay in the start of the season because of an agitation by the trainers and the jockeys. A couple of weeks ago, the club had announced certain norms that it proposed to put in place with regards to the performance of licensed professionals operating at this centre. This announcement was received with a certain amount of apprehension by the trainers and jockeys. Their respective associations had represented and written to the club and the issues were discussed at a joint meeting. It would be pertinent to point out that the presence of Fin Powrie, racing consultant to the BTC, was of great help in the speedy resolution of the said matters. He brings with him a lot of experience as well as knowledge about the best business practices followed by Race Clubs all over the world. The professionals admired his grasp of the subject as well as his ability to see reason in the present scenario. The performance norms have been deferred by a year and the professionals are now aware about what is expected from them. Most non-performers have been put on notice and have no option but to be serious about their business. All the concerned parties agreed that the steps being proposed by the club were good for the sport. It was nice to see this positive change in the attitude of the BTC authorities and their new-found ability to move at a fast pace.
The one big issue that has been finally resolved is that of shortage of stables. With the arrival of 2-year olds, there was hardly any space for the outstation horses that are expected to start reaching Bangalore by the latter part of this month. The Lumbini Stud Farm, located on the outskirts of Bangalore, has been chosen as the new base for housing youngsters prior to the start of their racing careers. The owners of this farm have agreed to build approximately 250 stables and have signed a lease to rent them out to the club. The work has started and it is learnt that horses shall start moving out shortly to their new stables in batches of 40/50 per week. This movement shall pave the way for the comfortable inflow of outstation horses.
The stake money has been increased across the board by almost 13.3% and it is understood that the stakes for 2nd and 3rd placed horses are being hiked to make it more attractive to the owners. This is similar to the practice followed successfully by the Hyderabad Race Club. There has been a huge step-up in stake money for most of the graded races that are to be run during the season. The extra incentives given to small owners are still in place. As for the big races, as usual the biggest and one with the richest purse in the whole Bangalore calendar would be the Kingfisher Derby, sponsored by the liquor-baron and one of the leading horse-owners, Dr Vijay Mallya.
A new step being introduced in the forthcoming season shall be the increase of the minimum weight to be carried by a horse in a race. The earlier bottom weight of 47 Kgs is being raised to 50 kgs. This will result in the classes being compressed to 12 Kgs (24 points). The new classes shall be 0-24, 20-44, 40-64, 60-84 and 80+. It also means that the overlap shall be minimal hereafter and horses will race with others of their own class. This is a good decision because it was getting increasingly difficult to find suitable jockeys for bottom weighted horses. Some of the apprentice boys could make those weights in the early parts of their careers, but tended to put on weight with the passage of time. It is extremely rare to come across an Aslam or an Appu in recent times. The two of them were blessed and never struggled with their weights. Sinclair Marshall summarised it beautifully when he said: "The lads have become bigger."
It has been raining regularly in this part of the country for the last one month. Although bad for the agricultural crops, it has rendered the race track in immaculate condition. It looks good enough to commence racing immediately. The summer season is without doubt the most competitive season of the year with many outstation horses coming over to have a tilt at the plums that are on offer during the said period. In spite of having gone through five months of active racing in winter, the track is ready to withstand the 26-day Bangalore Summer Season.
|
