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| The Bangalore Turf Club was forced to cancel the racing scheduled for Friday, 30th January following a decision taken by the BTC trainers to refrain from entering their horses in the races framed for the day. The Karnataka Trainers Association (KTA) and Karnataka Racehorse Owners Association (KROA) are jointly protesting against the BTC authorities for not meeting their demands. (Read “Racehorse Owners to Stage Protest” at our site.) At a Press Meet Tuesday evening, BTC Chairman and Senior Steward PV Shetty said, "It is unfortunate that Friday's racing had to be cancelled due to no entries." He said that the Club’s authorities were perplexed by the stand taken by these two associations. Why was racing at Bangalore being sabotaged because of something that has happened in Mysore, and affected the horses and trainers at that Club? He confirmed that there was a request from KROA and KTA sometime back, requesting BTC to extend a helping hand in solving the problems faced by owners and trainers at Mysore. The stoppage of activities at MRC, after the outbreak of Equine Influenza, had resulted in a majority of owners at Mysore coming under a BTF ban. This had resulted in trainers not getting their dues on time, thus leading to financial hardships. The authorities at The Mysore Race Club had refused to address this issue, by stating that they were not in good financial health at the present moment. Shetty confirmed that after a couple of Managing Committee meetings, the BTC decided to come forward and announce a financial package to help the owners and trainers at Mysore. They suggested the following actions: 1. To remove the BTF ban on all owners, irrespective of the amounts involved, with immediate effect. 2. To release the BTF to the trainers, and to continue doing so till the commencement of racing at Mysore. 3. The owners shall be given time six months time thereafter, to clear the above-mentioned amounts released by BTC on their behalf to their respective trainers. The above package would entail an additional outlay of approximately Rs 2 crores and a notional interest cost of Rs 10 lakh. The BTC has been supporting racing activities at the MRC by funding a part of their operations. This is given as a grant for every day of racing conducted at their premises. It has been progressively increased over a period of time, and currently stands at Rs 8.50 lakh per race day. The BTC decided to give them an additional amount for the next few months, and help them to tide over a part of their problems. It was even suggested that MRC commence its racing by mid-February and have one race day per week till the end of March. This would have resulted in the owners getting an opportunity to earn some badly needed stake money, as also for the horses to get back into their strides. For reasons best known to the MRC authorities, they unilaterally cancelled their races, and did not even think it fit to consult the BTC while taking this decision. The first they heard about it was when it was announced in the "Press". With regards to the other issues raised by the KROA and KTA, the Chairman made the following observations. The BTC has been providing the highest stake money in the country. The current per annum figure stands at Rs 25.50 Crore. The Club has been extremely generous to its owners and trainers by providing incentives that have not even been heard about at the other centres. This is the only Club which provides a three month BTF credit to all its owners, and this puts a huge load on the Club's finances. The BTC was extremely proud about the standard of racing and stiping at its premises. The credibility levels were high, and this was reflected in the tote turnovers which were showing remarkable improvement over the last many years. The Club's Toatalizator Collections had crossed the magical figure of Rs 1000 Crore sometime back. To the issue raised by KROA regarding RCTC giving 100% subsidy to its owners, he said that this fact was totally misrepresented. Indiarace wanted to check the veracity of the two claims and spoke to the Chairman and Senior Steward of RCTC, Cyrus Madan. He confirmed that they had released an amount equivalent to two months of BTF to the trainers on behalf of the owners. But it was neither a subsidy nor a grant. It was purely a loan to the owners and they shall have to return the same to the RCTC over an extended period of time. With regard to comparisons with RWITC, it was mentioned that there are many things that are done at that Club which are non-existent at the BTC. The BTC provides free stabling, free electricity and free water to all the trainers. All these facilities are payable at the RWITC. Moreover, the RWITC makes it mandatory for every owner to pay a non-refundable amount of Rs 25,000 at the time of bringing and registering a two-year-old. BTC charges no such fee. With over 350 2-year-olds entering BTC stables every year, this could possibly be a big revenue earner for the Club. Another issue that has been repeatedly cropping up in recent times pertains to a sum of money (reportedly in excess of Rs 6 Crore) belonging to the KROA, and lying in the custody of the BTC. It was stated that the Club was only a custodian of that money, and had been requested by an earlier Committee of the KROA to keep it in safe custody. The present KROA Committee was free to request for a release of this amount in writing, and the same would be handed over to them immediately. The last matter pertained to a demand by the KTA demanding a return of the security deposit received by the Club during granting licenses to trainers. Shetty replied, "A return of the licence amount would result in the licence itself getting cancelled." While summing up the situation and concluding the meeting, the Chairman informed all present that Friday's racing at Bangalore had been cancelled because of a lack of entries. The Club's boxes shall remain open on all future dates for the trainers to put their entries in accordance with the prospectus guidelines. It was up to them to take a call. He was not an "Astrologer" to predict the future, but hoped that things would return to normal and racing would resume next week at Bangalore. |
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