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| The much awaited Bangalore Summer Season 2009, begins this weekend with a well filled card of eight events framed for Saturday and a bumper card of nine events on Sunday. With the major issue of licensing norms being sorted out amicably between the Club and its licensed Trainers, racing patrons can look forward to uninterrupted action on the local track till the first week of August. The Clerk Of The Course has done a wonderful job with the race track, which is looking in impeccable condition. Intermittent showers during the last fortnight have helped the cause. Mr P V Shetty, Chairman BTC, addressed a press meet earlier this afternoon. He announced that the Club shall be conducting racing over 26 days, and the stake money has been increased by 10% over the previous year. It has been decided to allow seven year old horses to participate in this period and the number of local horses has gone up to 785, as compared to 741 in 2008. There has been an unusual drop in the number of outstation challengers that have arrived this year. Only 53 horses as compared to 130 last year have reached Bangalore, and this shall definitely dilute the tough competition that is normally witnessed during these months.. The Club has been facing numerous problems because of the road widening operations of the local corporation. The Club decided to construct a hundred odd stables, and work related to this project had commenced a couple of months ago. A majority of these stables are ready for occupation. The Kingfisher Bangalore Derby shall be the stellar event of this season. A change in an age old norm was announced today. Till now, only the winner of the upper division of a trophy event was presented with a trophy. Hereafter, the winners of all divisions shall be entitled to receive the same. This practise is being followed at most Race Clubs in the country, and this announcement was welcomed by the horse owners at Bangalore. Padmanabhan was the champion trainer of the Winter Season. He had dethroned Ganapathy after a reign of many years. Padmanabhan has a very nice lot of horses, and the stable is expected to do well in the major events during the season. Trainer Ganapathy had many youngsters running second and third in the races framed for maiden three year olds during winter. These horses are bound to pick up races and shall be worth following in the coming weeks. Ganapathy has a distinct advantage over Padmanabhan in terms of sheer numbers. He has a much larger establishment. An interesting duel between the two is on the cards. The jockeys charts are bound to see another close fight between Suraj Narredu and B Prakash. Suraj is improving with time, while Prakash seems to be past his prime. With Suraj logging a good "Strike Rate" during the past couple of years, trainers are likely to seek his services. It is learnt that he has been retained by Dr Vijay Mallya's racing establishment. He is bound to dominate the action. Jockey Appu was involved in an accident, and was out of action for the past few months. He returns to the saddle, and his supporters can look forward to seeing their favourite jockey in action. A couple of foreign riders are likely to arrive later this month. The ratings of three year olds have been published. Arjun Mangalorkar's Aboline finds himself occupying the top spot ahead of Padmanabhan's Gypsy Magic. The duo are likely to be the prime contenders in the Colts and Fillies trial stakes. |
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