The much-awaited Bangalore Summer Season finally takes off on Saturday, May 17. The season will continue till Friday, August 8, 2008. In other words, the owners and trainers have not lost any races due to the delay and the Club shall go through 26 days of racing as announced earlier. The dates in the latter part of the season may be altered depending on the inputs the Club may receive from the various sponsors. Although there has been no rainfall during the past 10 days, the track seems to be in good shape due to the untiring efforts of the racing officials at the BTC. The issue of "performance norms for professionals" has been put on hold for the moment and this has led to all-round satisfaction.
In a press meet addressed by Mr Jayant Shah, Chairman, Bangalore Turf Club, it was announced that the Club is taking many new initiatives to improve racing at this centre. It is expected that about 740 out of the 860 horses stabled at Bangalore would participate in the coming season. The list of outstation trainers reflected the fact that Imtiaz Sait and Mansoor Shah are not coming and also that Vijay Singh has arrived with a small string of six horses from Kolkata. Pesi Shroff and Karthik Ganapathy have come from Mumbai, while more than 60 horses have arrived from Hyderabad to give a national flavour to the ever popular Bangalore Summer Season.
The stake money has been hiked by about 11 per cent over the previous year and the total stake money on offer during the meeting shall be Rs 12.60 Crore. There are incentives for small owners (who do not partially or fully own more than five horses), in addition to the advertised stakes for a race. The Bangalore Kingfisher Derby is the obvious star attraction in the 26 days of racing. The BTC will guarantee total stake money of Rs 1.05 crore for this event. The Usha Stud Million and the Fernhill's Palace Juvenile Million will be the other sponsored attractions
The Club has introduced a new rating system. Keeping in mind the increased physical weight of jockeys, the minimum riding weight of jockeys to ride in races has been raised to 50 Kgs from 47 Kgs. Consequently, the rating system has been restructured as below:
Previous Present
00—30 00--25
20—50 20--45
40—70 40--65
60—90 60--85
80 & Above 80 & Above
As a result of the above, the band of weights in a race will now be from 50 to 62.5 Kgs. An important alteration is the statutory penalty for winning a race after the publication of weights which will henceforth be 5 Kgs instead of the earlier 7 Kgs. The entire scale of weights has been compressed to 60 Kgs. Another change is in the allowance that an apprentice jockey may claim in a race.
Previous Present
If he has not ridden 10 winners 5 Kgs 4 Kgs
If he has ridden 10 but not 20 winners 3.5 kgs 3 Kgs
If he has ridden 20 but not 30 winners 2.5 Kgs 2 Kgs
If he has ridden 30 but not 40 winners 1.5 Kgs 1 Kg
The chairman announced the appointment of Mr Fin Powrie as Advisor, Racing with effect from 1st April 2008. He was then introduced to the press. Powrie has held senior racing administrative positions throughout Australia, New Zealand and Dubai and has represented those countries at international racing forums. He was also instrumental in holding the Dubai World Cup at that centre for many years. He would be responsible for matters, including training of racing officials and advising the Stewards of the Bangalore Turf Club on racing control measures. The Managing Committee of the Club should be complimented for getting him to Bangalore. It would be interesting to watch him take part in the televised objections and stewards enquiries. The conduct of enquiries has been formalized on international lines, and henceforth, any enquiry into the infringement of Rules of Racing will be preceded by serving of a written formal charge sheet against the professionals. (Read Interview with Fin Powrie in Indiarace.com, "Taking Someone's Livelihood away is the Toughest Call")
The racing public at Bangalore has been patiently waiting for the season to start and it is finally going to happen. We at Indiarace wish our readers Good Luck in the Summer Season and give below a small list of horses that you may follow profitably during this period.
Fleeting Arrow, Archipenko, Shoot A Rainbow, Welcome Back, Enduring Star, Own Voice, Star Of Washington, Royal Amber, Ahira, She's Spectacular, Stagelight, Shezastar, Celestial Son, Mighty Heart, Noble Prince, Equidae, Palazzio's Son, Kiara, Set Alight and Gleaming Sky.
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