After a lot of uncertainty about the prompt start of the Bangalore
Summer Season due to unresolved issues between the Bangalore Turf Club
and the combine of Karnataka Racehorse Owners’ Association and Karnataka
Trainers Association, the season is set to take off on Friday.
The parties came to some sort of a compromise only on Tuesday and as
such final entries and acceptances were rushed through and a small card
of six events has emerged for the first two days of the season. This was
perhaps because most professionals had resigned to the first week’s
races going void like in the past, given the fact that the BTC Managing
Committee which lacks dynamism was not serious about solving the
problems and has always swept the problems under the carpet. The
agitating parties on their part were interested in forcing a stalemate.
Professionals have long ceased to trust BTC because the commitments
given by them over the years have been like the one ``given on water’’
as one aptly put it. There is no sanctity to any commitment given by BTC.
The club is in the habit of giving commitments and then going back. The
same goes for every policy decision that it takes. The crux of the
problem is the provident fund for syces and who should fund it. The
matter has got embroiled in legalese, with BTC wanting to distance
itself from the issue. Whoever has to rightfully pay the statutory
requirements, the Bangalore Turf Club cannot escape responsibility as
all action takes under its banner and they are duty bond to ensure that
everything goes as per the dictates of law.
The agitating owners’ and trainers’ association were also not right in
their approach as they were insisting on BTC being part of every
activity instead of evolving means of solving the crisis through the
creation of a corpus fund. Whether BTC is part of it or not, it is
important that BTC chips in with the needed help given the fact that its
monies accrues from the all important activity namely racing. As such,
the onus on the agitating bodies was to get BTC’s involvement directly
or indirectly, with the crucial input being providing financial help. It
was aase of everyone trying to run away from responsibility while
wanting the glory part of the business of racing. Fortunately, some
bargain seems to have been achieved by the warring body and one hopes
that the problem will not go on till eternity!
Over the years, the start of the Bangalore Summer Season has always been
affected by one problem or the other and these issues have been
highlighted several times to bear any repetition. Suffice it to say that
with all the problems that beset the running of racing due to the feudal
mindset of the authorities and the aggressive posture of the bargainers,
it is a wonder that racing still goes on smoothly. Fortunately, the
contradictions help in ensuring that the activity goes on despite
obvious inadequacies. The tote-oriented betting brings in windfall for
the club which results in attractive stakes ensuring that the best
horses in India assemble for the three-month season while racing takes a
break in all the relevant centers in the country. The 26-day season
promises plenty of good action and racing will be very competitive. The
Kingfisher Bangalore Derby stake money has gone up steeply, with the
assured amount being a whopping 100lakhs!
Trainer Ganapathy who is back after a bypass operation kept him out of
action during the closing stages of the long-winding winter season
will have share the limelight with his son Karthik who has been given a
license. Though both have to share horses, the split between the two
will not affect the domination of the champion trainer. He has a host of
champion older horses in the form of Southern Empire, Diabolical, Secret
Memory and Haunting Memories who shared the major plums of racing in the
last one year. They are expected to make their presence felt in the
graded races for horses which are four-years old and over. Turf baron Dr
M A M Ramaswamy rates Southern Empire as a far superior horse to
Mystical but this remains to be proved. It will be interesting how
Southern Empire takes on a champion older horse like Holding Court and
their clash if it comes about in the Gr 2 Maharaja’s Cup, will be one of
the exciting moments of the season.
While Ganapathy has a surfeit of champions, he has a number of
three-year olds which can prove their mettle during the season and turn
out to be future champions. He has the highest rated three-year old in
the form of Bourbon King who has to his credit an outstanding timing for
six furlongs in Bangalore besides the success in the Gr 1 Poonawalla
Multi-Million. Badge of Gold is also another decent type of three-year
old and this progeny of Razeen bears watching as he has beaten some good
horses in his first season. A number of well-bred three-year olds did
not live up to expectations during the winter season but as they have
blood on their side, they need to be watched closely. Trainer
Padmanabhan has quite a few good three-year olds in his yard, the pick
being Southern Charge who won the Gr 2 Bangalore Juvenile Million in his
second start. The son of Placerville out of champion mare Snow Dew has
the makings of a champion and he can only improve on what he has already
achieved. Holding Court has proved that he belongs to the best to have
graced the Indian turf and the possible tilt with Southern Empire is
eagerly awaited.
With a number of three-year olds yet to have their initiation, it is
difficult to predict how the races for these horses are going to shape
but there is no denying that these races would be closely fought out.
This year, the Hyderabad trainers have come with good horses and the
performance of graded race winners Vijayaraj (Black Cash) and Auxiliary
(Tejano) will be great interest for all race goers. There is reasonable
presence of trainers from Mumbai and champion trainer Pesi Shroff has
come here with a decent lot of three-year olds and it is worth following
the fortunes of these visiting horses. Trainer Imtiaz Sait had a poor
Mumbai season and that is all the more reason to believe that the tide
will turn his way and he may win his share of races.
So get set for some interesting action.
