Despite firm assurances given by the managing committee to the media in the past, no club official was in a position to provide the press information about the exact nature of injuries, if any, suffered by Rajendra. Whether this is a deliberate attempt or a policy of the RWITC to deny the press any information of such accidents is difficult to know. Blue Horizon completed a hat-trick of wins this season and so did Monifieth a little later. Though neglected in the betting, nothing could stop Vrikodara from registering his second straight victory.
After a couple of hiccups in the initial stages of the day favourites kept striking without any break and this kept the spirits of the crowd at Mahalaxmi on the positive side. During the course of the day's proceedings, it was declared by the RWITC chairman that a cheque of Rs 35 lakh would be handed over to the Prime Minister's Relief Fund for the Tsunami stricken. Those who made generous contributions were: the RWITC (Rs 10 lakh), the Poonawalla family (Rs 5 lakh), the RWITC chairman (Rs 2 lakh), Western India Bookmakers Association (Rs 4 lakh) and Rs 1 lakh each from Messrs S. Rangarajan, Vijay B. Shirke, Ikbal Nathani. The foreign jockeys were also very sympathetic towards the cause and donated 50 per cent of their day's earnings for the relief fund, the Jockey's Association of India having already made a generous contribution a few days after the tragedy.
It was indeed heartening to see the sentiments behind this drive, spearheaded by club member Mr Ikbal Nathani on behalf of the racing fraternity in Western India, to collect donations for the victims of the recent Tsunami disaster.
On the flip side, Mr Rajendra Singh Idar's attempt to settle his personal scores from the RWITC dais on conclusion of the presentation ceremony of the Pratap Stud Million marred the day's proceedings. Although Mr Idar's antics are not a novelty at the racecourse, members of the RWITC managing committee including the chairman stood embarrassed in the weighing room as he criticised unidentified individuals for reasons unrelated to the occasion or the conduct of the sport as such. Whatever be the case, there could be hardly any justification for Mr Idar to choose the RWITC podium as a platform to make his dislike for certain personalities be known to the racing public. The public as it is had no clue what Mr Idar was speaking about and didn't know what the fuss was all about. At least for the sake of safeguarding the reputation of the game and the club, the RWITC management should take all necessary steps to ensure that such episodes are not repeated in the future.
