Thursday’s races at Mumbai began on an ominous note as one watched in utter disbelief, young apprentice jockey Tushar Nemane snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. For a change, this time the discussion on the merits or demerits of the race was not on hindsight. It was indeed a horrific sight to see the prime favourite Celsius, on a start-to-finish mission over a scurry, squander a healthy, rather winning lead and lose from a winning position.

Nemane did all the right things initially as they jumped out of the gates. He moved smoothly inwards, ensuring he didn’t get in the way of his opponents as he opted to guide the well-backed Celsius towards the inner rails from draw five. That perfectly done, he settled the Imtiaz trained filly nicely to go at a crisp pace. Celsius looked absolutely comfortable coming into the straight. The ones chasing her were off the bridle soon after, but Celsius looked calm and Nemane appeared confident.

Just when one expected Celsius to accelerate further and romp home once the jockey opened her up for the final run, Nemane for reasons beyond comprehension, failed to go for the kill. Neither did he go for it vigorously nor did he take his whip out. Worse, he gave an impression that either he took his victory for granted or that he did not notice Fairy Queen gathering momentum under some hard riding by Kavraj Singh on the wider outside. His finishing effort was too poor to stomach for the large following that Celsius had attracted. Eventually, Fairy Queen managed to get past Celsius to a pull off what looked a few strides before, an improbable victory!

Even an ordinary race-goer could notice the utter lack of energy on Nemane’s part. This stirred up the crowd who started to get vocal, venting their displeasure. A Stewards’ enquiry was called for immediately. A nervous Tushar Nemane cited fatigue for his poor show but that didn’t seem to hold any water with the authorities. He may have been grossly overconfident. Whatever the reason, it was apparent that Nemane’s riding was incompetent, the lad simply blundered. The Stewards suspended him with immediate effect pending enquiry.  

To add to the fiasco, the stipes suspected that other than Celsius, even Heavenly Prize (MA Roushan) was handled injudiciously. It is learnt that trainer Sunderji (Heavenly Prize) also mentioned to the Stipes that he was not completely satisfied in the manner his ward was handled by Roushan and that the jockey did not follow his instructions. The race, thus, could not be said to have run on true merits conclusively. There were enough doubts in mind concerning the top two fancies in the race.

The Stewards after prolonged deliberations, decided to declare the race null and void. The public roared in unison welcoming the decision. The debate on the merits of the call lingered on right through. Such rulings are never easy to satisfy everyone, but what the Stewards did manage was to satisfy a good majority of the betting public, which is justified.  In another case in Pune a couple of years ago, the Stewards had allowed the race, but had ruled to nullify all betting on that race. That would have been ideal. But the reasoning to rule the current race in question null and void could have been due to the second fancied horse too not allowed to run on merits. That was must have weighed to tilt the balance in arriving at their present decision.