An eagerly awaited Bangalore Summer Season 2013 is set to commence this Saturday. At a press meet held at The Bangalore Turf Club on Thursday afternoon, the Chairman of the club announced that a season comprising of 26 race days will begin on the 18^th of May and continue till the first half of August. The stellar event of the season, The Kingfisher Bangalore Derby (Grade I), will be held on the 14^th of July. Including 92 outstation participants, the total number of horses will exceed nine hundred. This will include close to 400 three year olds. Recent rains in the city have rendered the track in perfect condition. Lush green grass awaits the pounding of hooves this weekend. At the insistence of the city police, the BTC has taken some serious steps to ensure discipline on their premises. Bio-metric identification of Club Members, Owners and Trainers has been undertaken to regulate movement into restricted areas. Close circuit TV Cameras and Monitors are being put in place for security purposes.  

The racing during the Summer Season is sure to be interesting, and the competition intense. With a number of top class youngsters arriving to have a tilt at the Classics, it may be difficult to nominate a clear winner.  Neil Darashah’s Miracle Memories has been an outstanding performer on the Bangalore track, and it will take a very good horse to beat him. Poonawalla Multimillion winner Murioi and runner-up Starry Eyes look like his main challengers. The latter looks more suited over an extended trip, and the filly is likely to enjoy the uphill track at Bangalore. The Pesi Shroff camp will be represented by Amelia, Archie and Mariinsky. Last year’s sensational trainer Deshmukh, has the talented pair of Decathlon and Kallu Mama under his charge. Both of them are reported to be in good shape and raring to “go”. Suleiman Attaollahi’s Striking, Bipin Salvi’s Ace Bucephalus and the Padmanabhan trained Artorius are the others with serious Classic potential. It is obvious that all of them are sure to reach the highest class in the next few months. Our track reporter informs us that there are a few horses that have been working really well in recent days and it may pay to follow them during the early part of the season. These include Bronzino, Icelander, Charlatan and Azetic Star. The last named is bred as a half-brother to An Acquired Taste, and he is being touted as the best maiden based at Bangalore. 

One serious issue that faces racing all across the country pertains to a demand from the Income Tax Department. A notice received by many clubs asking them to treat stake money paid to owner’s as “winning from horse racing”, has raised a number of questions. The officer who has raked up this matter has apparently not applied his mind to the intricacies of this sport. To treat betting and winning on horses and lotteries at par with owning a race horse and earning stake money, is difficult to comprehend. In the first case, a person has to just buy a ticket and wait for a favourable result. On the other hand, an owner has to invest in a horse, pay for its upkeep and training, meet medical expenses, pay entry money for a race horse to participate in most events, bear the fees paid to a jockey to ride it, and thereafter, only hope that the runner manages to earn its corn bill. More often than not, an average owner is unable to take care of his horse with the stake money that it earns on an annual basis. A straight-forward 30% deduction from all stake money paid to an owner’s account has been demanded by the department. Furthermore, they have tried to do this with retrospective effect. It is next to impossible for race clubs to go looking for people that may have owned horses in the past, and ask them to refund 30% of the stake money credited to their accounts over the last six years. A number of race clubs have knocked on the doors of the local courts and sought relief. The Bangalore Turf Club did the same. While granting a “stay” on this issue, the Karnataka High Court asked the BTC to comply with this demand with prospective effect. The Club complied with the said order and deducted the same during the last two days of the Winter Season. The final hearing in this matter has been posted on the 28^th of May, and the  verdict is sure to have a telling effect on racing in general. While the entire racing fraternity is awaiting the final orders with bated breath, it is time for the Turf Authorities Of India to collectively make a trip to North Block in Delhi. An informed representation to The Finance Minister Of India and his officials in The Central Board Of Direct Taxes should be able to solve this issue. This entire problem has supposedly stemmed from the fact that a large number of race horse owners across the country are not filing their racing accounts along with their annual Income-tax returns. With the Government taking numerous steps to broaden the tax-payer base in the country, this is one area that has invoked its interest. A fair solution for all concerned would be the normal 10% TDS deduction by the clubs. A certificate to certify this transaction could be given to the owners, who in turn would be allowed to set it off against expenses incurred to maintain their horses. 

Another contentious matter that needed to be sorted out pertained to an age old arrangement between the various Turf Authorities. Using an ancient formula, they were paying and collecting “Royalties” from each other. It was based on the number of race days that each one of them took a live feed from another club, and held off-course betting activities at their own centre. While most of the others had sorted out their issues, the BTC and RWITC were unable to do so. It is learnt that at a meeting held in Bangalore on Wednesday, the impasse between the two clubs over Royalties and Live Signals was resolved amicably. 

With leading Bangalore based jockeys PS Chouhan, Suraj Narredu, S John and Sreekanth missing the early part of the season because of “suspensions”, there will a great shortage of riding talent during that period. This gap will somewhat get filled with the arrival of Mumbai champion Zervan along with his colleagues Sandesh and Trevor Patel. Most race clubs in the country run their own apprentice jockey programmes. The Bangalore Turf Club has realized the necessity to initiate such a plan, and in line with this thinking, has sought the services of veteran jockey Sinclair Marshall. He has been assigned this job along with the responsibility to re-train licensed apprentice jockeys who have failed to meet the requisite standards. On race days, Sinclair will be a part of the panel of Stipendiary Stewards that overlooks racing at this centre.