The Stewards of the Bangalore Turf Club (BTC) decided to cancel the week-end races scheduled to be held  on  Saturday  and Sunday following the members of the Karnataka Trainers Association (KTA) choosing not to put entries. It is learnt that only 18 entries were put and the authorities had no option but to cancel the week-end program due to paucity of entries.

B Puttanna, president of KTA disclosed that it was a collective call by the members of KTA, KROA and the members of the Jockeys Association of India (JAI) to strike.

"Lot of issues brought to the notice of the authorities from the professionals and owners have not been addressed and we decided that it was time we made our point, said Puttanna.

Puttanna also revealed that the jockeys and trainers after a meeting to discuss their problems, mainly the incompetent riding and action on trainers for the inept riding of an apprentice and the bad track condition which was only getting worse due to rains, decided to strike work.

When posed with the question that a dialogue with the authorities in all probability would have provided a solution to their many issues and that a flash strike call was not the need of the hour. The veteran trainer pointed out that they had brought all the issues to the notice of the club and that the BTC had failed in their effort to address the valid issues. He, however, pointed out that the idea was not to damage the image of the sport.

“It is not that we don’t want to race. It is simply the consistency in administration of the sport that we are looking for,” said Puttanna.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that  that the one of the reason for the trainers` action was  trainer Gregory Sandhu’s  four day suspension for engaging an apprentice boy  who was found incompetent by the stipes and stewards following his inability to provide the necessary saddle assistance while partnering Shaft in an event.

 The trainer appealed against the sentence and Ashok Raghavan, representing the trainer argued that the trainer cannot be penalized in this case simply because it is the club who had found the jockey good enough to ride, providing him the license. The Appeal Board not impressed rejected his appeal. The fact that the appeal was rejected and that the many other issues were not looked into led to the flash strike.

The authorities when asked as to why they were delaying on addressing  the issues pointed out that they are open to dialogue but will not yield to the pressure tactics of the professionals.

A spokesman of the club pointed out that the professionals cannot hold the sport to ransom. The members of KTA and JAI are only complaining and questioning the authorities who run racing. This is just not done and it is time the conductors of the game crack the whip on the pros.

BTC chairman, Harimohan Naidu who was away in Nizamabad said that he was shocked by the sudden development. "I instructed the officials to take due action after consulting the other Stewards. I have been informed that there were only 18 entries and under the circumstances it was inevitable that races had to be cancelled."

Harimohan made it clear that he did not approve of the action of the professionals. “Any issue can be resolved by dialogue and I have always been willing to address issues. The fact that an appeal was rejected cannot be the basis for a strike. Established practices cannot be thrown out of window for the sake of unjust demands. It is time we take the bull by its horns,” said Harimohan.