It was a bloody shame. Only four from the 141 members who walked in to the Extra-Ordinary General Body meeting (EGM) on Wednesday voted in favour of the resolution to give 50 memberships of the Bangalore Turf Club (BTC) to the government and gain the licence to start racing operations at the premier centre. The resolution was defeated with a massive majority. More than 240 including the proxies vote against, while a paltry 10-12 including proxies were in favour of the resolution.

What was really shocking was the fact that most horse owners who were crying hoarse that they have been hit hard from Sept 1, the day the government decided to hold back the licence to conduct racing and were time and again pointing out that any further delay would spell disaster too failed from voting in favour and the many who were advocating that in the interest of the sport, members need to give in to the government demand chose to be spectators in the one-sided exercise which only proved that many in the BTC campus don’t practice what they preach.

The result left the managing committee of BTC with no choice but to approach the courts. The moment 120 proxies were registered on Monday, it was clear that the resolution was defeated without a vote being caste and the managing committee quick on the draw had finalised on the legal counsel to challenge the government in court. It is learnt that BTC will file the petition on Thursday and the Karnataka Trainers Association (KTA) too will toe the same line the next day. The BTC legal team is confident that they have a good case in hand and hopefully will get racing back on even keel in the months ahead.

When pointed out that the executive committee of the club and a majority of senior members had earlier disclosed that court will be the last option taking into account that it was tricky knowing that the government could pull the plug with the CID report, a majority revealed that the tide against the revolution was swift and strong and now they have no option left but to take the bull by its horns.

Asked to comment on what was a no-show from the members, who wanted the sport back on track quick and fast, racing buffs were unanimous in their opinion that the group campaigning in favour of the resolution lacked the solidarity and guts and lost the plot on the voting day.

Well the question now is what happens to the horses stationed here. It is learnt that the Mysore Race Club (MRC) have agreed to frame two races for Bengaluru-based horses on all 12 winter meetings on the condition that the stake money for these races should be generated by KTA and the Karnataka Racehorse Owners’ Association (KROA). Though, it is still not official the word doing the rounds is that KTA and KROA after a stormy debate have agreed to contribute two lakh each for the running of the two races at Mysore.

A couple of small owners who were looking to shift to Chennai shocked by the turn of events in Chennai now are caught on a sticky wicket, while some top trainers and owners understanding that BTC is under a big dark cloud are exploring options at Hyderabad and Mumbai knowing that it will not be easy to shift base, lock, stock and barrel.

Finally the news from the corridors of power is that the government is stunned by the response from the members. This is not what the government was looking at, but now that it is being challenged, the government is ready for the big court battle.