Two weeks ago I ran into a friend and the discussion soon started veering towards horse racing. He showed more than a little interest about knowing more about the sport and in my defense I might have been inebriated because I seemed to keep on going about it to the point that my friend he would definitely join me to the races when he was in town again. Judging from the views he had from his limited understanding of the sport, I saw a lot of myself in him, 6 years earlier when I was an absolute outsider to the sport. Though I haven’t really ridden become 4 winners in a day to become a prominent player of the sport 6 years later, I like to think I have made considerable progress in my journey towards becoming a horse racing enthusiast who can dare to say that he can enjoy the sport without putting a single penny on the line, well most of the times! We ended the discussion with him clearly wanting to know more and there just not being enough time, so he asked me to write about it and maybe the whiskey I was drinking was too strong that day because I began at 11pm and ended at a little over 6,000 words. He shot back a mail last night that my writing did help him clear a few misconceptions about the sport and he had begun seeing the sport in a different light now. Taking his opinion for granted, I am posting the entire article here, so that someone might gain something from reading this. It is at best my understanding of the sport after 6 years of following it as an absolute outsider, and something which I remain deeply passionate about.

I might have followed this sport for 6 years now, sometimes for academic interests, sometimes out of pure obsession, but I am no more than a ‘layman’ in this sport of kings, actually as lay as lay gets, as inconsequential as it gets, whose absence or presence has no part whatsoever in determining , well, anything in this sport. But in some way for the absolute outsider who might be interested in knowing a little more about the sport, I feel I might be the right guy to hear it all from. No one introduced me to this sport, no immediate or far-away member of my family ever know a thing about this sport, few were baffled how betting on horse racing can even be legal!, I just made in-roads as an absolute outsider over time in trying to know more about the sport and making honest, genuine efforts in bettering my understanding of it . I am an enthusiast of this sport, I have spent years trying to read up on this sport, follow trends, learn from mistakes, trying to outsmart the bookmakers, and become a better horse player than I was the other day when I lost that bet on an odds-on favorite in that 5 horse-field the other day, where the lower- rung punter who has never read the prospectus of a racing calendar in his life but blamed the jockey of malpractice, the smart punt attributed the loss due to handicap of the horse, the smarter punt celebrated his success from the horses’ loss having the laid the same with the bookmakers, because of some ‘input’ he had received from some ‘paid tipster’ to whom he is subscribed to. Well someone has to be right here, and not all parties can be wrong, for someone to win, someone has to lose. But racing is not just all about betting, the money matters no doubt about that, but it’s not JUST about the money, no doubt about that too. Horse racing is a very thrilling sport, cerebral to the point of being obsessive with or without a bet, the gambling part of which is integral to the sport, but which has also made it a major taboo in the country to the point of being oblivious. Oblivious to a point, that today if you decide to read up more on the sport, after this piece, you will find just two online websites dedicated in being your ‘saddle to the world of Indian horse racing’, a sport with has a non-existent online fan base, and the only bit you will find about in newspapers will be the ‘nominated selections of the days races’ of the newspapers in the absolute, most isolated part of the sports page of the paper, and that too, if the city that you’re reading the paper in, has a racing scene.

I had thought I had no standing to be commenting on the sport of kings (former, lost glory) but then I again had a good hard look at myself and all around me. I remembered the other time I had thought of doing a development journalism project on horse racing in India and had begun the project, well, with the rather unreal way, the sport has been portrayed in popular culture, mostly Bollywood. While there have been many Bollywood movies where racing has been portrayed in bits and pieces on the silver screen, (The Dirty Picture, 2011 & Aan: Men at Work 2004, among others), there has been no piece of writing or movie, to sell to the masses a more realistic story of the sport. Well, if anyone reading has watched RACE (2008), yes the one, supposedly starring Saif Ali Khan, where he fondly tells to his rival horse owner after a race that he slowed his horse more than the other slowed his, its absolute trash. i can show you better I can tell you ,and so just watch just the first two minutes of this rather unreal narrative https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8NKs8P-71E

Stories of malpractices in this sport and intense rivalries are not unheard of, but that is way beyond reality and if a leading Bollywood star in one of the biggest commercial successes of the year is telling you the same, we can all guess how the impressionable masses in this country are going to lap it up, and this is where the layman’s perspective kicks in, the inherent view with which the masses view this sport which is nothing but a big, bad misconception. During the first few months of my involvement with my sport, in capacity of an enthusiast of the sport who used to bet at times, the people who knew me then, were certain that I had entered a ‘line’ from where, there would be a no return. I still don’t know what that means.

It might be difficult for all to relate to this, but when a 19-year-old just walks into a race course on a fine day, and later finds out, horse racing is one of the only sports in India where legitimatized gambling is regulated by the government and is speaking about the same with unparalleled enthusiasm to this peers, not everyone is going to take it in the right spirit. I remember those days, whenever I used to invite my friends to watch races live in Hastings, all I would get is ‘Jua kisi ha nahi hua’ from my friends, including the ones unemployed right now to those summer interns in Goldman Sachs. Now to look back on those times, I actually can’t blame them in any way, and that is because of the way this sport is being marketed in the country and lapped up by the masses.

Betting is legalized in Horse racing, because it is a game of skill and there is absolutely no doubt of it, yes incidences of malpractices of the sport are not unheard of in the leading centers and pretty dominant in the lesser known centers, but the impression that a few carry, of the sport, being run totally by an authority no one knows of (Illuminati, maybe) and races being blatantly fixed is absolutely ridiculous. Moreover the taboo associated with racing is because of many individuals going bankrupt betting on horses, and I or anyone else who has been to the races, in no way denies that, but risk remains an indispensable proponent of all matters of speculation and since not everyone is well disciplined and cautious enough to ‘wager money they can afford to lose’, it gives the entire sport and industry, a bad name, associated with ruining lives and destroying a person, emotionally , socially, psychologically and obviously, yes, financially. Well the stock market too hasn’t produced Rakesh Jhunjhunwalas by the dozen, so success and failure stories aplenty are everywhere when it comes to speculation, but racing has been hit the hardest by the protectionist and the socialist policies of the successive incumbent governments in India, and hasn’t be able to get over its image of being a ‘gambling sport’.

Racing is a rare product in the Indian landscape with immense potential and value, which along with being the largest spectator sport in the country is also the only sport in the country, where betting is legal. Betting is legalized and regulated because of a landmark supreme court judgment in the case Dr. K.R. Lakshmanan vs State Of Tamil Nadu And Anr in 1996, where the honorable supreme court mandated it to be a ‘game of skill’ and not mere ‘satta’ , ‘jua’ or ‘gambling’, where ‘luck’, ‘chance’ and ‘pure accident’ play the most dominant role in deciding any outcome or possibility, something like a dice game, where Yudhishthira lost all his wealth, then his kingdom and further gambled away his brothers, himself, and finally his wife into servitude. And still racing is a massive taboo for the average conservative Indian household which doesn’t mind a round of ‘teen-patti’ on Diwali! Well, I tell you what, Yudhishthira would have had better chances in keeping his kingdom intact, had he taken to races instead!, all the while enjoying this thrilling sport, along with his brothers and his wife, or at least, wouldn’t have lost all he owned as easily and as soon as soon as three or four spins of the dice.

There have been instances of serious dedicated horse players who have managed to beat this game in the longer run like a Zeljko Ranogajec or a William Benter or even a Billy Walters. These have been players in established racing cultures in countries, where racing has progressed into revenue-guzzling behemoths for all parties concerned, because of the cordial and comforting hand extended by the respective governments there, hence, horse racing in Australia, Hong Kong, Ireland, USA is among the best in the world, where the professionals of the sport are no lesser celebrities than stalwarts in other sports, as opposed to India, while the divide between racing and other sports would be enormous to even comprehend. Obviously not all horse players can’t expect the same success of a Benter of a Walters, and the success of other horse players cannot be scrutinized with absolute authority, given how murky the entire scene begins when most of the betting gets driven underground in illegal channels, but still it remains to be said, that racing might be a volatile and risky business, but it is not pure gamble and when the highest judicial forum and final court of appeal under the Constitution of India, tells you that, you can’t argue much here. The Supreme Court noted that games of skill would be where success depends principally upon the superior knowledge, training, attention, experience and adroitness of the player. Here’s more from the landmark Supreme Court judgment in 1996 https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1248365/

There is not a great scene of journalism of this sport in the country and no way whatsoever for the masses to be adequately informed about the sport, the way it is run, how the breeding industry functions, how the racing calendar of a center pans out, absolutely no way for the masses to be adequately informed about the sport, no way for a person with genuine interest to know more about the sport, without venturing to the race course on his own, and then coming back for a re-visit, provided they had a favorable experience in the first visit. That’s how the cookie crumbles for most of the ‘outsiders’ who are introduced for the first time of the sport, the individuals who are not relatives of that jockey, or friends of that trainer, immediate family of that breeder or far-away family of that bookmaker. The only thing closest to an online fan-base this sport has are forums for horse enthusiasts on only two websites covering this sport in this country, and the forums have enthusiasts discussing about the sport in their capacities as pseudonyms, horsetalk.indiarace.com/.

This is where all the turf clubs mandated with the running of the sport have failed this sport, who in turn have been failed by the successive governments ruling this country, whose collective ignorant and myopic vision towards this sport and back-breaking taxation have worsened the predicament of this sport that it was previously. The recent highest tax slab of 28% GST on turnover, sent all turf clubs in a spiral hurting their finances massively, and absolutely killed the totalizator pools pan-India, with abysmal dividends on the tote drawing away a lot of punters from the sport, prominent among them being who love racing for the love of it, with a few 100’s wagered on some horses on the weekends, enjoying the sport of kings, with money they can afford to lose or no money on the line at all.

The inherent association of this sport with betting for the person just being introduced to this sport, makes it a massive taboo for some, while others sign up are absolutely enamored at the thought of legalized gambling in the land of Yudhisithira and sign up as punters or enthusiasts of the sport, their successes or failures depending upon the strategies they employ to beat this game in the immediate and long run and a little bit of luck. Racing is a product with immense potential and if managed properly with the government extending a helping hand to all the turf authorities, racing can be restored to the former glory that it once was in India, before India became a cricket crazy nation, more of the golden days now fading into oblivion can read here indiatoday.intoday.in/story/horse-racing-in-india-assumes-the-proportions-of-a-gigantic-industry/1/360668.html in a India Today feature in the 80’s during the pinnacle of the sport in India,

THE BASICS IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER

To make sure you don’t lost in all the racing jargon, let’s just go over the most basic parts of horse racing, integral to the sport.

1. Turf Authorities of India - The Turf Authorities of India comprise of the following six main race clubs in India:

· Royal Calcutta Turf Club at Kolkata

· Royal Western India Turf Club, Ltd. racing at Mumbai and Pune

· Madras Race Club racing at Chennai and the hill station of Ooty

· Bangalore Turf Club Ltd at Bengaluru

· Hyderabad Race Club at Hyderabad

· Mysore Race Club at Mysore

Each of the abovementioned Clubs is a separate entity governed by their respective Committees, which are elected from its Members. In addition to the abovementioned racing centers, there is racing also at at Delhi conducted by the Delhi Race Club Ltd. Delhi Race Club races under RWITC rules of racing.

All racing in India is run on the venues mentioned above, by the Turf Authorities of India. The decisions of the stewards nominated by the respective Authorities relating to the happenings on the turf, like an objection during the running of space, is final and binding. They can be considered as the respective governing bodies of horse racing in their respective centers.

2. RACING CALENDAR - Racing runs all around the year in India, with Bangalore Summer Season (May- August) and Mumbai Winter Season (November- April) being two of the biggest on the Indian racing scene, with respect to the magnitude of races run, the stakes offered, and the overall lead up to the ultimate prize in Indian racing, the Indian classics, the Indian Derby (Gr1) and the Indian Turf Invitation Cup (Gr1) in particular. Following is a brief racing calendar of the country, to get a better glimpse of how the racing calendar runs along in a year, year after year. To make a rough estimate, there are easily around 3,000 races run in India, across all centers in a single calendar year.

1. Bangalore – Summer Season (May-August), Winter Season (November-March) under Bangalore Turf Club.

2. Mumbai – (November-March) and Pune (July-October) under Royal Western India Turf Club, Ltd. rules of racing.

3. Calcutta – Monsoon Season (July-October) and Winter season (November- March) under Royal Calcutta Turf Club.

4. Chennai – (October-March) and Ooty (April-June) under Madras Race Club.

5. Hyderabad- Monsoon (July to October) and Winter (November – March) under Hyderabad Race Club.

6. Mysore – Summer (May-July), Main (August-October), Winter (November-February) under Mysore Race Club.

7. Delhi – (October – April) by Delhi Race Club which races under Royal Western India Turf Club, Ltd.

3. PROSPECTUS – A prospectus is published before any racing season begins by the relevant turf authority and it details all the rules governing the sport, most of the schedule of the races of be held, total number of race days, rules for horses coming to race from other centers known as ‘outstation horses’, rules relating to the terms and conditions of feature races, the ‘sweepstakes’ to be paid by owners if they wish to enter their horses in certain races, the stake money on offer, and the deadlines which the trainers must meet in entering their horses in races among other important things. This is what a prospectus of a racing calendar looks like www.rwitc.com/downloads/Prospectus.pdf

The prospectus is released along with the chart which gives a glimmer of the total number of races for each category of horses. There are different races for different horses, based on their age, weight, previous winnings and stakes earned, and some open class races for all horses. More on that latter, here is what a chart looks like www.rwitc.com/downloads/chart.pdf

3. RACE CARD - For the layman or any other man in whatever authority, the race card is the most important document of any racing day, because it features the lineup of the races, the horses involved, the jockeys supposed to be riding them, the feature events of the day, the stakes on offer and all details of the running of races on a certain day. To put in a nutshell, to enter into the races without a race card with the intent of wagering little or any money is almost like expecting to hit the lottery, buying ‘tickets’ on certain fancy numbers, and sometimes I feel that some folks, who complain of malpractices in this sport ad infintum, without ever making a genuine attempt to improve their understanding of the sport, are either who don’t buy race cards or either don’t know how to read them. Here is how a certain race from a race card, might look like:-

Difficult to make sense I know, but overall it is not really as tough as it looks, the race card has all details of the nature of the race run, the weight supposed to be carried by a runner, the jockey assigned to ride the horse, the stakes on offering on winning the race and other places and vice- versa, which lets the enthusiasts to arrive at a comparative assessment on the runners running a race and determining their course of action with respect to the value being offered to them by the bookmakers. To let you in a little secret, it’s not what you read, but how you read it, which determines how often you win or lose, that mainly depends on your understanding the sport.

4. RACES & THE HANDICAPPER - We have finally come to the type of races run for different horses, and since it took me a while getting here, I guess some folks should agree by now that racing is more than just ‘satta’, actually a lot different than just random horses running, jockeys mindlessly riding them and punters celebrating or crying over won or lost bets. There are different races, over different categories, for different agree group of horses, and here is why the business of racing starts getting extremely cerebral.

Every turf authority in India, has a Handicapper, who is one of the most key individuals in the running of this sport, because it is the system he has inherited from his predecessors that sets rules for all the racing action in India. A handicapper of horses is one tough job, one needs to have years of experience learning from seniors to become and then be in the eye of relentless storm, whenever one horse proves way ahead of the handicapper.

“Handicap” is a race in which the weights to be carried by the horses are adjusted by the Handicapper, for the purpose of equalizing their chances of winning.

The horses are allotted different weights to be carried by them in handicap races, and the top and lower weight that horses carry, depends on how the horses have been rated. Every 1 point rating difference corresponds to ½ kilo, hence if a horse is rated 62 in a field carrying 60 kilos on its back, the horse rated 47 will be carrying 52.5 kilos, the 7.5 kilo weight difference providing for the 15 point rating different between the horses, so that the higher rated horse is on a level playing field with the lower ranked horse, and that is what a handicapper does, he handicaps the better horses in the field with the others, equalizing every ones chances of winning, so that the sport remains competitive. It might sound methodical of what a handicapper is expected but its way more cerebral than that. Tasked with increasing or decreasing rating points of horses, a handicapper awards penalty points for a horses win, taking in consideration, the manner of victory, the quality of the opponents that the horse beat and other variables, and since his ratings depend on his discretion most of the times, some winners are penalized heavily, and some are let go off easily for victories which might seem alike of on paper, hence his involvement in the scheme of things is unparalleled. His ratings ensure the further progression of a horse, right from the lowest class of horses to the highest class, which is usually from class V to class 1 in all racing centers in India. There is no uniform class ratings in India which makes the job difficult and trickier for the enthusiast of the sport, whenever horses from different centers race against each other.

Horses eventually progress from the lowest class to the highest class, and from then on race in terms races.


5. TERMS RACES

A horse begins his journey as a 2 year old, some make their debut as 3 year olds.

All thoroughbred horses celebrate their birth day on the same date, January 1 in the Northern hemisphere and August 1 in the Southern hemisphere and so all 2 year olds in the country will turn 3 on January 1, 2018 and will be eligible to run in races meant specifically for the 3 year olds.

A female horse is called a filly till she attains the age of five, by then she is called a mare.

A male horse is called a colt unless he is gelded.

Most horses begin their journey as 2 or 3 year olds and run in races mostly meant specifically for their age group, in feature races, some graded events, million races, where the stake money is decent enough for winning horses to justify their billing for the owners who bought them from the breeders.

There are many races made up only for 2 and 3 year old horses in the country in all centers, and it is from these races, that contenders for the upcoming ‘classics’ emerge, the inspiring youngsters who will further mature and battle it out for the top glory in Indian horse racing, with the highest stake money, the most fierce of competitions, in as many as five classics and other top races in different centers in the country as 4 year olds. The Indian Derby (Gr.1) which runs of the first Sunday of February, year after year, at the Mahalakshmi race course in Mumbai, celebrates the pinnacle of the sport, where champion 4 year old horses from different centers, competing against each for the richest and biggest prize in Indian racing, with total stakes reaching 3.29 crores in this years’ edition, with the winner’s stake of a little over 2 crores.

That’s the eventual progression of a horse, who debuts at 2 years of age or 3 years of age, to win a maidens race and depending upon the caliber of the horse, the earlier performances of the horse, the expectations of the connections of the horse (the trainer, the owners, the breeder), the further itinerary of the horse is very systemically planned.

After a 2 year old turns 3, he is provided a rating by the handicapper which determines the future course of action for the 3 year old. For the 3 year old it is after three runs.

If a horse has proved ordinary after some miserable performances in maiden races, then it becomes clear to the connections that the horse isn’t meant for classics, and then is campaigned for the handicap races to earn the corn-bill for the owners.

And here begins the journey for horses in the handicap races, whose pinnacle is racing in terms races meant for horses 4 years and above, which comes after the horse has gone on to the highest class in Indian horse racing handicap system, Class 1, which is horses rated 80 and upward (RWTIC).

The handicapper’s discretion in rating the younger horses often doesn’t please many connections of the horses, and even though some breeders and owners have openly criticized the handicapping system for promoting mediocrity, the current system prevails with no major change in sight.

THE KEY PLAYERS

There are a lot of players, key and central to the racing as a sport in India, each consequential and significant in their own capacities, who come together as small and big cogs, to keep the entire large wheel of Indian racing moving, braving all the hardships and set-backs that comes it way.

The Turf Authorities of India, has already been dealt, as the governing body of the sport in different centers, deciding on matters relating to happenings on the turf, now it’s time to take the key players in contention, the folks who actually make it happen to the turf.

1. THE BREEDER – At any point in time, the race horse breeder, the owner of a stud farm is the most invested person in Indian racing. He is the one who has made major investments in livestock battling against a regressive government outlook hell bent on making life more difficult for the sport, his success depends on how his or hers’ wards fare on the turf. A breeder usually imports a stallion for top dollar, and breeds the stallion with other mares, both of whom have usually done reasonably well in their careers as thoroughbreds. It’s a continuation of the breeding belief that champions will produce champions, and the belief has held its weight through all the years that this sport has existed, obviously some horses with very good bloodlines might fail, but there have been few horses who have exceeded expectations of their connections and have gone on to achieve better things over trips and distances where other members of their blood lines were suspect.

Among all breeds of horses, only the thoroughbred is allowed to run in horse racing, the breed which came into being because of an experimentation on part in 17th century England to create the absolute best in equine form by cross breeding native English mares with imported Arab stallions and since then the entire breeding scene has gone on from strength to strength, becoming a billion dollar industry in established racing cultures of the world. The entire breeding part of the sport is the most cerebral and it is the one which involves the most amounts of investment and risk. A top notch stallion, which might have done very well, racing abroad, might not be able to prove to be the same success as a sire, even after his impeccable bloodlines. Instances of heavily hyped freshman sires underperforming from leading stud farms in the country isn’t unheard of, and with such failures, the standing of the stud farm takes a massive hit, and has a corresponding effect on the prices they charge from the fresh ‘produce’ of the same stallion. If a sire has done resoundingly well in his first year, with many of his progenies earning healthy corn-bill and stakes for their owners through classics and million races won, the fresher producer from ‘sire’ keeps being more demanded and hence the prices charged for the same also signaling an upward trajectory, resulting in good returns for the breeder for his massive investments in livestock and that is more or less how a breeder runs his operations in India, where the entire hoopla of ‘stallion services’ might have the west sold, but the scene isn’t great in India. Needless to say, with the enormous required in livestock and the breeding and maintain of horses, till they are ready for sale, breeding as a profession to be involved in, is only for the high net worth individuals, the tycoons, the barons, the industrialists who have soldiered on and kept the sport and the industry alive, which was once the predominantly run by the Royalty of India, the Maharajas and Nawabs pre-independence. Since stringent government laws restrict breeders to import horses for racing, broodmares impregnated with a stallions are imported before foal-birth, who is then raced and fondly called a ‘got-abroad’, some of whom costed a bomb (over a crore) and have also gone to have reasonable success on the Indian racing scene.

Among all variables determining outcomes in this sport, the pedigree of a horse assumes great significance. All the champion horses were bred for the same, because all classics offering the highest stake and prestige in this sport are run over longer distances right from a mile (1600 meters), a mile-and-a-quarter (2000 meters), and a mile-and-a-half (2400 meters) which is the distance at which all the winter derbies are run, and also the two most important races on Indian racing scene, the Indian Derby Gr.1 and the Indian Turf Invitation Cup Gr.1.

The breeding of the horse, the characteristics and traits that the horse inherits from his father (sire) and his mother (dam), play a very significant bearing on the stamina, endurance, agility and speed of a horse and the overall success and failure that a horse is expected to have over different distances and trips. A 1200 meter Sprinters Cup Gr.1 is an entirely different ball game than a 2800 meter Indian St. Ledger Gr.1, and both the hopefuls of the same will be bred different, by different stallions out of different mares, and vice versa. Many breeders in India run their horses in their own colors too, but their usual model is dependent upon selling their ‘produce’ to owners for an average of 7 lakhs and upward for a decent pedigreed horse.

2. Owner – The one who buys the horse from the breeder, if the breeder racing the horse in his own colors. He pays for the maintenance of the horse, which can be 30,000 on an average and also sweepstakes whenever his horse is supposed to be in a feature race and the nature of the race so requires. Since the stake money on offer in the sport, has not kept pace with inflation, the entire breed of ‘sporting owners’ have taken a set –back, and the ‘gambling’ owners have been predominant on the scene. Joint ownership is also very predominant in this sport, and in a way it works, given the risks and costs involved in maintain a race horse can be quite overwhelming for the some owners, while big breeders also jointly own horses with some owners.

3. The Trainer – Licensed to train race horses for the purpose of racing by the different autonomous turf authorities in India, the horse trainer train horses for their owners and are tasked with eventual progression of the horses. While some trainers have had plenty of successes other haven’t managed to win a race for years. It’s the latter half that is more notorious for coups, to make up for the entire season with one big gamble, while the successful trainers have been accused more often than one of not letting a runner run of merit, trying to stop a favorite horse (the one who attracts the most amount of betting) and trying to win the race with some long shot horse. The trainers are paid their fees by the owners, and also retirement and other benefits from the respective autonomous turf authorities upon surrendering of their licenses.

4. The Jockey – The one risking his life atop a 400 kilo animal running at break-neck speeds, trying to outsmart his rivals and putting all on the line to win a race, only to be lambasted by the punters when he returns back to the paddock after finishing second despite a gallant effort on a short-priced favorite. Racing is unforgiving and your failures are counted more than your successes, and the jockeys have to face the maximum amount of heat whenever things go astray or if that is what the punting public feels, who are sometimes just plainly ‘speaking out of their pockets’. Instances of leading jockeys stopping horses are not unheard, pretty predominant I would say, but it is not on a scale as you or as easy as Saif Ali Khan in RACE (2008) would have you believe. Careers of promising jockeys have been destroyed (Tushar Nemane) over aligning with nefarious elements and stopping their horses to run on merit, but still hooking of horses is pretty significant in this sport, but no one bats an eye-lid, since most of the enthusiasts have become ‘normalized’ to the scheme of the things. The top jockeys earn 2,000 per ride they take to ride on a race card, along with retainer ships from leading owners and breeders and commissions at 4.5 to 7.5% to the stake money won by the horse.

5. THE BOOKMAKER – Some feel his presence is unwanted on the course and a major reason for all the unscrupulous and nefarious on the scene, but few couldn’t imagine the sport without his presence. Bookmakers along with the totalizator pools in all turf clubs, are responsible for all the betting turnover in horse racing in the country. Bookmakers work by their capacity to take bets, and there are many small, big, and medium sized bookmakers present across race courses all over the country. You can bet with the bookies for either win or place, place meaning your horse has to end in the top 3 in an 8 horse field and top 2 in a 7 horse field and win, means your horse has to win the race. The bookmarkers open odds and take bets on the space from the betting public and the ‘flow of money’ determines how the market is reacting and thus we narrow down on the ‘favorites’ on the race. Indian racing got a bad name when certain well backed favorites were beaten and the running and riding attempts of the jockey didn’t seem genuine enough, such things happen and will continue to happen, the racing authorities just haven’t done enough to restore the confidence of the betting public in racing and making racing a transparent enough sport. The bookmaker are nevertheless a very key player in this sport, who takes bets from the ‘connections’ of the horses, the same connections who wouldn’t have much interest in the sport otherwise, given the abysmal stake money offered in some of the ‘premium’ race clubs of the country.

6. THE HORSE - The horse is one of the most key players on the turf, sometimes I feel he is not credited enough, for all you plan, and all you contemplate , and all you strategize, the horse has to run in the end and deliver for your plans to see the light of the day. The horse is the most important player on the turf, ‘money makes the mare go’ might be a popular saying in breeding but the best saying in this sport is ‘only a racehorse can take a million people on a ride at the same time’ and it sure can. The horse can be a complicated customer, and even after having the best form and condition on paper, might not perform to expectations because of some injuries he might face during the riding of the race or some physical irritations before going into the race. To keep the race horse ‘fit’ and ‘race ready’ all through a racing calendar is a very tough task and something not a lot of people appreciate and something not a lot of race horse trainers get credit for. Horses losing form and running like absolute duds as opposed to champion performances earlier have happened and continue to happen, and it is not always due to some malignant intentions on part of the jockey, something that the Indian punter at large needs to become matured enough to understand. The race and luck of the race can go either way and it determines a lot of results on the racing scene, with a few champions horses (Muriori) having lost lives on the turf, during races following mishaps.