Vivek Jain in Times of India

He came. He saw. He conquered. That about sums up Sir Cecil’s debut at Mahalakshmi that has him at the doorstep of all-time greatness. The Indian 2,000 win stretched the colt’s unbeaten run to eight, and the champion is back home at Bangalore, to enable Paddy to keep a watchful vigil on his progress. That he would have cracked the backstretch mile course record was a given, but for the unusual watering of the track on race day morning.

The talk has been not only about the grey but also of the purported move of the committee to “settle” with Gallops, at just 5% of their overdue of nearly Rs 50 Cr. After a ten year struggle, the club got favourable orders from the arbitrator and even the Supreme Court, and to even consider and recommend a compromise on such unfavourable terms, was a shocker. The reason trotted out that the process of their being ordered to vacate would take time appears lame, with the eviction hearing just weeks away. Any such
understanding will put a brake on the club’s legal remedies, now at the end of this gruelling race, and is akin to stopping a horse when in sight of the winning post. The money decree by the apex court remains unimplemented.

Even more surprising was the attempt to have this passed by postal ballot. This was unprecedented, especially for a resolution of such serious import. Moreover, this flew in the face of the members’ resolution at an EOGM in 2015, that the committee be stopped from approving any settlement except at a general meeting of the club. This virtual giveaway to Gallops would have been a breach of the fiduciary duty of the committee and thankfully the uproar forced the board to suspend their meeting which was being rushed through to have this passed by the majority, with two dissents, and with unseemly hurry.

The other discomforting news was the raid by a branch of the Mumbai police on the bookmakers which caught all by surprise. This was a crackdown on corruption and has opened a can of worms that can only harm the image of the sport. This one move will raise serious questions on the ability of the turf mandarins to police the conduct of the sport and rubbishes the clean racing mantra. It also will negate attempts to classify the game as a sport and to have the draconian sin rate of 28% GST reduced. Unless the impasse is resolved, the incremental loss to the RWITC is rumoured to be in the region of 25 lakhs a race day. With the seasonal stats making for dismal reading across all parameters, especially betting revenue, this has dealt a body blow to the club’s finances, already frayed at its edges.

The TAI will have to brainstorm the industry’s case that a 28% GST will only further encourage the betting fraternity to go illegal and the bookmakers cannot be the only ones at fault, as it takes two hands to clap and are usually unfairly singled out as offenders. The clubs will have to think out of the box to offer a face-saving for the industry, including a massive cleanup of racing’s image, rather than the committee’s penchant to get embroiled on petty issues that are insignificant in the present context.