B R Sharan Kumar

  When Logic Pulls Up Lame in Racing   By Sharan Kumar   Horse racing continues to assure us that decisions are rooted in logic, process and all available evidence. The emphasis, of course, is on available . What is not sought, not checked or not asked for has a remarkable habit of never becoming relevant.   Which brings us, once again, to Bezalel and Fynbos, twin case studies in how what is not examined , when institutionalised, becomes policy.   Let us correct the record first. In both cases, the horses were not examined for any veterinary issue at the relevant time. There is no veterinary report on record for Fynbos. None. Zero. The assumption that the horse might have been checked is itself an act of misplaced faith. What we are dealing with is not selective veterinary interpretation but a complete absence of veterinary curiosity.   And that is where the real illogic begins.   When a favourite fails and an enquiry is ordere...

  Opus Dei Wins While Punters Struggle with the Puzzle   By Sharan Kumar     Imtiaz Sait trained Opus Dei , a serial offender in the art of finding the winning post a fraction too late, finally discovered that races do not end at the 1400-metre marker. Stepped up to a mile, he made the 1600 metres Kailashpat Singhania Trophy look like a private gallop, strolling home with disdainful ease in Wednesday’s Mumbai feature for horses rated 60 to 86.   Punters, meanwhile, were wrestling with the familiar Pesi Shroff riddle , a betting crossword where two answers look correct and a third still ruins your day. The heavily backed Eagle Day and the less fashionable Chagall were expected to settle matters. Naturally, neither did. To complete the lesson, Singer Sargent , briefly recalling his youth, nosed out Eagle Day for second, ensuring that even those who got close went home empty-handed.   Chagall went hard, led bravely and held on till the fin...

  The Appeal That Wasn’t Filed   By Sharan Kumar   Racing has an enduring faith in process, particularly when process arrives ahead of thought. When a beaten favourite demands an explanation, judgement tends to outrun evidence. Suspensions are imposed, order is restored, and the system moves on, satisfied that action has been taken. What follows, when the horse itself later supplies the explanation, is a chapter racing prefers not to reopen.   The story usually begins with a mock race. A sanitised exercise, free of pressure, rivals, or consequence. No reason for the horse to betray inconvenient weaknesses such as an inability to breathe when challenged. The horse impresses, the clock nods, and expectation does the rest.   Race day is less forgiving.   Crowded and pressured, the favourite suddenly discovers the limits of its airway. The jockey adjusts, exchanging ambition for realism. The crowd does not. An enquiry is inevitable.  ...

    Matheran: Cradle of India’s Jockeys     By Adil Ghandy   Matheran does not announce itself with trumpets. It rises quietly, a green shoulder of the Sahyadris, wrapped in forest, mist, and an old-world courtesy that refuses engines and impatience. No cars honk here, no bicycles rush past. You arrive on foot, or swaying gently on a pony, the way travellers have for generations. And somewhere between those red mud paths and the slow rhythm of hooves, Indian horse racing found one of its purest nurseries.   Tourism in Matheran has always leaned on horses the way vines lean on old stone. Nearly 400 ponies work the hill every day, carrying visitors along shaded trails, to viewpoints where the valleys fall away like a held breath finally released. For many visitors, it is a joy ride. For the local youngsters, it is an apprenticeship in instinct.   Boys grow up riding bareback, hands light, balance learned before fear. Horse and rider k...

      Miss American Pie Finally Savours Mumbai Success   By Sharan Kumar     Miss American Pie finally decided Mumbai was not a forbidden city. The six-year-old mare ended her long-running local boycott by narrowly holding off a late-lunging Market King to land the 1200 metres Mulraj Goculdas Trophy , the Sunday showpiece for horses rated 80 and above. For the record, this was not her maiden win as some may be tempted to believe after years of frustration. She had already won seven races from 16 starts. The only catch was that none of them had come on the Mumbai track, where the long straight has a habit of exposing front-runners with overconfidence and limited oxygen.   Enter visiting English jockey David Allan , rode the mare in restraint, instead of pressing the accelerator from the word go. He waited. He stalked. He produced her late. The daughter of Gleneagles responded with interest, cruising past Dream Seller in the straigh...

    Glanders, Testing and the Question of Proportion   By Sharan Kumar   The suspension of racing at several centres following glanders-related concerns has unsettled administrators, trainers, stud farm owners and racing followers alike. Glanders is a serious disease and unquestionably demands caution. Yet recent developments raise a fundamental question: are decisions being guided by complete medical evidence, or by fear generated by test results that may not tell the whole story?   Unease deepened when horses from closed, biosecure stud farms with no known history of exposure began returning positive blood test results, with no clear epidemiological links to explain the findings. Matters were further complicated when the National Horse Breeding Society of India (NHBSI) sought a temporary suspension of testing, citing concerns over testing protocols and interpretation. Alarm increased as repeat samples were sought from several stud farms near Pu...