Hyderabad Season Collapses; Racing Faces Breaking Point By Sharan Kumar Hyderabad’s winter racing season has effectively collapsed after glanders was confirmed, exposing once again how racing administrators seem determined to sabotage the sport through incompetence and inertia. With a mandatory three-month shutdown wiping out the entire season, the crisis highlights the archaic thinking and shocking lack of initiative among officials who have long outlived their relevance. As two premier racing centres falter, the sport is limping under the weight of its own mismanagement. With glanders detected in two stabled horses, the unavoidable three-month quarantine and government denotification process has begun. Even under the best-case scenario, no further positives and a completely clean set of tests, the reopening date remains a full three months away. By then, February will have passed, the winter season will be beyond salvage, and Hyderabad’s scorc...
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Leo: The Master Who Ruled Hyderabad Racing By Sharan Kumar Hyderabad racing has lost one of its towering architects. Leo D’Silva (66), was a rare talent who excelled both as a jockey and later as a trainer—passed away on Sunday in his sleep after bravely battling a kidney ailment for four years. A record-smashing number of times as a champion trainer with over 1,800 winners, he dominated the Hyderabad turf like few ever have. His sudden passing comes at a time when the sport is already reeling: Glanders has halted Hyderabad racing, Chennai’s season has been frozen mid-stream, and stalwarts are departing one after another. After the recent losses of former champion jockey Aslam Kader , master trainer S Padmanabhan , and renowned breeder Sultan Singh, the death of Leo D’Silva feels like yet another painful blow to an already bruised and grieving racing fraternity. Leo D’Silva was that rare breed who mastered both sides of the sadd...
Ricardo Blitzes Rivals with Front-Running By Sharan Kumar Arjun Mangalorkar–trained prolific performer Ricardo stormed to a commanding win in the Black Caviar Plate, the highest-rated event of Saturday’s Bangalore races, with aggressive front-running flair that left the rest gasping for relevance. Punters who clung to Touch of Grey’s fading legend were reminded yet again that nostalgia doesn’t pay dividends. Apprentice Aleemuddin had Ricardo in cruise mode throughout, the Dali progeny stretching away in the final furlong to leave Kalamisti and Never Give In chasing shadows in a one-sided finish. Meanwhile, poor Touch of Grey , a multi-classic winner whose last victory was 419 days was backed as if nostalgia alone could fuel a comeback. Racing, however, is a cruel business that respects past reputations about as much as BTC respects confidentiality which is to say, not at all . True to current form, Touch of Grey loitered mid-pack, looked...
BTC’s Leap of Faith: Racing on Promises and Hope By Sharan Kumar The Bangalore Turf Club faces its most critical test yet. With the government pressing for relocation, a one-month licence in hand, and no clear financial backing, BTC’s future hangs by a thread. The November 29 special general body meeting will decide whether the club shifts to Kunigal or risks losing it all. Without major funding and unity, Bangalore racing could soon be running out of track, unless, of course, a miracle comes to its rescue. For BTC’s grand dream of a new racecourse to become reality, someone has to open their purse and open it wide . The BTC, having run out of miracles, now needs what every good racing story eventually demands, a few heroes with very deep pockets. Unfortunately, barring the ever-generous Zavaray Poonawalla, no one else seems to have mistaken philanthropy for a tax deduction. The city’s wealthy horse lovers have misplaced both their wallets and the...
Racing’s Great Unravelling: Politics, Land, Disease and a 40 Percent Noose By Sharan Kumar Horse racing in India is now fighting for breath. From Bangalore’s land battles and arrogant club politics to Chennai’s shutdown and Hyderabad’s disease scare, the sport is being throttled from every direction. Add the hostile 40% sin tax on betting, and the game is now on life support. Mismanagement, government hostility, empty treasuries and no youth interest have turned this once glamorous turf into a slow-motion obituary in real time. Racing never expanded beyond that niche. This is not cricket where a coconut street and a rubber ball create Sachins by the dozen. This is not football where three neighbourhood ruffians and one deflated ball can launch a fan base. Racing demands study and patience and decoding a lead change between the seven-furlong post and the last 400 metres is apparently too much for a generation that can master six trading apps in one afternoon. ...
Galahad Steals the Spotlight on Opening Day The Bangalore Winter Season finally kicked off — not with swagger, but with a government licence so temporary it could have been printed on cartridge paper from a roadside Xerox. The club now has just one month to nod obediently, agree to shift the racecourse, and file a joint memo to wrap up the Supreme Court case. Amid this bureaucratic ticking time bomb, Galahad at least delivered clarity by winning the day’s feature, the Rajyotsava Trophy, with authority. By Sharan Kumar The Bangalore Winter Season began because the Government finally waved the licence in like a ration coupon valid for only a month. The club must now spend these 30 days signing letters, affidavits, and joint memos promising to shift the racecourse and to close the case in the Supreme Court by getting consent from the Special General Body. Essentially racing with a noose in the parade ring and a stopwatch ticking in the Stewards’ Room. ...
Racing in Trouble as Clubs and Governments Lock Horns Indian horse racing is reeling under a perfect storm, the government’s punitive 40% GST has drained its coffers, turf clubs are entangled in land feuds, and now disease scares threaten to finish what bureaucracy began. While visionaries like Zavaray Poonawalla keep the sport breathing, others seem intent on pulling the plug. From Bangalore’s boardrooms to Chennai’s crumbling tracks, Indian racing is running, quite literally, out of turf. By Sharan Kumar If Indian horse racing were a patient, it would currently be in the ICU, not for lack of pulse, but because the government insists on charging 40% GST on the IV drip. This absurd “sin tax” on betting has done what no rival turf club or rogue punter could ever manage, it’s crippled the sport financially and morally. The racing clubs, once vibrant citadels of sport and style, are now gasping for oxygen. If not for the philanthropic cavalry led b...