B R Sharan Kumar

The disastrous effects of equine influenza which almost ruined the entire winter season all over the country last year is still fresh in ones memory but even as racing action is set to resume, some turf clubs went on the over drive banning not only the movement of horses from Northern India (most notably from UP) but also visits of professionals to these areas following the letter circulated to the clubs about the outbreak of a dreaded equine fever in army establishments. However, a clarification form the President of National Horse Breeding Society of India Dr F F Wadia on Friday that the clubs had overreacted to the report of a few deaths of horses in army establishments has come as a great relief to all concerned. Managing Director of Usha Stud Farm, Ameeta Mehra took up the issue with NHBSI President about the letter sent by Shivlal Daga who is the Secretary of the organization to the clubs about the suspected outbreak of an equine fever. The turf clubs of Hyderabad and Bangalore w...

The Mysore Race Club has decided to increase stake money by 12 ½ per cent for the ensuing winter season which starts on November 4. The stake money for the classics for next year’s main season has also been substantially enhanced. The Guineas will now offer guaranteed stake money of Rs 20 lakhs. The stake money also been hiked for Maharaja’s Cup, the Sprint Championship and most importantly for the Poonawalla Derby. . Chairman of Mysore Race Club Kanthraj Urs said that the club was planning to build about 750 permanent stables. Already two new blocks are operational. The ventilation, the quality of construction has come in for all round praise. The professionals too have expressed happiness about the new facilities especially since the horses which arrived from Bangalore for the classics were accommodated in these newly built blocks. With the traffic on the road adjoining the race course increasing manifold, it would have been impossible for movement of horses even if Mysore Race Club ...

Veteran trainer Bezan Chenoy shot into limelight by saddling the winners of the Indian Turf Invitation Cup and Poonawalla Stud Farms and Breeders` Stayers Cup for owner Jaydev Mody in front of a packed gathering at Malakpet on Sunday. The driving finish of arguably India`s best jockey of the moment Srinath and his fine temperament played a key role in Autonomy[ profile ] necking out favourie Antonios[ profile ] virtually in the closing stride of the race. What was remarkable was the fact that Srinath did not lose his cool despite his right leg coming out of the strirrup as he retained his balance and composure to get a thrilling verdict at the expense of Indian Derby winner Antonios who did well to come through the shortest way and showed enough resolution but faltered narrwly. The slow pace of the race probably suited Autonomy whose sprinting prowess tilted the scales in favour of the produce from Usha Stud Farm. India`s best stallion ever, Razeen had a Group 1 double as his daughter...

Dancing Dynamite[ profile ] finally got it all right as he raced to victory in the Gr 1 Maj P K Mehra Memorial Super Mile, one of the star events of the Invitation Cup day races held on Sunday. While the victory of Dancing Dynamite was cause for celebration for locally based owner V N Babu and his brother V Krishna Mohan, it also gave immense satisfaction to trainer Padmanabhan who won this coveted event for the first time. He had won the other three Grade I races which form part of the Invitation Cup weekend package and this race was one he coveted most as the race is run in memory of Maj P K Mehra who was his close friend and mentor. Padmanabhan who had a runner in seven of the eight races held on the day, saddled four winners, with Palazzio`s Sun placing second in Sprinters Cup and Icebreaker finishing third in the Invitation Cup. He had reason to be excited at the success achieved by his three year olds. Becket won the Sohna Stud Million, over a mile, in the manner of a top horse ...

The Manjri Stud Farm bred Oasis Star proved that she has no peers in India when she outclassed the opposition in the Gr 1 Nanoli Stud and Breeders` Sprinters Cup which was one of the four Grade I races held on the Invitation Cup day on Sunday. Oasis Star had won the event at the same venue last year in March albeit on the winter track. In the intervening period she had proved that there existed a vast gulf between her and the rest of the sprinters in the country by simply slamming the opposition in whichever race she was entered. It is a pity that she could not go abroad and race due to equine influenza. Though the Sprinters Cup has often proved to be a graveyard for favourites, there was no looking beyond Oasis Star even given the unpredictability of racing. The Cooji Katrak trained and Shapoor Mistry owned and bred wonder filly Oasis Star went into the post as the shortest priced horse in the history of this race. Palazzio`s Sun who had reeled off a hat-trick of wins at Bangalore, ...

The Indian Turf Invitation day races will be held on Sunday at Hyderabad thanks to the efforts of race horse breeders of India who have collectively pooled in Rs 75 lakhs in order to ensure that the four Graded 1 races are held without any break. Originally, the Invitation Cup races were to be held at Mumbai in the month of March but due to equine influenza which resulted in the winter programme being adversely affected, RWITC was unable to conduct the same. This year`s programme was in danger of being called off but thanks to the efforts of the breeders and the sporting gesture of Hyderabad Race Club, there will be no break in continuity of the event. While the principal contributors have been the Poonawallas, Khushroo Dhunjhiboy and Ameeta Mehra who have put in Rs 15 lakhs each, the shortfall of Rs 35 lakhs has been made up, with 10 other breeders contributing Rs 3 lakh each. Thus race goers can get the pleasure of seeing top quality action, all packed in one day. This year all the f...

Chief Minister Yeddyurappa met members of the Managing Committee of the Bangalore Turf Club on Thursday and told them to sign the lease for the land at Chikkajala as a condition for any concessions from the government to the club. The BTC Managing Committee also presented a Cheque for Rs 1 crore towards CM’s Flood Relief Fund. In the light of the fact that the turf club had not got any appointment with the Chief Minister post the public interest litigation at Supreme Court, Thursday’s meeting was widely expected to solve the impending crisis facing racing in Bangalore following repeated notices by the government to abide by the lease agreement which mandates BTC to vacate its premises on December 31, 2009. In the meanwhile, BTC filed a writ petition in the High Court against the move to shift them out from the existing premises without an alternative facility in place. The Supreme Court had recently directed the petitioner who had filed his objection against allotment of tank bed land ...

Chairman of Royal Western India Turf Club and noted breeder Dr Cyrus Poonawalla has been conferred with lifetime achievement award at a recent meeting of the turf authorities at France. Louis Romanet, Chairman International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA), conferred the award on Dr Poonawalla at the annual conference of the IFHA held in Paris earlier this month which was attended by 150 delegates hailing from over 50 nations. Poonawalla, who has already received several national awards including the prestigious Padma Shree from the Government of India, has represented the country in various administrative capacities at the Asian Racing Federation (ARF) and the IFHA. Dr Poonawalla was honoured in recognition of his immense contribution to the sport of horse-racing and for being an effective ambassador of a country where horse-racing is extremely popular. “Indeed it’s a great honour to receive a lifetime achievement award at the IFHA though I must confess that I never expect...

The Irish Thoroughbred Marketing team is in India to promote its November sales for Indian buyers. Traditionally, Indian breeders have been buying big from Ireland. The ITB will also be sponsoring races at Pune on Friday and Saturday and will also host a reception for prospective buyers. . The interest in Goff’s November pregnant mares’ sales has been growing by the year thanks to the remarkable success achieved by the progeny of pregnant mares bought from these sales. The Irish Thoroughbred Marketing team, headed by Michael O’Hagan has done all the spade work which is now paying off. Irish Thoroughbred Marketing has used all their resources to maintain a good working relationship with the key players in the Indian thoroughbred industry, says O’Hagan and this is one of the main reasons for a warm response from India, says O”Hagan.. ``For many years Ireland and India have been working closely in relation to the breeding stock sales held every year in Ireland. These sales have proved to ...

The quality of stipendiary stewards has gone down all over India. There is not a single stipe in any of the turf authorities who could be considered as being better than the rest. RWITC has already been hit hard because of poor stiping and Hyderabad, despite its successful racing operation, has always been looking for a good stipe. The problem has now extended to Bangalore as well as where the senior stipendiary steward lacks experience, maturity and also willingness to learn. He has been placed in this critical position without reasonable experience or expertise. The Senior Stipes’ lack of race reading was evident by the manner in which the enquiry was conducted with regard to the objection in the Poonawalla Derby on Sunday. The Stipendiary Steward was not willing to take any other view other than the one he had already made up so much so that his questioning was directed at only confirming his belief and he was not interesting at accommodating any other opinion. And to think that the...

One of the finest cricketer writers that India has seen, Rajan Bala, passed away in Bangalore on Friday (October 9) after brief illness. He was truly an inspirational journalist for a generation of sports writers in the country in a career spanning about four decades. I began my career as a sports journalist in Deccan Herald of which he was the Sports Editor. I worked under him later in Indian Express as well though at that time he was stationed in Chennai. He then moved to Mumbai and also had a stint with an eveninger. He returned to Bangalore in the last decade with the intention of retiring from active journalism and keep himself occupied by writing columns for newspapers. But he soon landed another job, this time as the Resident Editor of Bangalore edition of Asian Age and he made me write a column on horse racing. He later became a columnist for Bangalore Mirror and joined a TV company as a consultant editor and yet again, he made me participate in a panel discussion on horse rac...

Turbulent times for racing in Bangalore The Bangalore Turf Club has decided to approach High Court to prevent it being evicted from the existing premises at the expiry of the lease period on December 31, 2009. The BTC land is under Public Works Department. The government agency has been sending several reminders to the club to comply with the order. The turf club had apparently got some respite when Chief Minister Yeddyurappa had assured a delegation of the turf club sometime back that he would extend the lease by six months and further extension would be considered depending on the progress shown at the newly allotted land. Things soured after public interest litigation at Supreme Court resulted in the stay of transfer of land at Chikkajala to Bangalore Turf Club. Chief Minister Yeddyurappa is reportedly upset and is inclined to believe that the petition at the Supreme Court had come about with club’s consent and active participation. There is a school of thought in turf club that is ...

The John Oxx-trained confirmed his greatness with a sixth consecutive Group One triumph. Brilliantly ridden by Mick Kinane, who has been at the helm for all nine of Sea The Stars’ racecourse appearances, the remarkable three-year-old emphatically justified 4-6 favouritism. Youmzain, ridden by Kieren Fallon and trained by Mick Channon, finished second in the Arc for a third consecutive year. The Frankie Dettori-ridden Cavalryman (12-1) stayed on for third, but was no match for the mercurial two-length winner. Oxx said: “(My heart) is still beating fairly slow, I think. It’s wonderful that it’s over - it’s just a great relief. “It’s wonderful that he’s come through it. He was in a nice position and he just had to step up the gears a bit to get out. Mick would not panic because this horse has the gears. “That’s what any jockey will tell you, if the horse has the speed and the gears he will get himself out of trouble.” It was the manner of Sea The Stars’ triumph which made his exploits in ...

Ravi Gowande strongly believes that racing is determined by elements like planets, stars et al. Though one may not agree with his analysis or vouch for its accuracy, it is has its place as one of the methods that race goers use to determine their choices. While speed rating is the widely accepted method of identifying a possible winner, there are many in India who belive that winning is also about astrology. Read on what Gowande has to say... Breeding is like astrology, consider it as science or not but it works. I view Astrology as advanced science in which artistic talent is required for correct forecasting. Foundation of astrology is Astronomy. Planets, stars are physically present in the heaven above; based on their positions in space and time certain interpretations are made. Computers can calculate positions of planets with precision but understanding those positions is an art. Same way breeding of horses is a science as well as art. lot of various theories available Dosage, nic...