B R Sharan Kumar

Altamash Ahmed trained Scionic won the Gr 3 Deccan Bookmakers’ Fillies Trial Stakes, the first classic of the season, on Sunday. For young trainer Altamash, this was his first classic success in his short career. Incidentally, the Fillies Trial Stakes was a deemed classic all these years but with the graded status having been accorded since this year, the race is a classic in all respects. The success of Scionic should boost trainer Altamash’s career. He has won a fair share of races back home at Mumbai with a relatively small string. The fact that he is ambitious and wants to win big races is big plus point for Altamash who graduated from Rashid Byramji’s yard. Pune challenger Sun Elegance was the favourite with Couleur Rouge who had beaten Kohinoor Wish in her last assignment also being strongly fancied. The race itself had a very open look about it as none of the runners had towering performance to back their credentials. Scionic had run a fair race in the F D Wadia Trophy and she h...

The most extensively used piece of communication in racing is the mobile phone. Today the biggest contributors to the mobile phone service providers are people from racing industry. Mobile phones seem to have robbed the sport of some of its old world charm. This is the first of the series of articles to bring out the lighter side of the sport. By Sharan Kumar The all pervasive mobile phone seems to have robbed the charm that was associated with the sport in the past. The mobile phone has made possible last minute communication between the absentee race horse owners, its trainer and even the jockeys even though the use by the last named is officially not permitted. Somehow, the ingenious jockeys have managed to take the mobile phone to the weighing room and there have been instances of jockeys having been punished for use of mobile phone in the most unlikely of places. Old timers tell of several ingenious ways trainers and jockeys adopted to convey the information about whether their ho...

Padmanabhan trained Balmoral Castle announced her arrival as a horse of classic potential when she held off Ordained One to win the Gr 3 Mysore Million which has traditionally served as a good lead up race for the forthcoming classics on Friday. Balmoral Castle showed amazing improvement since recording her maiden win hardly a fortnight ago and showed great maturity when racing with the pace setter and showing sparkling acceleration to leave the field standing. Ordained One’s powerful finish only served to add an element of excitement to the race. The well made daughter of Spartacus who was bred at the all conquering Sohna Stud Farm, will next race in the Mysore Guineas and if she does well, then progresses to have a go at the Derby. The Mysore Million, run over a mile, has been won by quality horses. Two years ago, Icebreaker won this event and went on to become the Horse of the Year. The race attracted a quality field, with Aztec Gold who had run a close second behind classic hopefu...

Jockey Suraj Narredu joined the elite league of Indian jockeys who have completed riding 1000 winners when he rode Becket to victory in the Nizam`s Gold Cup (Gr.3) at Hyderabad on Monday. Suraj thus gets the unique distinction of reaching the land mark in eight years of him getting license as an apprentice at the Bangalore Turf Club. Three of the dozen odd Indian jockeys who have reached this mark come from his family as his father Satish Narredu and his uncle Malesh Narredu also have reached this milestone. The striking feature of Suraj Narredu`s career thus far has been his hunger for wins. He meticulously studies the race card, selects the possible winners and then makes earnest effort at getting these rides from trainers and owners by his persuasive approach unmindful of the fact that he may be unsuccessful in his attempt. Though this approach of his has not gone down well with his fellow jockeys who felt deprived of their rightful mounts, the fact that Suraj proved successful resu...

The Bangalore Summer Season ended in a bizarre fashion, with 14 races scheduled for the concluding day’s races were cancelled following the refusal of Karnataka Racehorse Owners Association and the Karnataka Trainers Association to allow racing to take place. A total of Rs 1.5 crores was thus lost to owners due to their self defeating approach. The KROA was ostensibly demanding more race days to compensate their losses but ended up inflicting more on themselves. The summer season ended exactly the way it started. The Bangalore Turf Club believed that they were losing the authority vested with them as they had compromised quite often by meeting every demand raised by the owners association. The club refused to extend the season beyond the scheduled date though they deviated from the norm and allowed a big card to be framed for the last two days of the season. The KROA insisted that they would not settle for anything less than extension of the season resulting in the matter reaching a de...

The protest by Karnataka Racehorse Owners Association demanding extra race days resulted in the postponement of last three races of the 11-event card that was to be gone through on Saturday. Soon after the presentation ceremony of V T Velu Memorial Cup was over, representatives of owners association and others entered the paddock demanding that the Stewards concede the demand for extra race days in lieu of the two cancelled races of the opening week of the season. The Stewards had not yielded to the demand for extending the season which was due to conclude on Friday. Instead, they permitted framing of 11 races each on Thursday and Friday, departing from the practice of not having more than eight and nine races on the two race days of the week. As a result of the protest, horses for the ninth race were not brought to the paddock and after a delay of more than half an hour when chaos reigned, the authorities announced that the last three days will be added to the long card of 11 events f...

Racing is heading for a crisis. The Bangalore Turf Club is under High Court mandated notice to shift from its existing premises on September 22 and everything now hinges on the outcome of the Special Leave Petition in Supreme Court on September 7 A favorable decision may prolong racing in Bangalore for some more time but in the long run, racing is facing extinction in the capital city of Karnataka unless the race club makes an earnest effort to build an alternate venue and plan its future. The Bangalore Turf Club has not been able to rise about the petty internecine quarrels which threaten to destroy the age old edifice. The rival factions are busy running down each other and whenever someone tries to do some good, he is being pulled down. Racing in Mumbai is also under threat as its lease is due to expire in 2013 and the Mumbai Corporation has already made it clear that is not going to extend the land lease citing several breach of contract. The RWITC is facing fresh problem because t...

The promoters of Sohna Stud Farm had further cause for celebration as their resident stallion Noverre continued to produce classic/graded race winners abroad. Noverre has already attracted big attention in India and his first crop of over 50 yearlings has already been sold out in India. Noverre is currently standing as stallion at the high profile Sohna Stud Farm which has been enjoying a glorious run in Indian racing, having produced Jacqueline, winner of four Indian classic winners in a row, Becket, winner of Bangalore Derby and Indian Turf Invitation Cup and multi-classic winner Sprint Star in the same year. The Sohna Stud Farm is owned by Sultan Singh and Gautham Thapar. The performance of Noverre in Europe has already caused his original owners to regret selling him. Noverre is the highest performed stallion to stand in a stud farm in India. Noverre’s first crop is bound to be followed with great expectations not only in India but also in Europe. Adding to the list of big winners ...

The talking point of Sunday’s racing at Malakpet was the record breaking feat of trainer Vittal Deshmukh who saddled seven winners in a row in the card of eight events. Deshmukh, who has been a leading trainer at Hyderabad, has always eyed for big races and has good quality horses to nurture his ambition. He is also blessed with good sporting owners who are in the sport for the thrill of winning. Deshmukh may not have expected to win seven races in a race at the start of the day though he would have fancied all of them as he himself later put it: ``There is always a difference between expectation and final result.’’ It is one of those exhilarating days when everything fell in place, he added. Deshimukh’s achievement is an exceptional one as no trainer in India has achieved such a feat in competitive environment. One is of course not taking racing at Chennai into consideration as any feat is possible there as racing is a controlled activity. Jockey P S Chouhan who has been enjoying grea...

An unprecedented event in the history of Indian racing history happened at the Pune race course on Sunday. Jockey Stephane Ladjadj who was astride Tequila pushed Neeraj Rawal who was riding Takestwototango by his hand in order to prevent the horse form leaning on to him and causing him severe interference. The saddle of Takestwotango had slipped by that time and Neeraj had no control on his horse which was in danger of causing a mishap by going on to Tequila apart from causing harm to jockey Neeraj himself who was astride the horse. Tequila went on to win the race from Cloud Cover. There was no objection from jockey Neeraj Rawal. There was a Stewards enquiry into the incident. Jockey Stephane Ladjadj perhaps did not argue his case properly as he tried to defend his action by stating that he suspected jockey Neeraj l Rawal of foul riding and trying to knock him off. He said he had not realized that the saddle of Neeraj’s had slipped. The Stewards went strictly by the rule which states t...