B R Sharan Kumar

The Bangalore Turf Club members have sought two Extraordinary General Body Meetings in the last two years but both have not been for the purpose of doing something good for the sport. The first EGM resulted in the removal of the then Chairman P V Shetty who members perceived to be hostile to club’s interests and the second was gone through on Monday, to lay fresh guidelines for the Managing Committee and fixed a limit as to how much money they can spend without the consent of the EGM. The EGM was ostensibly called because the Managing Committee was in the process of upgrading the computer system. Some of the members felt that such an upgrade was not needed and the whole process was being pushed through because of the benefits accursing to a few by going through with the deal. The Chairman of the Club Kumaraswamy in the meanwhile had written to the club members that the Managing Committee was dropping its move to upgrade the computer system till the BTC matter in Supreme Court regarding...

The Bangalore St Leger will be held on Sunday and a small field will compete for the last classic of the season. Pesi Shroff trained Xisca towers over the rest, with the others being in the fray more in hope than with any real chance. With breeding in India oriented towards producing sprinter milers, there is a paucity of horses capable of saying the gruelling mile and six furlongs trip. As such, there is need to review the composition of the field for Leger. The Leger has lost its popularity as evidenced by hardly any one targeting their wards for this particular race. With hardly any lead up race for preparing horses for this trip, even preparation of horses for this race is not also ideal. Calcutta has already downgraded the Leger and the race no longer enjoys the tag of a classic race. The race is no doubt still popular in the country of its origin namely England. But in other countries like France and Ireland, the race is a weight for age race. With the fields becoming increasingl...

Imtiaz Sait trained Pronto Pronto nailed Severstahl in the closing stride of the race to lift Bangalore Derby in front of a record attendance on Sunday. The Colts Championship winner came from way off the pace and overhauled the entire field, finally necking out Severstahl to provide an exciting climax to the race which had to be postponed by a week due to industrial action by stable workers. . The Derby day proved a record of sorts, not only for the record prize money on offer but also for the highest ever collections on the club operated totalizator pools which grossed over Rs 11.52 crores. . With the withdrawal of ante post favourite Speed Six due to stress fracture, the son of Major Impact, Pronto Pronto enjoyed a decisive edge though in public perception Fillies Championship winner Lovely Kiss and Star Marquees (Intikhab) had better credentials. The latter was covering good ground in the Colts Championship and the extended trip was expected to suit him better than the rest. The Ma...

The Bangalore Turf Club,, the Karnataka Racehorse Owners’ Association and Karnataka Trainers Association can easily resolve the issues arising out of the legitimate demands of stable workers (syces) for implementation of Provident Fund and other statutory obligations. The issue has dragged on for several years, with the trainers association not wanting to take the responsibility and the club shying away from coming up with concrete measures. There is a reserve fund of about Rs 8 crores with the KROA which was a fund created by the Bangalore Turf Club and the owners body in order to meet any contingency. The Provident Fund can be implemented with immediate effect like it has been done at Kolkata, Hyderabad and Mumbai by forming a society with members from all the bodies constituting the governing council. There is obviously some limitation as to how many years the trainers have to go back to pay the Provident Fund arrears. Quite a few of the trainers have retired and some of the horse o...

The Bangalore Turf Club was unable to resolve the situation arising out of the strike by syces and had to postpone the Derby weekend races to next Saturday and Sunday, putting scores of racing enthusiasts and those involved with it directly and directly to great inconvenience. A pro-active stance by Bangalore Turf Club after the strike notice was slapped on them by the Syces Union last week could have saved the situation. It is futile to except the Trainers Association at act responsibly when they haven’t done so all these years. The onus was on BTC to settle the matter long back instead of allowing the problem to get big and disrupt its activity periodically. The syces are justified in demanding better facilities and introduction of statutory provisions like Provident Fund etc. though their holding racing ransom did not go well with the racing enthusiasts. But then when the trainers and owners association have periodically disrupted racing which also resulted in cancellation of a wint...

The Gr 1 Bangalore Derby will have a full complement of 18 runners and will also offer the highest ever prize money in the country. The winner is set to take home a whopping prize money of Rs 1, 42,08,000 which is much higher than what this year’s Indian Derby winner Moonlight Romance earned. Star Is Born, who is yet to win a race, was balloted out as the starting gates cannot accommodate more runners. Saratoga Spring also is a maiden but he went through by virtue of having higher rating. When there are so many runners in the fray especially in a tight race course like Bangalore where the runners have to take the bend soon after jump out and by the time they settle down, they would have gone well beyond the mile marker, the luck of the race has a bearing though we have seen the best horses rarely get affected because the mediocre horses cannot pace with them. Barring the unforeseen, one has to go with pedigree and performance while deciding on one’s choices. The cliché that the race ha...

Horses have a mind of their own and their mindset determines their performance at top level. Horses tend to defy their pedigree and outperform themselves when faced with adversity. Pedigree can bring out performance in a horse only if the mind is wiling. Some horses are so aggressive that they don’t let any horse pass them and dig deep if they see a threat. There are other horses like Jacqueline who as Pesi Shroff said was an intelligent horse who knew the art of self-preservation and did the job of winning each time she went out to race. She lost twice in close finishes in her career, the one in the Bangalore Summer Derby by a whisker to Aboline and the second time to Becket in yet another pulsating finish. ``Jacqueline was an intelligent horse who knew what was expected of her. She was not a showy horse. She never expended her energy other than on the track and that too when required. She would obey the commands of the jockeys who rode her and would be happy to run in any position th...