B R Sharan Kumar

  Government directs BTC to identify land at Kunigal   By Sharan Kumar   The government of Karnataka has directed the Bangalore Turf Club to make a joint inspection along with government officials to identify about 100 acres of suitable land within the existing Kunigal Stud Farm to set up a Greenfield race course. The Supreme Court has fixed January 10, 2024, as the date for the final hearing to dispose of the matter about the shifting of the race course after the government moved for an early hearing which was accepted by the Apex Court.     The days of Bangalore Turf Club at the existing premises is increasingly coming under question. The BTC had lost the case about its claim of ownership of the land in the High Court and the Court had given the club six months to shift in the year 2010. The BTC or rather the Owners Association approached the court with a Special Leave Petition which was admitted and the Court ordered a status quo till the disposal of the matter.  

 Karnataka g overnment directs BTC to identify land at Kunigal   By Sharan Kumar   The government of Karnataka has directed the Bangalore Turf Club to make a joint inspection along with government officials to identify about 100 acres of suitable land within the existing Kunigal Stud Farm to set up a Greenfield race course. The Supreme Court has fixed January 10, 2024, as the date for the final hearing to dispose of the matter about the shifting of the race course after the government moved for an early hearing which was accepted by the Apex Court.     The days of Bangalore Turf Club at the existing premises is increasingly coming under question. The BTC had lost the case about its claim of ownership of the land in the High Court and the Court had given the club six months to shift in the year 2010. The BTC or rather the Owners Association approached the court with a Special Leave Petition which was admitted and the Court ordered a status quo till the disposal of the matt

  Punters given the wrong end of the stick   By Sharan Kumar   The turf clubs have been punishing the punters in the name of GST. The turf clubs do not indicate the value of GST and the club commission on the ticket. The punters are in the dark about how much of their money is the actual bet. The punters are under the belief that the GST is 28 per cent on the bet value and that the clubs are collecting the same in addition to the club commission. This has resulted in the dividends that the punters get becoming very poor.   In reality, clubs like Bangalore Turf Club are making big money in the name of GST in the absence of transparency and non-disclosure to the punters. The punters in addition are charged a high entry fee to generate more income while subsidizing everything to the members. The turf clubs are collecting GST on bet value but paying GST on club commission which leaves them with lots of money which essentially belongs to the punters and the government. Turf club

    Need for drastic re-think by the powers-that-be By Rolf Johnson Wildfires are burning throughout the world as climate change heats up our planet. Racing isn’t an island, immune from the inflammatory language of organizations, worldwide, seething with ‘indignation’ at “the exploitation of animals”. Among those with the highest profile which require ‘saving’ are racehorses.   Unfortunately racing itself is in a state of perpetual civil war between those who are devoted to a sport centuries old, and those for whom it is just another way of accumulating wealth. Those who are threatening racing’s existence have, admittedly sometimes unwitting, allies within the sport itself.   The Bangalore Turf Club have banned, for two years, a trainer with an exemplary record, for the use of a therapeutic drug, Tildren, which can relieve pain by promoting the replacement of damaged bone to extend a horse’s career and thus its life. If you are of the opposite persuasion – that Tildren is

  Natural justice, what is it BTC mandarins ask   By Sharan Kumar The Bangalore Turf Club Stewards have been taking out their prejudices against professionals whom they perceive don’t pander to their egos so much so that they have no hesitation in giving punishments to those who don’t fall in line. The punishments are handed out without following the due process of natural justice and fair play. Natural justice means to make a sensible and reasonable decision. What matters is the procedure and who is engaged in taking the reasonable decision.   It is imperative that those dispensing justice should adhere to natural justice which basically means following three cardinal issues. The first one is ``Hearing Rule’, which states that the person affected is to be given a fair opportunity to express his point of view to defend himself. Secondly and more importantly, the ``Bias Rule’’ generally expresses that the panel of experts should be free from bias while taking the decision. The

  Professionals win a battle of perception By Sharan Kumar   The Bangalore Derby was under threat of disruption following the quixotic decisions handed out by the Stewards of the Bangalore Turf Club compounded by the sadistic manner in which the Appeal Board enhanced the punishments without due consideration. The professionals, both trainers and jockeys, backed by the Karnataka Racehorse Owners Association, had raised a banner of revolt. The Chairman of the Club Shivakumar Khenny went on his knees to plead with the professionals to let the Derby go through with firm assurances about amending certain rules and ensuring that in the future, men of better calibre would be put on the Appeal board.   The entries for the Derby weekend races were postponed several times to accommodate the talks to go on. The professionals were firm in their stand that they had lost trust in the fairness of Stewards and more so with the Appeal Board and that some remedy had to be found. The Chairman i

  Epsom Derby-winning Martin Dwyer calls it a day   Martin Dwyer who won the Epsom Derby on Sir Percy which got him the award for the best ride of the year, announced his retirement last week after a long battle with a knee injury that refused to heal despite multiple operations. Martin who has won Group I races in several countries including the Indian Derby, will take up the job as the expert commentator . As Rolf Johnson put it, few have Martin’s ‘back catalogue’ of achievement and his invaluable advantage of the authentic Liverpudlian gift of the gab.   By Rolf Johnson   It’s a stereotype: they say Liverpudlians, like Martin Dwyer, could talk the hind legs off a donkey, “Honestly I’ve never ridden one – wait a minute, a few years ago I was on the cold list for losers; some of them  were  donkeys!”    Dwyer, born in the heart of Liverpool, the UK’s most cosmopolitan city, famed for the Beatles and where everyone is reckoned to be a wit, is never short of a quip himself.   But this d