The enduring charm of the Bangalore Derby

 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 decision should be given in a free and fair manner which can fulfil the rule of natural justice. And thirdly, ``Reasoned Decision’’ states that the order, decision or judgement should have a valid and reasonable ground and not be based on assumptions, suspicions and allegations and personal prejudices which serve as foundation stones for miscarriage of justice.

 

The Bangalore Turf Club has no mechanism as to how to handle issues relating to breach of medication rules. The turf club has no experts to guide them other than the half-baked veterinarians. Serious decisions are taken without having the required expertise. Punishments are given not because they have established conclusively the guilt but because they believe so.

 

The club doesn’t summon the services of forensic experts and toxicologists like it is done in all international jurisdictions of racing. The Stewards believe that it is their divine right to do what they want to and the professionals have no other go except to accept it or spend a fortune to get relief from the courts if they have the resources and energy to fight. The process itself becomes a big punishment as the club mandarins fight with public money while the aggrieved has to fight with his own money. Legal battles are prohibitively expensive.

 

Trainer Padmanabhan has been suspended for two years for his horse Adjustment coming positive for the presence of Tildrunic acid (tildren). The horse was administered tildren on the 7th and 9^th of November in the year 2022 by the vets belonging to Dr Hasneyn Mirza’s team. The British Horse Racing Authority recommends 30 days withdrawal while the Scandinavian authorities recommend 60 days withdrawal period. Adjustment raced 77 days after the drug was given for therapeutic purposes. Tildren is used to treat bone-related issues.

The Chief Veterinary Office Senthil Kumar who is having a running battle with the trainer Padmanabhan on some issue or the other, had the urine and blood sample of Adjustment sent for testing. The normal course is for the sample to be sent for detecting any prohibited substance without specifying which drug the club wants the test to be focussed on. In the case of Adjustment, the club requested only the checking for the presence of Tildrunic acid. The vet perhaps hoped that since the horse was treated with Tildrunic acid, the residue may show in the sample and thus get his back on the trainer which would also satisfy his chief supporter in the Stewards' room namely Aravind Raghavan.

 

Personal bias between the two people mentioned arises from a relation between the party and the deciding authority. Because of the events of the past, both the veterinary officer and Aravind Raghavan should have been excluded from the panel to decide the issue on grounds of personal bias. Because of the biases of these two worthies, the Stewards have not considered the elaborate presentation made by the trainer with the help of scientific evidence besides the practices all over the world including opinions of the top toxicologists and others with the expertise to comment on the matter.

 

The sample collected in the month of January 2023 in the case of Adjustment returned positive for the presence of the drug in the urine sample but it did not show in the blood sample. This would suggest that the animal in question was unlikely to have received any further doses other than the initial doses given on November 7 and 9, 2022. The traces of Tildrunic acid can be detected in blood and urine samples of thoroughbred horses for as long as three years after the last administration as per the article written by Terence See Ming Wan, Chief Advisor, doping control at the Hong Kong Jockey Club. In the case of Adjustment, the blood sample was clear of the drug and there were only traces in the urine sample indicating that the drug was completely existing and it was not at a level which could affect the performance of the horse any which way.

 

The Bangalore Turf Club used the services of Quanti Lab, Mauritius to test the sample when the lab is not accredited to test for this drug as per their own admission. Such a finding cannot be the basis for a strong suspension. It beats one why the turf club went for a non-accredited lab when there were recognized labs for which samples from India go regularly for testing.

 

The BTC veterinary officer made an allegation during the enquiry that one of the practising private vets may have administered an additional dose of the medicine without providing any proof. The lab results indicated that there was no presence of the drug in the blood sample. If a fresh dose had been given, there would have been elevated levels of the presence of the drug. When the truth to the contrary, the BTC Stewards have given undue credence to the allegation which has not been backed by any substantive evidence.

 

Tildren was not a prohibited substance when it was administered to Adjustment in the month of November 2022. The Club Chief Vet himself had treated some horses with this drug. Only on December 18, 2023, Bisphosphonates (tildrunic acid) was classified as an illicit substance. As such the issue should have been treated in a different manner as the drug was permitted to be legally administered. Its presence could have only been in the lower category and not what was done prospectively. As such, the turf club is totally unjustified in giving a two-year suspension when the club could not scientifically establish that the horse was likely to have received any further doses of the medicine other than the initial doses given in November 2022. Come to think of it, trainer Padmanabhan has had over 2000 samples of his horses tested thus far and all of them barring one coming clean! 

 

The decision of the Stewards is perhaps based exclusively on the Notification dated December 12, 2023, that if Tildren is administered without prior notification to the regulatory authority it becomes an illicit substance. Bisphosphonates (Tildren) are the preferred drug of Oncologists to strengthen the bones of cancer patients. The Oncologists consider the drug as a lifesaving one where as the BTC Vet has classified it in the same category as cocaine and heroin which are in the list of illicit substances.

 

   The Notification came in the month of December. The horse Adjustment had been given two doses of Tildren in the month of November by the registered private vets belonging to Dr Hasneyn Mirza who is also an ex-committee member. Thus, the decision of the BTC Stewards raises these questions:

 

1.      Was the drug administered without prior notification of the BTC vets? The drug had been administered by the recognised vets who have been allowed to practice in the club and as such, are they doubting the integrity of one of the senior veterinarians in the country for breaching the rules by not taking prior permission before administering the drug for therapeutic purpose?

2.      There is no irregularity in the administration of the treatment as it is at the hands of a renowned and reputed vet. The only omission is that it was not notified. Can an administrative error be punished so heavily?

3.      Will they dare take action on Dr Mirza who was also a former committee member of BTC?

4.      Can an exemplary punishment be given to the trainer who is one of the most accomplished trainers in Bangalore when he has logged the treatment in his log book?

5.      The said notification came only in the month of December and can the Stewards retrospectively give effect to the same?

6.      The punishment for any ancillary omission cannot be higher than that provided and stipulated for the presence of the prohibited substance.  

7.      Does it not give rise to the question of whether it was done with the aim to fix the trainer because of the politics of the Chief Vet and one of the biased Stewards?