Horse racing’s lavish market masks a bleak reality
By Sharan Kumar
Indian horse racing – once the sport of royalty, now
seemingly one long gallop toward financial ruin, with a side of bureaucratic
torment. The latest hurdles? A little something called GST and an amended
Income Tax policy, making race clubs’ survival look like an audition for
“Mission Impossible.” You’d think someone had bet the government was trying to
bleed the industry dry – and by the looks of it, they might win that one.
Race clubs across the country are clutching their
purses tighter than ever, rationing pennies while desperately relying on the
goodwill of a few generous industrialists. RWITC, for instance, survives almost
solely on the mercy of the big-hearted aficionados. Bangalore Turf Club (BTC)
isn’t faring much better. With outstanding government dues, legal tangles, and lease
rental overheads piling up, the club teeters on financial freefall, pending a
possible truce with the authorities. Meanwhile, the government’s tax demands
are so steep, even trying to run betting operations is about as profitable as
selling ice in Siberia. Case in point: the Hyderabad Race Club, now down to
only one off-course betting location – the sole venue they actually own. And
let's talk ticket sales; they're more disappointing than a wet racetrack on Derby
Day, as clubs like BTC drain their tote pools to levels where even the
die-hards are asking, “Why bother?”
And there’s a new 30 percent tax lurking like a storm
cloud for bettors without KYC documentation. BTC, in particular, has held off
on enforcing it so far, but for everyone else, it’s double-taxation doom: 30
percent tax on winnings, then another 28 percent GST on betting amounts. It’s a
miracle anyone’s left at the ticket counters.
As if that weren’t enough, Madras Race Club has a mere
six months to pack up and relocate. The promise of fresh land is dangling
enticingly, but even if they take the deal, it spells at least two years
without racing. Crisis? That’s putting it politely.
Yet, here’s the kicker: two-year-old horses are
selling for prices that would make even oil tycoons blush. At the recent
auctions at Kunigal and Usha Stud Farm, buyers shelled out jaw-dropping sums.
The Poonawalla Auction is next up, and there’s little doubt it’ll be another
festival of excess. With prize money so low, one has to ask: what’s behind this
gold rush? The horse population is shrinking faster than the interest in a
tax-plagued tote pool. Most clubs have reduced races to a single day per week –
with Hyderabad being the notable exception, lounging in its comfortable
financial bubble.
And yet, the madness continues: buyers keep snapping
up horses, stud farms are splurging on stallions, and one wonders if the
industry has slipped into some feverish trance. Is this a rallying cry, a
last-ditch stand of the devoted? Or just the racing world’s version of
‘fiddling while Rome burns’? Whatever the answer, it’s quite a spectacle – and
if nothing else, it might just be the most expensive crisis of passion we’ll
ever see.
In a twist that seems straight out of a satire,
overseas betting apps – conducting a shadowy, illegal betting operation on
Indian racing – are now the proud sponsors of some of our biggest race events.
Talk about irony at the finish line! This wild jump in racehorse prices might
be credited to this underground market, which, despite not contributing a dime
to the industry or government, is skyrocketing without restraint. With this
offshore betting cash fuelling the frenzy, prices that would have been laughed
at a year ago are now the new norm.
New players are pouring in, and they’re making it
rain, snatching up horses at sums that would make the old-school owners faint.
Just a year back, the same owners wouldn’t blink at trimming their budgets –
and now they’re shelling out with an ease that suggests either a miracle or a
bit of magic dust. Has there been a revelation or just an unprecedented
willingness to burn through cash? One can only scratch their head and wonder if
this sudden “investment” will impact the integrity of the sport or if it’s all
a bubble set to pop – only time will tell.
Meanwhile, breeders are revelling in the profits of
this buying spree, while race clubs fight for survival, hanging by the barest
financial threads. It’s a tragicomedy: buyers are throwing cash around like
there’s no tomorrow, even as stakes remain low and racing barely staggers
along. They’re pouring in millions, but the chance of recouping costs is about
as slim as a photo finish. The contradictions of the racing world have never
been sharper: on one hand, there’s extravagant spending, and on the other, an
industry struggling just to stay in the race.
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