B R Sharan Kumar

  No More Near Misses: Positano Strikes Gold   By Sharan Kumar   Sulaiman Attaollahi’s Positano has spent so long promising to win that his supporters probably felt they should invoice him for damages. This well-bred son of Arod kept flirting with victory in the toughest company—placing in classics and flashing those late runs that made you think this time for sure —only to stop short of delivering the goods. Last time out over seven furlongs, he managed to flop spectacularly.   But the Maharaja’s Cup is notorious for favouring classic-placed horses who enjoy a nice, polite pull in the weights—like handing them a “buy one, get one free” coupon at the scales. Positano was the big beneficiary of this generosity, finally making good on all those broken promises. He coolly asserted his supremacy while the prolific, multi-classic-winning Dyf discovered that giving weight away to younger rivals in his first start of the season was about as advisable as bringin...

  BTC in Freefall: A Farce Masquerading as Reform   By Sharan Kumar   Oh, what a masterstroke of governance we witnessed when the government so magnanimously asked the previous circus—sorry, managing committee —led by the ever-controversial Aravind Raghavan to resign last year! And in its infinite wisdom, it handpicked an ad hoc committee to “set things right.” Because obviously, the best way to fix a rotting house is to set it on fire and hope it rebuilds itself.   Then, in the last year’s elections held in December, half the posts went to “elections” while the government kindly nominated the rest—because nothing screams democracy and integrity like handpicked cronies. And did this brilliant fusion of elected wisdom and government oversight rescue the club from its drunken stagger off the straight course? Did it achieve anything ? Don’t make me laugh. If anything, it’s managed the truly remarkable feat of going from terrible to downright catastrophic....