B R Sharan Kumar

  When Every Stand Has a Name, No Name Stands Out   By Sharan Kumar   Somewhere between gratitude and overenthusiasm lies a sensible naming policy. When too many names are stamped across every gate, stand, corner and corridor, memory does not deepen, it diffuses. Honour works like perfume, not paint. A few notes linger for decades, a whole bucket only overwhelms the room. By naming almost everything after someone, the Karnataka Cricket Association risks ensuring that, over time, fewer names are actually remembered. In their enthusiasm, the present office bearers may actually be diluting the very recall they hope to preserve. Sporting memory is notoriously short. Today’s crowd cheers the current star, tomorrow’s headlines belong to the next one, and even recently retired cricketers are quickly pushed into the background by fresh heroes and new scorecards.   The attempt to please has now reached peak ceremonial choreography. Players who already have stands ...

  BTC Braces for Costly Relocation Ahead   By Sharan Kumar   The proposed shift of racing activities from the historic Bangalore Turf Club premises to the Kunigal Stud Farm marks more than a change of venue. It signals a financial and structural crossroads that could determine whether organized racing in the region reinvents itself or slowly runs out of track.   According to the government decision, BTC is to move its racing operations to the Kunigal Stud Farm, with a two-year deadline to vacate the present High Grounds property. The existing city venue is to be converted into a lung space, while the club is to be granted four acres at the current location to continue limited institutional activity, along with 110 acres at Kunigal on a long lease. The lease rent is pegged at 2.5 percent of the guidance value of the land at Kunigal.   On paper, that sounds like accommodation. In arithmetic, it looks punishing.   If the guidance value of t...

  Why Newsrooms Forget Their Own A recent article by celebrated journalist Vishveshwara Bhat highlighting how journalists are often denied meaningful acknowledgment in the very papers they serve has sparked overdue introspection. The issue is not sentiment but institutional memory. Reporters and editors who document the lives of others frequently exit without a proper record of their own contribution. In an industry built on remembrance and public record, the quiet passing of its practitioners raises an uncomfortable but necessary question about newsroom values.   By Sharan Kumar   The newsroom is a strange battlefield. Names are built there, reputations forged, governments rattled, scams exposed, heroes made and unmade. Yet when one of its own falls, the silence can be louder than any headline. Inspired by a deeply reflective piece by Vishweshwar Bhat, this article examines an uncomfortable truth of modern journalism: the journalist who chronicled history often...

      Indian Racing Stagnating While the World Moves Ahead   By Sharan Kumar   While global racing leaders gathered this week at Saudi Arabia for the 41 st Asian Racing Conference to discuss collaboration, audience growth, integrity, and modern storytelling, Indian racing was notable for its absence. Not a single Indian administrator is present at the Asian Racing Conference, a forum where the future direction of the sport is actively debated and shaped.   Across major racing jurisdictions, administrators are confronting uncomfortable truths: shrinking customer bases, competition from sports betting, illegal wagering ecosystems, and the need to modernise fan engagement. They are investing in digital outreach, transparency, welfare communication, and global event building. Indian racing, by contrast, continues to function within an inward looking and dated administrative framework.   The same officials and governance structures have...

  BTC Should Not Sprint After Cancelling Season Early   By Sharan Kumar The Bangalore Turf Club seems to have followed the ancient strategy of “shoot first, read the rulebook later.” The winter season was declared officially extinct the moment glanders knocked on the door, even though the National Plan for Eradication of Glanders 2025 largely said don’t move horses around, not switch off racing like a power cut. Movement was banned, fairs were restricted, but racing itself was not outlawed. Common sense, however, appears to have been placed under precautionary quarantine.   If congregation everywhere were truly forbidden, the racecourse would have needed social distancing circles painted for horses, one per furlong.   Having cancelled the season at Formula One speed, the club then dug up the track in two critical areas to lay pipes. Nothing signals “we may resume soon” quite like performing open heart surgery on the racing surface. Pipes were laid, eart...

  Fynbos Romps to Derby Glory as Baychimo Fails to Fire   The Indian Derby, billed as a fierce two-horse showdown and a clash of titans, dissolved into a one-horse parade when it mattered. What was meant to be a thunderclap contest arrived more like a polite knock, with the suspense switching off early. Fynbos stamped total authority on the race, treating the field like routine paperwork and clearing it without delay, giving Tom Marquand his first Indian winner at Mahalakshmi. Baychimo, expected to mount the challenge, never found rhythm and remained a non-factor throughout, leaving the margin and the message equally decisive.     By Sharan Kumar   The Indian Derby, billed as a fierce two-horse showdown and a clash of titans, dissolved into a one-horse parade when it mattered. What was meant to be a thunderclap contest arrived more like a polite knock, with the suspense switching off early. Fynbos stamped total authority on the race, treating the field like rout...

  Comic Plot Twists on Indian Derby Day   By Sharan Kumar   Punters once again sat down with what they thought was a race card and discovered it was actually one of Pesi’s patented cryptic crosswords, printed without clues and solved only after the race is over. The Gr 2 Thackers Eclipse Stakes turned into another brain teaser where confidence went in bold and results came in invisible ink. Psychic Star was the people’s banker, but King Ke, attending his first graded party, walked away with the silverware. Thalassa sneaked up the rails late to grab second from the multi-classic hero Psychic Star. Several with respectable resumes, including Regina Memorabilis and Guineas placegetter Namiri, chose Derby day to conduct a disappearing act. When top yards throw curveballs instead of winners, punters start reading philosophy.   Karthik Ganapathy’s Buckingham at least behaved like a well-briefed favourite in the Rattonsey Million. He justified the buzz and held ...

Time And Tide Scores Impressive Sprint Victory on Return   By Sharan Kumar   Adhirajsingh Jodha-trained Time And Tide is undoubtedly one of the sprinters seen in the last decade and that is not faint praise. The progeny of Dali reappeared after a Pune win in September and behaved like a star who skipped rehearsals but still stole the show on opening night. Ring rust tried to cling on, but class gave it a polite shove aside. Taking his time to warm up like a vintage engine, he unleashed his trademark late burst to collar the front-running Dream Seller, who fought bravely before being demoted to honourable mention. Miss American Pie rallied late for third, Credence completed the frame, and Jade politely declined to participate in pre-race expectations.   Time And Tide was offered at odds generous enough to make believers feel clever and doubters feel nervous. Credence zipped to the front, Dream Seller tracked, and Time And Tide sat poised in second, clearly in no mood for ...

 Baychimo Appears to Hold the Key to the Derby Puzzle By Sharan Kumar This year’s Indian Derby presents a rare four-way puzzle, with Baychimo, Fynbos, Zacharias and Sovereign King all arriving with form and pedigree to command serious respect. Among them, Baychimo holds a narrow but logical edge. While the final 2400-metre test still awaits, his ability to overcome adversity and his effortless, record-breaking Ruia Cup performance strongly suggest he is ready for the ultimate examination. Baychimo, by French Navy, carries the stamp of the Shamardal line, speed with substance and efficiency. His Guineas victory from an impossible position and his Ruia Cup demolition over 2000 metres in course-record time suggest a colt whose cruising speed is his oxygen. With champion jockey Suraj Narredu now in the saddle, Baychimo looks the sort who can stretch his pedigree rather than be trapped by it. The extra 400 metres is an examination, but not an ambush. Fynbos, the Oaks-winning filly by Ki...

      Shifting Is Settled, Only the Exit Terms Remain   By Sharan Kumar   The proceedings before the Supreme Court on Wednesday have effectively let the cat out of the bag. Read plainly, the court record stands in sharp contrast to the impression sought to be created by the Bangalore Turf Club that the apex court is taking a favourable view of its case. On the contrary, the trajectory of the litigation suggests that the Club is not negotiating from a position of strength , and the endgame is already visible.   The foundational facts are no longer in dispute. The Club’s lease expired long ago. Its claim to the land was decisively rejected by the High Court, which ordered the Club to vacate the premises within six months. The Club continues to function only because the Supreme Court admitted its Special Leave Petition and ordered status quo pending final adjudication. That status quo, however, is merely a temporary procedural shield; it does n...

      Indian Derby: Built on Hope, Ruled by Uncertainty     By Sharan Kumar   Every year, more than a thousand two-year-olds are sold with spotless pedigrees, glossy catalogues and expectations far heavier than any saddle they will ever carry. They do not yet know it, but most of them are already being marched, at least in imagination, towards a single destination by trainers, jockeys and owners who have mentally won the race several times over. The destination, inevitably, is the Indian Derby.   Only a select few are branded with that most intoxicating label, “classic potential”, a phrase capable of loosening purse strings with remarkable efficiency. Some purchases are driven by absolute conviction, others by the optimistic belief that the gods of racing can be negotiated with if the cheque is large enough. A handful are bought simply for the pleasure of ownership, a noble intention that usually survives until the first serious setba...

  When Logic Pulls Up Lame in Racing   By Sharan Kumar   Horse racing continues to assure us that decisions are rooted in logic, process and all available evidence. The emphasis, of course, is on available . What is not sought, not checked or not asked for has a remarkable habit of never becoming relevant.   Which brings us, once again, to Bezalel and Fynbos, twin case studies in how what is not examined , when institutionalised, becomes policy.   Let us correct the record first. In both cases, the horses were not examined for any veterinary issue at the relevant time. There is no veterinary report on record for Fynbos. None. Zero. The assumption that the horse might have been checked is itself an act of misplaced faith. What we are dealing with is not selective veterinary interpretation but a complete absence of veterinary curiosity.   And that is where the real illogic begins.   When a favourite fails and an enquiry is ordere...