Is Indian Horse Racing Losing Its Social Relevance?
By Sharan Kumar
Horse racing rarely collapses in a single moment. It
fades, quietly and almost politely, until one day it no longer commands public
sympathy, political protection or cultural relevance. By the time the gates
finally close, the outcome appears sudden, but the process has usually been
long and visible to anyone willing to look.
The troubling question for Indian racing today is not
whether races will continue next season, but whether the sport is steadily
losing the social legitimacy that allows it to exist at all.
Racing survives only so long as the public believes in
the integrity of the contest. When that belief weakens, everything else
follows. Attendance thins, serious punters disengage, owners recalibrate
motives, and administrators retreat into procedural defensiveness. The sport
continues on paper, but its pulse weakens.
Eroding Trust and the Betting Paradox
Across India, a growing section of informed followers
voices the same unease. Outcomes appear increasingly difficult to reconcile
with form, preparation or logic. Betting markets seem distorted. The suspicion
that bookmaker influence now outweighs sporting merit is no longer whispered on
the fringes. It is discussed openly.
When punters can no longer rely on method, they
abandon analysis altogether. Racing then stops being a contest of judgement and
becomes speculation wrapped in ritual. That is the point at which a sport
begins to lose its intellectual audience, often the first sign of terminal
decline.
Compounding this mistrust is the perception of
selective accountability. When well-backed horses fail, riders are frequently
hauled up, suspended or fined, often on grounds that appear stretched or
contrived. These actions create the impression of enforcement, yet rarely
address deeper questions of intent, preparation, betting patterns or stable
responsibility.
Scapegoating jockeys may satisfy optics, but it
corrodes credibility. Over time, the public learns to distinguish between
justice and theatre.
When the State Loses Patience
If private confidence erodes, political patience
follows.
Tamil Nadu offers the starkest domestic warning.
Racing there was not gradually regulated out of existence. It was erased.
Overnight, the government cancelled leases, took over the Chennai and Ooty
racecourses, offered no alternate land, and effectively wiped out a sport that
had been part of the state’s cultural fabric for over a century.
There was no public outcry powerful enough to resist
it. That silence was instructive. Racing had already lost its social licence.
What happened in Tamil Nadu mirrors the fate of
Singapore racing. Officially, Singapore’s closure was attributed to
redevelopment priorities. Unofficially, few doubt that racing had become
politically dispensable. Once a sport ceases to command public trust or
emotional attachment, governments find it remarkably easy to pull the plug.
No one in Singapore’s racing industry saw the end
coming. That, perhaps, was the most chilling lesson.
Bangalore and the Question of Governance
Bangalore remains in a state of uneasy limbo. The
Bangalore Turf Club has repeatedly faced licence denials from the government,
often citing allegations of corruption. At one point, the High Court itself
intervened, directing the government to consider forming a monitoring committee
to oversee racing and restore public confidence.
That judicial observation is revealing. When courts
begin to suggest oversight mechanisms for a sport, it is an implicit admission
that self-regulation has failed to inspire trust.
The prolonged uncertainty over relocation, licensing
and governance has done little to reassure stakeholders. Racing cannot flourish
when its legal existence depends on annual political discretion rather than
stable institutional legitimacy.
Lessons From Abroad, Ignored at Home
History offers parallels that Indian racing would do
well to study.
Singapore lost its social licence. Malaysia’s racing
was tainted by criminal interference, including physical attacks on officials
in the 1990s. Penang closed. Kuala Lumpur still struggles to regain relevance.
Hong Kong, in contrast, faced its reckoning head-on.
The 1986 Shanghai Syndicate scandal exposed a massive race-fixing and illegal
betting network. The ICAC intervened decisively. Prominent expatriate jockeys
and trainers were deported, including Garry Moore, son of English Derby-winning
legend George Moore. Hong Kong survived because authority reasserted itself
without fear or favour.
The lesson is blunt. Racing survives corruption only
when it confronts it ruthlessly. It dies when it normalises it.
A Sport Without a Future Audience
Perhaps the most ominous sign is demographic. Indian
racing’s audience is ageing. Young people are largely absent. This is not
merely a marketing failure. It is cultural.
Racing depends on continuity. You cannot manufacture a
following overnight. The failed attempt to revive racing at Lucknow illustrates
this clearly. The tradition had been broken. The memory lost. The younger
generation simply did not care.
Without intergenerational transfer of interest, racing
becomes a closed club of nostalgia, sustained briefly by habit before fading
entirely.
Younger audiences demand transparency, fairness and
credibility. They are far less tolerant of opaque systems and insider
privilege. A sport that cannot convincingly explain its outcomes will not earn
their attention, let alone their loyalty.
The Road Ahead
Indian racing still possesses heritage, infrastructure
and committed participants. But none of these guarantee survival.
The real danger lies in complacency. In assuming that
racing is too old, too embedded, or too invested to disappear. Singapore
believed that. So did Chennai.
Once a sport loses social relevance, political
protection evaporates. Licences are denied. Leases are cancelled. Institutions
are dismantled. And history moves on without sentiment.
The choice before Indian racing is clear. Either
restore trust through genuine reform, transparent stewarding and credible
governance, or continue down a path where outcomes are questioned, authority is
doubted, and public consent quietly slips away.
Racing does not usually end with a bang. More often,
it ends with indifference.
(This article appeared in Deccan Chronicle on 17/01/2026
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