The Hindu : Sport / Racing : Horse : Bangalore Winter meeting from tomorrow

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Friday, Nov 05, 2004

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Sport - Racing : Horse

Bangalore Winter meeting from tomorrow

By H.S. Manjunath.

BANGALORE, NOV. 4 . With the threat of a flyover hovering over nearly 1,870 square metres of its territory for the loss of nearly 150 stables now real and a tax squeeze that has put its finances in great distress, the Bangalore Turf Club braces itself for the 32-day Bangalore Winter meeting from November 6 (Saturday). But the new chairman of the BTC, Dr. Srinivasa Gowda exuded confidence at a news conference this afternoon that the Club is determined to surmount these tough challenges ahead.

"Not one area where cost cutting is possible will be spared," Dr. Gowda declared when his attention was drawn to a steep hike in tote deductions which analysts say may have a negative impact on Bangalore's famed Tote turnover.

Mr. Gowda admitted that the "burden the Club is imposing on the punting community to tide over its own tight finances following the State Government's initiative to convert compounding tax to turnover based one resulting in a squeeze of well over 12 crores "is painful but inevitable".

He said the Club was also looking at other areas where overheads could be brought down. He held out an assurance that once the Club got the benefit of some relief the State government had promised, it would bring down the tote deductions.

Tax burden

" We are trying to convince the government that this tax burden will have a crippling effect on the tote turnover which in effect means that the game goes through severe hardships. I am hopeful, the Government would review its stand and give the Club some relief. I can assure you that the Club will definitely pass on that relief to the Punting community," Dr. Gowda said.

While the Stake money for the season has been pegged at last winter levels, the season may see a cutback of as much as 80 lakhs in payout stakes. Corresponding to last Winter, there are five meetings fewer this season.

With the government categorically saying no to the BTC's plea for reshaping the Flyover plan so as to avoid acquisition of its land, the loss of nearly 150 stables is now a daunting prospect the Club has to live with. Plans are afoot to move nearly 300 two year olds (Foaled in 2003) to Mysore and the Club has for the first time come up with a Stabling limit per owner/trainer to deal with shortage of space.

From April 1, the BTC has limited to a maximum of 50 per trainer the number of horses inside its premises. Its 75 in the case of an owner, be it individually, jointly or through Syndicates.

Logistical problems

Mr. Gowda admitted that the shifting of those 300 two-year olds to Mysore may hold out several logistical problems but he said faced with such severe shortage of stabling space, the club had no viable alternatives.

Keeping in view the collateral damages that are bound to surface once the work on the flyover begins, the Club has made a strong plea to the government "for suitable compensation." The Club has suggested that the Government waive off the levy it has imposed retrospectively to offset the costs the Club is likely to incur for demolition and rebuilding of the compound wall and the stables inside the race course.

Not many new features have been built into this season's prospectus. The oats subsidy has been limited to 850 horses and performance-linked incentives revised. But one major initiative the present administration is giving a serious thought to is the reintroduction of the Performance criteria for trainers.

Challenging task

Dr. Gowda said the Club has already taken up the challenging task of compiling participation-strike rate statistics of all Bangalore based trainers so as to make value-judged assessments over their performance. He said a system could soon be in place where trainers not performing up to a stipulated level could face possible "demotion". "The objective of this well meant exercise is to ensure high degree of competence among the professionals," he said.

When his attention was drawn to the refusal by the BTC to grant veteran jockey Shafiq a licence to ride on the grounds that he had attained the age of 55, Dr. Gowda said he would raise this issue with the Turf Authorities of India since that age stipulation for jockeys was in effect a TAI decision.

Allowance claim

The BTC has put in place a new system for claimers, who complete a specific number of wins and the revised allowances they are entitled to. Under the new dispensation, a claimer whose allowance may have to be revised after he reaches a specific number of wins, will retain his "original" allowance in case the betting for that race has already opened. Since the time of the opening of betting is 10.00 a.m., the revised allowance will only come into effect the next day.

Board of Appeal

The Board of Appeal has been reconstituted with Mr. R. Ramakrishnan as the Chairman. The other members of the panel are D.M. Kumaraswamy, Mr. S. Mariswamy, Mr. J.M.S.Prasad and Mr. Suresh Kumar Sharma.

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