The Bangalore Summer Season ended in a bizarre fashion, with 14 races scheduled for the concluding day`s races were cancelled following the refusal of Karnataka Racehorse Owners Association and the Karnataka Trainers Association to allow racing to take place. A total of Rs 1.5 crores was thus lost to owners due to their self defeating approach. The KROA was ostensibly demanding more race days to compensate their losses but ended up inflicting more on themselves. The summer season ended exactly the way it started.

The Bangalore Turf Club believed that they were losing the authority vested with them as they had compromised quite often by meeting every demand raised by the owners association. The club refused to extend the season beyond the scheduled date though they deviated from the norm and allowed a big card to be framed for the last two days of the season. The KROA insisted that they would not settle for anything less than extension of the season resulting in the matter reaching a dead end. The first two race days of the season were also lost due to strike by KROA and KTA.

Strikes by owners and trainers in other parts of the country are unheard of and only Bangalore Turf Club has been subjected to this threat time and again due to aggressive stand taken by owners. Also the infighting within the BTC had encouraged this trend so much so that strikes have now become par for every racing season in Bangalore. The BTC`s stand was two race days were cancelled due to agitation and non-cooperation of KROA and KTA and that under such circumstances, the club was not willing to make up the lost race days.

Interestingly, if one were to compare the statistics of last 10 years, the total number of races held during the summer season on an average is around 210 and this year too, that number would have been achieved despite the cancellation of first two days racing. The obsession of having an extra day without focusing on the actual number of races that they were getting was the main reason for the total lack of understanding of the situation. The majority of race horse owners and trainers were against the agitation.

Chairman of Bangalore Turf Club Harindra Shetty said that the turf club could not bow down to every demand of KROA. ``The club is governed by a system and everything is decided after due discussion in the committee. The KROA members cannot storm into the paddock and insist that a decision be taken on their demand at that very point. We had conceded additional races in order to ensure that the average number of races held during Summer Season in the last 10 years was achieved despite cancellation of first two days races. We are here to promote the sport and not to hurt it. The owners who have a big stake in the sport should not bring down the image of the sport especially at a critical time like the present one and attract negative publicity to the sport,`` he added.

With the High Court mandate to Bangalore Turf Club to vacate its premises by September 22 fast approaching, everything now hinges on what decision the Supreme Court takes on club`s SLP on September 7. Surely racing is in for troubled times.