The Jockeys Association of India wants to go on warpath in support of their demands which among others include resistance to any norms. The JAI in the same breath wants the turf clubs to introduce norms on their behalf like reviewing a jockeys license after first two years of being licensed and continue their license only if they have achieved minimum standards! The JAI has some genuine grievances but the path of agitation may not get them much sympathy.

For one the JAI has never gone on strike at any centre other than Bangalore and by extension Mysore. The JAI headquarters may be located in Bangalore but the local turf club has always been a soft target as the club has been lenient even if the jockeys have gone on strike for wrong seasons. The immediate provocation for the jockeys to go on strike is that a few jockeys have not been automatically licensed at Delhi because of the application of Common Rules of Racing as accepted by Turf Authorities of India. Holding other turf clubs to ransom when it is only a matter of individual clubs is itself not an acceptable practice to solve a problem. Why are the jockeys not confining the strike to Delhi alone? What purpose is achieved by forcing authorities to cancel races at other centres? Do they benefit? The loss of a race day is of immense loss to race horse owners, trainers and jockeys themselves apart from hurting daily wage earners.

President of JAI Pradeep Chouhan said that they had written a letter to TAI to introduce uniform licensing policy and that the same has not been acted upon. He also said that the turf clubs are not doing enough for injured jockeys. Unfortunately, the successful jockeys are treated with kid gloves that they tend to think that the authorities should act whenever they make their demand and within the time frame that they set. One has sympathies with the majority of jockeys who live a hand to mouth existence as the rewards of the profession reach only a handful. In the name of the unfortunate lot of professionals, the association also wants to flex its muscles.

The question that needs to be asked to JAI is whether in the event of cancellation of Mysore races, will they be able to sustain the agitation? Can they strike in a centre like in Pune and Hyderabad where the authorities will surely not view their action in the same manner as BTC or MRC? Long ago when the jockeys went on strike in support of their demands during the summer season, racing went on without a hitch with the help of apprentice jockeys and others who were not members of the association. As one cynically said, the best racing was when these big jockeys kept away!

The Joint Turf Authorities of India meeting is scheduled for September 15 and the Chairman of the body has requested the jockeys to wait for the matter to be discussed in the all India body. The Chairman has promised to speak to Delhi Race Club about the matter and that it would be wrong to hold clubs which have not made these rules to ransom. The JAI would do well not to precipitate a crisis because they end up losing sympathy and their clout if they continue to be dogmatic.

All the turf clubs in India contribute one per cent of stake money towards jockeys association for its welfare activities which itself runs into substantial amount. If the JAI is really concerned about the unfortunate brethren, they could well seek for more percentage apart from getting all the jockeys into their fold and make them contribute towards the welfare fund as well. At present, several top jockeys are not part of the association and their non-participation itself is sure to weaken their cause. The JAI should have been focusing on getting contribution by these jockeys by making the turf clubs to compulsorily deduct because the money goes towards welfare fund.

Genuine demands get redress without the need for a strike if they are put across in a manner that helps resolve the issue rather than aggravate it. If the JAI wants to be aggressive and wants to hold racing to ransom, they will be the biggest losers.