The Mumbai Racing Season had a false start, with the feature race of the day, the 1200 metres Royal Calcutta Turf Club Trophy, a race for horses rated 80 and above, being declared null and void after Son Of A Gun bolted to victory at Mahalakshmi on Thursday. Three of the four horses in the fray were affected by the gates opening a fraction late. Favourite Joaquin was unbalanced while jumping out. Son Of A Gun who chased Sky Fall into the straight stormed clear to win the race from late rallying The Protector and Joaquin.

The starter Gerome Pereira reported to the Stipes that there was a malfunctioning of the gates and that he failed to press the false start button resulting in the race being run without any of the jockeys being aware of a possible false start to the race. There was a Stewards enquiry into the race. The Starter said that he made an error in notifying the false start hough he reported to the Stipes immediately after the race. The jockeys, Srinath, Neeraj Rawal and Saqlain said that they were affected by the gate malfunction. Trainer Narendra Lagad argued that since the false start was not notified and the race had been run fairly under the circumstances, the race should be allowed to be kept by the winner.

The Stipes, two of them, thought that it was a case of a false start and the race should be declared null and void. The Stewards concurred with the view and declared the race null and void as three of the four horses in the fray were affected. I had highlighted the practices elsewhere in the USA and Australia in earlier instances about false starts. In one race in the USA, four of the seven horses in the fray were affected by the false start. These horses were declared as nonstarters but the horses which placed from among them were given their stake money. The race was allowed to stand. The Stewards could have considered declaring the three horses that were in the fray as non-starters and allowed the winner to keep the race and giving the stake money to those who placed in the race without being prejudiced by the false start as the starter had failed to signal the same. Chairman of the Stewards Ram Shroff was very apologetic about declaring the race null and void as the winning connections were being deprived of the race.

Interestingly, in a similar incident that happened in Timaru (New Zealand), a judicial panel had termed a race starter`s actions over false start `woeful`. The judicial panel over-ruled a false start in a horse race because the starter did not properly convey it to the jockeys - despite six of the 14 runners being stuck in the barriers because their gates did not open.

The other eight horses completed the race at Timaru, apparently unaware starter Kevin Ogden had declared a false start. The two-man Judicial Control Authority (JCA) panel slammed the delayed actions of starter Ogden and went against a request from the Racing Integrity Unit`s stipendiary stewards to declare the race null and void. Dividends were paid out on the race, but with refunds for bets on horses left stuck in the gates. In the Indian context, the Stewards are perhaps the equivalent of the Judicial Panel.

The first day`s card of the Mumbai racing season was both disappointing and disastrous for the punters despite just six races framed for the day. The ante post betting indicated the domination of favourites though some of them did not carry the aura that was bestowed on them by the short price quoted on them. Pesi Shroff trained Democracy was backed to the exclusion of the rest in the season opener, the 1200-metre Welcome Trophy, a race for horses rated 20 to 46. The progeny of Acclaim had recorded a runaway win in her last outing at Pune. Democracy was showing out in the workouts and if the punters blindly believed that the horse from the formidable stable of Pesi Shroff would maintain the winning ways, they could not be faulted.

New Dimension who was once hailed as a promising juvenile has had setbacks and in his last run, he had also bled. The only unknown quantity in the race was the Imtiaz Sait-trained Christophany who had run a fair race in Kanya Rashi`s win. New Dimension led the field from the start with apprentice jockey Bhosale keeping Democracy a handy second. Christophany was in the rear of the field but the progeny of Planetaire got a ground-saving run which made a critical difference to the fortunes of the filly who was getting chunks of weight from the favourite. Democracy overwhelmed the front-runner in the final furlong and shaped to win but Christophany who accelerated from the tail of the field edged past the favourite in the shadow of the post. New Dimension stayed on to take the third position.

Another short-priced horse of Pesi Shroff to bite the dust was Zucaro who was quoted at miserly odds to win the 1600 metres P B Avasia Plate, a race for horses rated 20 to 46. Zucaro had finished a close third rallying from the rear in what was considered a below-par effort by jockey Trevor Patel. Based on that effort, Zucaro was expected to have a bold show. The danger for Zucaro was expected to come from the other two horses of the same stable. Midway in the straight, Neeraj Rawal was unseated on Chenevix Trench as El Greco rolled out causing the former to clip the front runner. Jockey Umesh who invariably finds himself riding the long shots of the stable took the progeny of Multidimensional on a start-to-finish mission and the long shot who reportedly had a tie-forward opposition, had no problem in staying put in front to record an easy with over late rallying Kimiko. Zucaro failed to accelerate in the straight and looked out of sorts and was a beaten cause well before the race came to the boil and eventually finished a poor fourth behind Fancy Nancy. Zucaro as his trainer said seems to have a mind of his own and one doesn`t know when the punters would be able to read his mind. There was a Stewards enquiry into the incident which resulted in the fall of jockey Neeraj Rawal but there was no change in placings.

Blow number three also came from trainer Pesi Shroff`s yard where favourite Cordelia whom the trainer had considered a talented but timid horse. After a disappointing effort, Cordelia had recorded a smashing win next time out and hence the punters believed that the filly would be a force to reckon with in the 1400 metres Hoyt Plate, a race for horses rated 40 to 66. However, Cordelia let down expectations, being lethargic at the start and running into a wall of horses in the final furlong which effectively put paid to her hopes. Nolan led the field well into the straight before giving way to Ameerah. The latter held the lead till the closing stages of the race but was overhauled in the shadow of the post by Waheed-trained Believe and Golden Glow. Believe was always considered as a quality horse but the reason why he ran at fancy odds was the disappointing efforts in his last two essays including the Pune Derby where he had finished 20 lengths behind the winner. Apprentice jockey Haridas Gore who got everything right had Believe produce a strong effort in the final furlong to land the spoils at fancy odds. The winner clocked a smart time of one minute 22.77 seconds.

There was no relief in sight for punters as the day ended exactly the way it began, with the long shot Northern Singer from the stables of trainer Narendra Lagad necking out favourite Superimpose in the closing strides of the race to win the 1000 metres Kazakh Plate, a race for horses rated 20 to 46. Shiraz Sunderji trained Superimpose was backed to the exclusion of the rest but the four-year-old gelding once again came short, beaten to the second position. Superimpose had the lead going into the final stages of the race but Northern Singer managed to overhaul the front-runner in the hands of apprentice jockey Aniket Karande. Zukor necked out stablemate Dowsabel to save place money.

Dallas Todywalla trained Fashion Icon gave some relief to the beleaguered punters when winning the 1400 metres Secret Star Plate, a race for horses in the lowest category with a ground-saving effort along the rails in the hands of apprentice jockey N Bhosale. Lightning Blaze led deep into the straight before being overwhelmed by the eventual winner close to home. Charming Star was third while the fancied stablemate Zip Along finished a dismal last.