The annual Racing Awards function held on February 28 at Mumbai was a damp squib in every sense. Unseasonal rains forced shifting of the function from outdoors to air-conditioned tent. It is understandable that under such circumstances, one has to compromise with many things. But what came as a big letdown was the way the awards function was handled, with the awardees not getting the pride of place. Their achievements were not put in perspective for the gathering to appreciate them.

''There was no dignity about these awards. It was gone through in about 15 minutes as if it was some side show,’’ said Ameeta Mehra whose Usha Stud Farm had a record breaking year with Horse of the Year Alaindair being the produce of its champion stallion Multidimensional. The stud farm had the distinction of winning nine classics during the calendar year of the Turf Authorities of India. Ameeta was extremely disappointed with the awards ceremony and made no bones about her criticism about the way the function was conducted.

Cyrus Madan who was the past Chairman of the Turf Authorities of India surely conducted a flop show. He was not concentrating on the job at hand. Perhaps he was asked to hurry up with the function so that side show could take centre stage. Being a very senior person, he could well have handed the job to somebody else. He got the names of some winners wrong. He did not highlight the fact that first time part owner Guarav Sethi had the rare distinction of winning every big race in India through Alaindair. Cyrus failed to call out the names of all owners of Alaindair. Ameeta Mehra’s name was completely forgotten as an owner. It is not that every day one gets to own a horse of the caliber of Alaindair and this was lost in the way he handled the show. Sandesh who won the championship for jockeys for the first time was not given his due.

Instead the focus seemed to be on porn star Sunny Leone whose presence totally diluted the importance of the awards night. Cyrus was more interested in showcasing Sunny Leone whose presence did not add any value except for the Chairmen of the various Turf Authorities of India who seemed to be thrilled to be receiving a memento form her. Some of them were disappointed that she did not give the memento to them as Chunky Pandey did the honors for a few ''unlucky’’ ones. The Racing Awards night became a Sunny Leone show as if she was a celebrity. One has no dispute with having glamour to add value to these functions but they should not sideline the purpose for which the function is called for.

The function was to honor racing professionals who had achieved distinction over the last one year. The focus should have been only on this. Is the Turf Authority of India apologetic about these awards? Why was there no announcement of the names of award winners with a brief note about their achievements? Surely there could have been a write up about these awards in the RWITC website at least.