Indian Racing

So much has been written about the state of affairs about Indian Racing.

There are times when I feel that Dr MAM has done a disservice to the nation by gaining a verdict in favour of Horse Racing In India

At all the places there are bound to be In and Out racing but the scale in India is probably the highest.

What needs to be done and what can be done to improve the state of affairs?

Is somebody willing to do that?

We can touch on the subject of what needs to be done but whether somebody or some group of people at the helm of affairs are willing to do it OR are they willing to do something else so that this Daylight Robbery is put to an end?That is a Million,nay Billion dollar question.

Who is benefited from racing in India?

We can confidently say that the following are benefitted:-

1. Govt.
   
2. The Race Club
   
3. Trainer
   
4. Some Jockeys
   
5. Majority of the Bookmakers.
   
6. Some Owners
   
7. The cutters
   
8. Any other which we may have forgotten
   

   
    

   
    

   Who takes the burden for feeding all of the above :- a single entity called the PUNTER or the AVERAGE RACE GOER.
   

   
    

   Do this set of breed called the PUNTER owe to the above in their previous births which is being returned in the current birth.?
   

   
    

   
    

   What can be done?
   

   
    

   1. Book Makers can be abolished.:- Their role is to accept bets and make payouts to the winners.This entity has knowledge of who is trying and who is not as the connections bet with this class of people.They are privy to information which the PUNTER is not.The odds fluctuate accordingly and these class of people balance books in such a way that the total payout is always less than their total collection.Sometimes they loose but any Bookmaker who does not punt and believes in balancing his books as much as possible mostly wins in the long run.
      

      
       

   2. All the tote to be interconnected:- Just like they do for Combined JP, all the net collection( after deduction of the club commission and the prevalent tax for the state) ot all the centres should be added to the main centre. For eg whenever Bangalore races are on all the tote from Hyd,Chennai,Mumbai,Kolkatta etc to be added to Bangalore pool for all the existing pools (Win,Place,SHP,Exacta,Treble ,Quinella etc).The unit will be as prevalent in the main cenre.Similarly for all the Mumbai/Pune bets the net collection to be added to Mumbai pool( super JP included) and forHyderabad( unit bet Rs 5/-) the collection from all centres to be added to Hyderabad Pool.This will avoid duplicity of bets,uniformity of payout and decent collections for all the clubs and also better payout to the Race Goer.These totes should accept bets from the previous day(s) after the declarations.The totes can close at some fixed time( say 6 PM).The dividends as per the collections will be the night odds.The tote can start operating from 8 AM on the racing day and the dividends will become the odds.In this way the GOVT/CLUB & the Race Goer can get higher income as the bets without payment of tax/commission can be eliminated.The existing bookmakers can operate as extension points for the tote on a predetermined commission basis and can be given connectivity to the tote.
      

      
       

   3. Trainers should be made to give the riding instructions in writing on the morning of the race and the same should be published 2-3 hrs prior to the race for the information of the Race Goer.
      

   
    

   
    

   1. Penalties should be levied on the trainer for the horses finishing more than a predetermined distance behind the winner.This will force all trainers to give only genuine entries and also force them to try all the runners.Some exceptions in some races can be made in classics etc.
      

      
       

   2. The main entity, the Punter, has no representation in any form .They should have a say.A punter can object to the way a race was run or a particular runner was run.There should be a move by each club to form an association for the punter and structure their involvement in racing.
      

   
    

   Many more can be written but for the present we will restrict them and when we see some positive development in any of these we can give more suggestions.
   

   
    

   Will any of these or any other ideas be implemented for the betterment of the sport?
   

   
    

   I have my doubts but let us keep hoping that there will be change for the better.