The winter season at the Bangalore Turf Club was off to the worst possible start on Friday with the top-two favourite horses taking a tumble under wet conditions.
In the 1200m November Plate, the day’s first race which began in the afternoon, jockey Suraj Narredu astride Will To Win, the second favourite, looked set to win but fell down when the horse lost her footing in the final furlong and broke her leg. Will to Win was later put to sleep on humanitarian grounds.
The fall led to an avalanche in which the favourite Y.S. Srinath (helming Aceros) and Kiran Rai (atop Sir Piggot) also fell to the ground. This resulted in an unfancied horse claiming the honours, leaving punters furious, who then vandalised the area demanding a refund.
With the situation threatening to get out of hand, police had to resort to a lathi charge to bring things under control.
High Grounds police have registered an FIR against unidentified individuals for vandalism and rioting based on a complaint by the management of Bangalore Turf Club.
“There were nearly 6,000 people at the venue. The premises was vandalised. A few television sets and other assets were damaged. We are examining CCTV footage to identify the individuals who damaged BTC property,” a senior police official said. The punters wanted the BTC stewards to declare the race null and void, but the authorities were unmoved. As per the rule, a race is declared null and void if four horses crash out.
A majority of the jockeys blamed the poor quality of the track for the incident, which has now forced the BTC to cancel Saturday’s races. An inspection of the track by jockeys, trainers and BTC stewards is scheduled for Saturday.
It is worth noting that a mock race was held last Saturday where the jockeys had expressed doubts over the firmness of the ground and had even written to the authorities through the Jockeys’ Association of India to take corrective measures.
