The Bangalore Derby day races which were postponed by a day due to uncertainty arising out of strike notice by the stable staff has been resolved at least temporarily. At a marathon meeting between race horse owners, trainers association, BTC and later on joined by the syces union representatives, a consensus was reached late Thursday evening. The jurisdictional ACP ensured that the syces who had kept off the meeting also joined the talks. It was agreed to pay the syces a salary of around Rs 7000 which includes Provident Fund. The KTA had stuck to its stand that it will only pay Rs 6,200 which was raised by another Rs 300. With the Provident Fund having to be paid to the amount agreed upon, the salary may reach about Rs 7000 plus. Currently, the syces are getting Rs 4800.

The trainers association and the owners` body had taken a tough stand and had informed the club that they would make arrangements to get their wards for races if the syces refused to work and that the Derby day programme should go through under any circumstance. Accordingly, arrangements were made and police protection sought to prevent any untoward incident. Luckily, the long drawn battle of attrition ended on a positive note. However, if one were to believe that with this the problems have ended, one may be mistaken. There is plenty of paper work to be done before the settlement can become a reality.

For one, the recognized president of the syces union had filed a number of cases against the trainers on several counts. Some of the syces joined hands to throw out the old President though technically he remains the head of the syces union as it is the recognized body. A group of syces negotiated the wage rise on behalf of their colleagues. The agreement is subject to the syces union withdrawing all the cases in the court and signing the fresh agreement. There may be many a hurdle before this is achieved as the President of the syces union who has been thrown out, may challenge the settlement in a court of law.

The battle of attrition will continue for some more time as the process of signing an agreement is bound to take some time. If the situation is well managed, the prestigious Invitation Cup weekend races should also go through without any problem. Having raised the expectations of the syces, it is imperative for all parties concerned that the wage hike is implemented without much delay.

The situation would not have reached a crisis point if the parties concerned had shown greater seriousness in hammering out a solution instead of letting the problem reach a boiling point. What is now being given to syces could have been offered much earlier but then in Bangalore, the worst situation seems to bring out the best in the parties concerned. The newly elected office-bearers of the Karnataka Racehorse Owners Association have to be congratulated for showing so much of keenness in resolving the issue. The KTA, the BTC on its part played its role.

When you change the way you look at things, things would change for the better. This could well be the story of the settlement hammered out though there could be some elements still wanting to derail the process.