The riots at Pune following the defeat of heavily backed favourite Midnight Wind highlighted the folly of not following the established rules and compromising the health of the horses, exposing the professionals to public wrath as also hurting the interest of punters who repose blind faith in the favourites who command huge betting in the ring. Luckily for jockey Zervan, he was not Martin Dwyer to be suspended for finishing last and not making any effort on his horse. The horse was reported to have bled and the jockey chose to drop his hands unlike Martin who rode out the horse and lost by a whisker only to be accused of not permitting the horse to run on merits!

Midnight Wind was heavily wagered to win the fifth race of the day, the Inglenook Plate (Div II), run over 1200 metres. Stablemate Rocking won at the expense of Scarlet of Hope at nourishing odds. The public was agitated by the ``doosra`` delivered by the stable and attacked trainer Antia as he was leading in the winner. There was widespread protest by punters with many of them tearing of the hoardings and threatening to cause more damage. The police were called in and repeated announcement on the public address system that an enquiry will be conducted after the last race calmed the punters. The rest of the day`s programme was hurriedly gone through with heavy presence of police helping to ease the situation.

There was a lengthy enquiry after the last race and the Stewards very nearly committed a major blunder when they almost decided to refund the bets long after the bookmakers and tote counters had given out the payouts. One doesn`t know how they would have been able to refund the money to punters as they would have thrown away their tickets after the white cone was hoisted. Reportedly, the decision did not go through narrowly. Luckily a serious administrative blunder was thus averted.

The punters may have been at their wits end following the in and out running of horses, more particularly trainer Antia`s horses as more often than not, horses at lucrative odds run as if they had acquired wings. More than the acts of the trainer, it was the policies of the club which came under intense scrutiny after the horse bled. There are more reported cases of horses bleeding under RWITC Rules of Racing than at any other centre. There are several factors which may be responsible for this situation but the most important one is that a number of far from ready horses allowed to race are very high as the handicapping system benefits those who keep giving runs. The club also permits horses which are EIPH Grade 2 bleeders to race without enforcing the mandatory one month ban period as per the Calendar notification. Interestingly the club`s chief veterinary officer and also leading private vet Feroz Khambatta had opined during the Martin Dwyer enquiry that if EPIH Grade 2 bleeders were banned for one month from racing there won`t` be enough horses to race! According to their own admission, the horses with this problem outnumber sound horses at Western India. This is surely a disturbing situation indeed.
Jockey Martin Dwyer was suspended for his ride on Ice Age who was a known bleeder but was not banned from racing due to guidelines followed at RWITC which however are not incorporated in Rules of Racing. Ice Age lost by a narrow margin and suffered Grade III bleeding and the jockey was in danger of being thrashed by the public. The Stewards, too, ignoring the fact of the horse had bled, suspended the jockey shocking the discerning followers of the game. They disregarded the fact that the horse had bled whereas in this instance, they readily accepted the reason for the poor performance of the horse without taking any action. Surely they know not what they are doing though the Chairman of Appeal Board was brave enough to say that everyone should learn race reading from him!

Under BTC Rules of Racing, Grade 2 bleeders are not permitted to race for one month. The paragraph regarding bleeders reads as follows: Should a horse bleed during or following a race or training gallops, the fact of such bleeding shall be reported by the trainer without delay to the Stipendiary Stewards of the meeting who, after having the horse examined by the Club`s Veterinary Office, may recommend to the Stewards of the Meeting that such horses be not started in a race for such period as they be deemed fit.

Grade 1 bleeder is classified as one who on endoscopic examination shows one or more flecks of blood or two or less than two narrow, short, stream of blood (narrow: less than 10 per cent of tracheal surface; short, less than quarter length of trachea. Grade 2 as a horse showing one long stream more than half of length of trachea or more than two short streams occupying less than one third tracheal circumference. Grade 3 for a horse showing multiple streams of blood more than one third tracheal circumferences with blood pooling at the thoracic inlet. Grade 4 as having multiple streams of blood covering 90 per cent of tracheal surface with blood pooling at the thoracic inlet. Grade 2,3 and 4 are considered as bleeders or EPIH. In case of Grade 1, it will not be considered as a bleeder and there will be no embargo on the horse. The rest of the cases ie. Grade 2, 3 and 4 will be considered as bleeder and certificate to that effect will be issued and embargo on such horses over varying periods of four to 12 weeks to permanent ban from racing is enforced. This is the practice in BTC but in RWITC, some compromises are made in the guidelines and according to the Stipes and vets there, Grade 2 bleeders are not banned from racing. This could be the reason why Grade 2 bleeders end up as becoming chronic Grade 3 and Grade 4 bleeders.

The health of the horses is more important to protect the image of the sport. The authorities failed to act with regard to use of whips and rampant use of steroids till the Government of India came into the picture and passed law bringing in various restrictions and banning the use of steroids altogether. India was the first country to make the use of air cushion whips compulsory and this rule has now been enforced all over the racing world. One hopes that the administrators would not be found wanting in taking measures to protect the sport even if it meant having less races and fewer race days.