Jockey B. Prakash, who has rarely been suspended for any racing malpractice at any racing centre in the country, has finally landed himself in trouble for his riding atop Mountain Bear last Sunday.

Mountain Bear, it may be recalled, had beat just one horse, Cosmopolitan, that too by a short-head in a field of five in the Grand Passion Plate run over a distance of a mile on November 25. Mountain Bear was a half-money favourite to win this race.

Mountain Bear’s trainer Karthik Ganapathy and Prakash were both asked to show cause as to why action should not be taken against them for the performance of the favourite, which the Stipendiary Stewards and the RWITC Stewards of the Club felt was unsatisfactory.

Although Karthik escaped any punishment, the Stewards, ultimately, were not satisfied with the explanation tendered by Prakash and held the opinion that he had failed to give Mountain Bear the expected assistance in the home stretch given the fact that it was a on-money favourite.

The Stewards termed Prakash’s riding as injudicious and gave him the maximum punishment liable for this offence: Suspended from 17th December 2007 to 3rd January, 2008 (4 Race Days) plus a fine of ten-thousand rupees. This punishment is however subject to appeal.

The RWITC Stewards had also opened an enquiry into the defeat of Haunting Memories and Southern Empire. However, trainer S. Ganapathy informed the Stewards that since these horses were to be exported to Dubai for participation in the International Racing Carnival to be held later next year, they were vaccinated for EIA as per the required norms. This, according to Ganapathy, probably affected the performance of both Haunting Memories and Southern Empire.

The RWITC Stewards, consequently, framed a new rule of banning such vaccinated horses from participating in racing for three weeks.