Bangalore Turf Club is not known to have uniform sets of rules and regulations for all. The decisions are often taken to suit its own interests and not based on overall interest of the sport or those involved with it.

The Bangalore Turf Club has made it a prospectus condition to deduct a percentage of the stake money from the winning amounts of race horse owners with or without their consent and deposit it with the Karnataka Racehorse Owners Association. There is no such thing as becoming a member of the KROA. BTC does not take the consent of the owners to deduct the same. Many race horse owners wrote a letter a few years back that they are not part of KROA and that there should be no cut in their winnings.

The turf club has refused to concede the demand of the Jockeys Association of India to deduct certain percentage of stake money earned by all jockeys to its fund. BTC deducts only in the case of jockeys who are members of the association and given their consent letter. There are many leading jockeys who are not members of the association but who profit from all the benefits accruing from JAI’s activities which include among other things, getting periodic hike in mount fee through continuous negotiation.

The JAI has been doing a wonderful job of insuring its members and providing financial assistance to disabled jockeys even when the clubs in general in India have failed to act in a humane manner. There are many prolific jockeys like Suraj Narredu, S John, C Alford, and Vaibhav who are not members of the association. They don’t contribute anything despite the fact that JAI has an onerous task of looking after its members in financial and physical distress. BTC, like other turf clubs in the country, contributes one per cent of stake money towards jockeys fund but with more jockeys suffering serious injuries, it is imperative that the club increases the money given to JAI.

The recent case of jockey S Chandrasekhar highlighted the plight of jockeys who are less fortunate. The jockey is under treatment for several months following his fall during Mysore races. The medical bills are piling up. His family is in desperate situation to take care of his needs. Jockey B Sreekanth who recently had a fall during morning track work will need expensive rehabilitation treatment. The turf club’s help has been restricted to paying a statutory amount along with the insurance claim. Injuries have reduced many a jockey as a vegetable. The club has to devise ways of helping them. While the JAI is doing its bit, the clubs have distanced themselves from this aspect other than the contribution of one per cent from the stake money.

The turf club licenses jockeys indiscriminately bowing to pressure even if some of them don’t deserve to be licensed. Such jockeys pose danger not only to themselves but also to their fellow colleagues by their incompetence. The number of jockeys is increasing every year and the pressure on the resources of JAI is tremendous. The turf clubs haven’t bothered to address the issue and take remedial measures. As a result, the number of jockeys who need financial assistance right through their life due to crippling injuries is going up each year. Last season at Mysore we had Chandrashekar becoming a victim for life while M D Paswan suffered a career threatening injury and recovering at his home State Bihar. One is not sure what help Paswan got because his cause was not taken up in public forum. After great deal of public outrage, BTC woke up and announced Rs 13 lakhs towards Chandrasekhar’s medical relief but as of now no money has been released. There is the bureaucratic delay as usual.

Race goers don’t always speak in glowing terms about jockeys as most of them are losers and believe that many of these professionals are up to mischief. However, when the plight of Chandrashekar was highlighted, they responded by giving generous contributions to his fund. The sad part of the story is that jockeys who did not wish to become members of the association haven’t contributed one bit for this fund. They have shown remarkable lack of sensitivity to the plight of their own brethren. They need to take a call on their conscience.

President of JAI Pradeep Chouhan said that in the last five years, his contribution to the jockeys fund from his earnings has been around Rs 25 lakhs. Surely some of the big jockeys who did not want to be part of the association would do well to introspect and put their contribution to the JAI fund. Perhaps the JAI should also amend its constitution and have stalwarts like Pesi Shroff and Sinclair Marshall who did a great service to the fraternity as life members and get their guidance and use their ability to mobilize more resources to the association. Pesi Shroff always was in the forefront of taking up issues affecting jockeys during his days with the association.

The Jockeys Association of India had threatened to take aggressive action to press their demands which among other things include licensing jockeys who have been benched for lack of performance and the TDS deduction of 30 per cent on their commission. Other turf clubs in the country are deducting 10.36 per cent TDS on commission where as BTC is cutting 30 per cent under 198 B which treats the hard earned money as windfall income! The club has refused to change its stance despite clarifications from Income Tax department on this score. Whoever thought that jockeys for whom injury and death are a palpable presence are getting windfall income must be considered as being out of his mind. As a result of the 30 per cent TDS cut, the contribution of the jockeys to their own fund has come down drastically as their income has correspondingly fallen as a result.

The club has sought time to consider the demands of jockeys about restoring the license for jockeys whose livelihood is taken away because of the stand taken by it. It is the club which issues licenses under pressure and influence without quality control. And after these jockeys spend several years in the trade, they are refusing to license them even though they carry no liability to the club. The only way these jockeys can survive is to work as riding boys and hope for occasional rides. The club cannot wash its responsibility when these jockeys have nothing to fall back upon.

In a welcome development, the JAI has told the club to be strict with jockeys who cause dangerous interferences during a race. At present, jockeys are routinely fined and the maximum punishment for dangerous riding is about eight race days. The JAI has said that if the club were to be harsh on those who are habitual offenders, it would act as a deterrent and also serve as an insurance against accidents in races which has resulted in many jockeys suffering life threatening injuries.