The sound of the thundering hooves of thoroughbreds running for coveted prizes will be heard once again in the historic Guindy racecourse. The Indian Turf Invitation Cup weekend (March 5-6) might well be a path breaking one for the Madras Race Club, which is hosting the big racing weekend after a gap of 11 years.
A sea change has come about at the course that we all remembered from a youth spent in chasing dreams of tuned-to-the-minute racehorses triumphing in one of sports’ great pursuits.
Lester Piggott rode here as ‘Sir Lester’ as he still had his knighthood then, back in the ’80s. Keeping his mount Delage on a tight rein as others battled for the lead into the stretch, the tall jockey swooped on the opposition in a typical display of the art of timing.
Beyond the win which came with the customary Piggott judgment, what the world’s leading jockey of his time said then was significant. He said he had never ridden in a better racecourse around the world. So awesome were the early facilities at the time for riders and horses at Guindy.
A non-undulating track with even and wide turns on grass kept lush green by copious watering represented the safest arena for the demanding sport in which thoroughbreds get as competitive as people in attaining goals. It is a pity then that such a racecourse took a turn to become a monopolistic organization that shut out outside competition.
However great a patron and sporting owner M.A.M. Ramswamy was, he was guilty of building a monopoly powerhouse, which was determined by the sheer domination of numbers.
His sad demise in December 2015 at the height of the deluge in Chennai leaves very big hole for the Indian turf as a whole and MRC in particular. Having committed to the conduct of the prestigious weekend of all-India racing in Guindy for 2016, the great racing patron was sporting enough to have made a financial provision for the event long before ill health forced him into hospital. His abiding commitment to racing is the stuff of legend.
There will never be another owner like him with such an abiding interest as to buy as well as breed thousands of horses to keep horse racing going. Racing is on a precipitously steep downward spiral now thanks to cricket betting having taken the country by storm in the last few decades. The number of racing patrons, who were driven also by the thrill of wagering, has declined alarmingly in the last decade. The lack of patronage is showing in Indian racing.
The race club at Guindy, located splendidly in the heart of the city and serving as its lungs along with the nearby national park, is on a reform path to open competition under its new chairman R. Ramakrishnan, who is a veteran turf administrator after having been a racing journalist known as ‘Patrol Camera’.
From the old school of administration of sport, he has been in touch with racing events as Indian representative in various turf club congresses around the world that are dominated by the Americans (whose races race in dirt rather than grass). He has the capacity to bring the club around to its glory days again.
The Invitation Cup weekend races will only be the beginning as MRC and Guindy aspire for the great place it held in Indian racing once upon a time when professionals vied with each other to bring their horses here and fight for the top prizes in a spirit of keen sporting competition. Madras races will be open for competitive racing to all comers from the next racing season while Ooty will also have its share of outstation trainers and riders participating.
Next weekend’s racing will mean more than just the thrills. It will also signal the resurrection of an older Guindy tradition of open competition.
