Punters lose horse sense, riot

Punters lose horse sense, riot
Deccan Herald

Pandemonium prevailed at the Bangalore Turf Club (BTC) as a section of the crowd rioted against the result of the Bugs Bunny Cup’s seventh race on Friday.

It was a goofy thing to happen; the animal just horsed around all right. But that was no good reason for the punters to draw comfort from.

Pandemonium prevailed at the Bangalore Turf Club (BTC) as a section of the crowd rioted against the result of the Bugs Bunny Cup’s seventh race on Friday.

The club authorities were forced to cancel the last race of the day and launch an inquiry into the running and riding at the turf. Race enthusiasts, though, didn’t have the slightest inkling that they may be backing the wrong horse when the day began.


Second-favourite Appoint, ridden by C Alford, had opened up a big lead over the rest when it came into the straight. S Ramesh on Hidalgo and Prakash on Simply Spectacular gave the chase and started narrowing the gap.

Alford egged on his mount but received no response. It happened all of a sudden – Appoint stopped and Hidalgo, a 33-1 outsider, passed him close to the winning post.

Trouble started soon after the presentation ceremony with people hurling abuses at BTC officials. It quickly snowballed into a riot.

The crowd went on the rampage, smashing tote windows, computers and some 30 televisions on the ground floor. Emboldened by the absence of police, they surged towards the weighing room demanding action against

the jockies. Luckily for those inside the weighing room, someone locked the grill gates. The mob then used flowerpots to smash the weighing room windows. The paddock area and jockey room, too, were ransacked. After nearly 45 minutes of chaos, the Stewards announced that the last race of the day was cancelled.

Police personnel rushed to the turf and dispersed the mob.

Joint Commissioner (Law and Order) Bipin Gopalakrishna visited the spot and held meetings with the BTC members. Gopalakrishna told Deccan Herald that the police have asked some TV channels to part with footages of the violence.

“We will arrest the culprits soon,” he said.