Inauspicious start to Mumbai racing season

Trainer Altaf Hussain. Pic/Shadab Khan

News of trainer Altaf Hussain‘s death, the defeat of three piping-hot on-money favourites in the first three races of the card, and a controversial decision by the race club stewards to declare the Royal Calcutta Turf Club Trophy null and void marred the opening day of the Mumbai racing season which got underway at Mahalaxmi on Thursday.

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Hussain (61), who had suffered a heart attack 10 days ago, passed away at Pune on Thursday morning. A minute's silence was observed by administrators, jockeys, trainers and the racing public, in his honour.

Hussain started training horses at Mumbai and Pune in 1985, and won close to 650 races, including 13 Classics.

On the field, trainer Narendra Lagad's Son Of A Gun, ridden by Mustakim Alam, showed no mercy to his three rivals en route a triumph in the Royal Calcutta Turf Club Trophy by a margin of over five lengths. However, the stewards declared the race null and void after starter, J Pereira reported a malfunction of the starting gates, denying a level and fair start to all. He admitted that he failed to hit the false start buzzer, which alerts jockeys and barrier staff so that they can act and stop the horses.