"THE LEAGUE OF SHAME" - THE ROT BENEATH THE TURF

 “The League of Shame” – The Rot Beneath the Turf

A Voice for the Voiceless in Indian Racing

In the glitzy grandstands of Indian racing, where champagne toasts meet roaring crowds and betting terminals light up like slot machines, a darker tale unfolds far from the public eye — one of neglect, greed, and systemic cruelty. This is the story of the HPS League, a sordid subchapter of the sport that has long since abandoned its soul for the promise of profit.

Behind the carefully curated façade of sport, tradition, and spectacle, the very heart of racing — the horse — suffers in silence. Once-proud thoroughbreds, who danced effortlessly across turf and sand, are reduced to shadows of themselves. When the money dries up or the legs give way, there is no refuge. These noble animals, who gave their all for glory and gain, are discarded like worn-out betting slips.

The Hyderabad Race Club, among others, stands accused not just of indifference, but of complicity. Under their watch, a so-called "league" — a banner raised under the pretext of sport — has degenerated into a money-laundering masquerade. No official status. No regulatory oversight. No accountability. Just a playground for powerbrokers and backroom bookies where the horses are pawns in a twisted game of greed.

Illegal betting networks flourish behind closed doors, masked in respectability, with whispers of insider manipulation and shadow ownership. Yet the Turf Authorities of India remain deafeningly silent. Their marble offices and fine suits seem to insulate them from the cries echoing from abandoned stables and barren paddocks.

Handlers walk away unpaid. Stables fall into disrepair. Champions are left to die, forgotten and malnourished. Horses that once fetched lakhs in the auction ring now lie starving, unable to comprehend how quickly their worth evaporated. And while this cruelty festers, those in charge toast to “successful seasons” and “record entries,” conveniently turning their faces from the stench of neglect.

The hypocrisy is staggering. Publicly, there is talk of ethics, of care, of preserving heritage. Privately, backdoor deals and hush money ensure the truth remains buried. The suffering is invisible — and that’s exactly how they want it.

The shame doesn’t just belong to those who run these rogue leagues or to the patrons who profit from them. It belongs equally to the silent. To the stewards who look the other way. To the journalists who dare not speak. To the sponsors who plaster their logos across suffering, pretending it’s prestige.

For every rupee exchanged in this grim enterprise, a horse somewhere pays the price — with its health, its dignity, sometimes its life.

This isn’t sport. It’s betrayal.

And to remain silent in the face of it is not neutrality. It is complicity.

It’s time we call it what it truly is: The League of Shame.

Let the industry know — you cannot dress up cruelty in tradition and call it sport. Not anymore.