BTC IS ON THE BRINK - 'DIVINE INTERVENTION' needed

 

BTC Is on the Brink — and Only 'Divine' Intervention Can Save It

The Bangalore Turf Club is in freefall. Government heat, financial decay, and a total leadership vacuum have pushed this once-respected institution to the worst crisis in its history.

Successive chairmen have failed the club, but the current regime has taken the collapse to a new low. Chairman Shivashankar has ceded control to the infamous DUBIOUS BROTHER'S whose private office now functions as BTC’s shadow headquarters. Decisions are dictated, outcomes engineered, and the elected committee stands reduced to mute spectators.

The forced removal of the Secretary and the Chief Stipendiary Steward has ripped out the two pillars that uphold administrative continuity and racing integrity. The Stipendiary Steward may have been rightfully removed, but the aftermath has been even more destructive: the mantle of race supervision has been handed to completely inexperienced individuals, turning a sensitive, technical, high-stakes responsibility into an amateur experiment. Racing is now being monitored by people with neither the expertise nor the authority required — a recipe for chaos.

BTC is now running on ad-hoc decisions and critical guesswork, with racing supervision all but paralysed.

This is not rumour—it is on record. Senior members like Sydney Moses have formally written to the chairman, warning that the supervision of racing has "IS IN COMPLETE DISTRESS” raising an even bigger scandal: stewards themselves indulging in betting, shattering the sanctity of their quasi-judicial role and exposing deep nexus with bookies and big punters.

As if governance rot wasn’t enough, the spectre of glanders threatens the winter season. Horses kept in isolation were unbelievably attempted to be raced. This is the same reckless negligence that destroyed Hyderabad’s calendar — and BTC seems ready to repeat that disaster.

Yet the membership, long dominated by captive electorates and inherited loyalties, offers no BLOCKADE. With no passion and no experience for the sport and no appetite for accountability, they watch in silence while the club’s reputation—and value—plummets. A membership priced at nearly ₹30 lakh has zero takers, because BTC today offers little more than a broken clubhouse and a broken system.

Inside the administration, a toxic culture thrives. Want a licence? Want work cleared? There are only three doors:

THE BROTHER DUO, government pressure, or outright inducements. Merit is not just ignored—merit is punished. Manipulation, influence, and patronage are the new currency of BTC.

And all this while, the forensic audit ordered by the government—laden with damning findings—lies untouched. Stakeholders have pleaded for action. The audit was meant to clean house. Nothing has been done.

The situation is now beyond self-correction.

Government intervention is no longer a threat—it is the last hope.

BTC stands at the edge of an abyss.

Only decisive reforms, professional governance, strict integrity enforcement, and firm external oversight can rescue what remains of a once-proud institution.

Without that, the Bangalore Turf Club will not survive. SHADOWED PERSONALITIES NEVER HELP ANY INSTITUTION /SPORT