June 1, 2002	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 19,1423

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LAHORE, May 31: Despite the lapse of a whole year, differences between the Lahore Race Club (LRC) and the turf accountants over financial matters have not been settled.

The cause of dispute is the volume of contribution made by the turf accountants to the LRC.

The turf accountants had been protesting as in their view, the amount agreed between the two was beyond their “ paying capacity.”

On the other hand the LRC maintains that the turf accountants are bound by agreement to honour their commitment to pay the agreed sum. The LRC had prepared its budget and announced stake-money keeping in view of turf accountants’ share and its other revenue resources.

The situation has recently aggravated to such an extent, that some bookmakers have abandoned their stalls, while others have syndicated themselves with others to avoid making contributions to the LRC.

Negotiations have been held on the matter several times, but the issue has still not been resolved.

A spokesman of the bookmakers complained about the attitude of the LRC management, which he said was indifferent to their financial and other problems.

This has led to reduction in stake money being offered by the LRC to the owners of winning horses. The situation has upset the owners, who think the prize-money is hardly enough to meet the expenditure incurred on maintaining a horse and keep it in training.

Two owners, Mahmood Khan and Mian Mahir Ahmed, commenting on the situation have called for immediate remedial measures, and pointed that the standard of horse-racing has undergone fundamental changes in the past four decades solely due to financial conditions.

Both the owners said that it was imperative that the LRC adopt a formula for the future of racing aimed at protecting the interests of owners, breeders, and all those concerned in racing matters.