KARACHI: The management of Karachi Race Club (KRC), trainers, riders and horseracing connoisseurs have appealed to the Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah to grant permission for the resumption of weekly races under SOPs and save a large number of people from financial miseries.

It has been four months now since the regular Gymkhana race meetings were halted after Prime Minister Imran Khan clamped a lockdown due to the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic on March 14.

‘We earnestly request the provincial chief to allow the equine sport as poor people can’t afford to survive any more’, the KRC secretary Syed Ali Akbar Shah Rashdi told Dawn on Sunday.

He disclosed that due to closure 16 racing weeks have been lost which resulted in a loss of approximately Rs6 million.

He added that the KRC is left with meagre savings that would be disbursed in salaries and clearing of utility bills next month.

The secretary said that KRC had laid off daily wage staff and sounded fear about the future of regular staff.

He expressed satisfaction on the health of horses and all staffers during the last four months. Veteran trainer Mohyuddin endorsed the views of KRC official.

“Poor and middle class people of the fraternity are finding it difficult to make ends meet due to long closure of races,” Mohyuddin, who is trainer of Syed Sibghatullah Shah Pir Pagara’s horses, told Dawn.

Asked how he was going through difficult time, Mohy­uddin said he and other trainers turn up at the Racecourse regularly for morning galloping and gate practice of horses to keep them fit for competition.

Last year’s champion trainer Ghulam Shabbir II and champion rider Mohammad Manzoor have also urged the government to allow start of horseracing and save people from dying with hunger.

Meanwhile, contrary to the festive atmosphere, the KRC wore a deserted look when this correspondent visited the premises on Sunday. Only the secretary and some staff of finance department were present.

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2020