LAHORE, Oct 24: The Lahore Race Club (LRC) was the scene of a rowdy demonstration at the mid-week Gymkhana races on Wednesday the likes of which have not been seen in the recent past.

When the horses taking part in the third event had reached the starting gates, some punters gathered in front of the LRC Stewards Box and started raising a hue and cry. They were expressing doubts about the favourite gelding Jashn and a couple of other horses being on job although those had been backed for places, and demanded cancellation of the race.

Meanwhile, the number of demonstrators swelled into a large crowd by which time the horses had been boxed in and the race began.

The fancied Jashn and Tiger’s Wood finished off the board, while Last Love finished fourth. Riding boy Khalil Vikky, partnering Jashn was seen playing the “hide and seek”  game and not allowing his mount to run on merit at any stage of the race run over a sprinting distance of six furlongs.

As soon as the horses returned to the unsaddling enclosure, the demonstrators became furious, chanting slogans for the cancellation of the race at the top of their voices.  But their demand was not acceded to and the “all clear bell” was rung!

This further infuriated the demonstrators who went wild and started shouting against the stewards and accusing the owners, who were alleged to have “pulled” their horses. A section of the demonstrators attacked the LRC Judges Box and some others went upstairs to protest outside the Stewards Box, which was heavily guarded by the LRC security staff at that time. They broke  the window-pane glasses by throwing dustbins and hurling bricks furiously.

The security guards, however, succeeded in hauling up some demonstrators whom they also thrashed. The demonstrators tried to break open the door of the security-guards room, alleging that they had detained some of the persons who were not involved in rowdyism. At long last, the demonstration subsided when the persons were set free.

The international cricket umpire Amanullah Khan, who is a connoisseur of the sport, expressed his sorrow over the incident and said that the LRC Stewards could have avoided the situation by a timely action. He said that the stewards thought, perhaps, that it was their insult to yield to the demands of the punters by  cancelling the races even if they were forced to resort to demonstrations.

Later, it was announced on the public address system that the LRC Stewards had banned the entries of Jashn for one year. Better late than never.—AG