Racy women ride through glass ceilings Women don't just add glamour at the races, They actually crack the whip as owners of racehorses

Racy women ride through glass ceilings

Women don't just add glamour at the races, They actually crack the whip as owners of racehorses

There was a time when women were noticed at the race course only for how much they upped the glamour quotient. Not any more. Today women are firmly in the saddle – not only are they getting kicks out of owning racehorses, there are even a few women trainers as well. “The women are not just escorting men to the race courses. They are the ones who are calling the shots,” said Silva Storai, the only woman jockey to bring home two Derby winners in what has for long been a man’s sport. This is a far cry from the old cheer brigades who would go vocal on Lady’s Day Out at the turf club. The racing industry spurred this trend by allowing up to ten people to form a syndicate and jointly own a horse. A horse costs anywhere between three lakh to a crore, depending on the bloodline; so with syndicated ownership, you need an investment of as little as Rs30,000 to be the owner of a horse, a thrill that was exclusively enjoyed by the super rich in the past. The monthly maintenance bill for a horse works out to just Rs1,000 per head, which is less than what one would pay for a meal at a high-end eatery. With the entry barriers lowered, syndicates have been formed at the major racing centres of Bangalore and Mumbai, bringing hundreds of new horse owners to the game. Former national basketball captain Nandini Basappa put together the first all-women syndicate in Bangalore, and they even had a woman jockey in Silva Storai. When they won a couple of major races, the glass ceiling that had kept women out of the running was well and truly broken. Asha Latha, who owns a couple of beauty salons in Bangalore, has bought a number of horses in partnership with her friends, and loves the excitement. “You win some, you lose some, but it is good clean fun,” she said. “And believe me, I’m not being cheated as many others will tell you,” laughed Asha Latha. “You really don’t know how good a horse is till he races, and even a cheap buy can turn out to be a champion. That gives even the newbies and small owners a good chance in the game,” pointed out Basappa, who loves her horses and has become a regular at the races. “We first picked up the cheap stock and slowly graduated to bigger buys,” she added. Now there are biggies too among the women owners, such as Sharmila Padmanabhan. The latest in her prized possession is Borsalino, who won the Kingfisher Bangalore Derby and then the Hyderabad Derby at Malakpet last week, sweeping up Rs1.5 crore in the stakes. Sharmila says her next target is the Mysore Derby and then she will be ready for the big titles in Mumbai.