“Race clubs will have to innovate for racing to survive”- Mr. R. Surender Reddy

Hyderabad Race Club chairman Mr. R. Surender Reddy made the above comment in an informal chat with this writer at Hyderabad recently.
Hyderabad Race Club has just celebrated its golden jubilee and Mr. Reddy has been at the head of this great institution for twenty-eight straight years and in total has been elected chairman of HRC for twenty nine years. He is one of the most respected racing administrators in the country and under his leadership H.R.C. has evolved into the best run race club in India. This has come about due to a policy of constantly seeking to better the product for the racing public as well as exploring avenues to increase turnover.
However, even with revenues reaching record levels, Mr. Reddy sounds a note of caution “There is too much racing going on today. In Hyderabad we have had three hundred and sixty days of racing last year with sixty three on course days and two hundred and ninety seven off course days. This amount of racing is not good and will lead to punter fatigue in the long run. Racing in all centres will have to become more competitive so that interest is retained among race-goers.”
“More importantly race clubs cannot be over dependent on racing income, to survive. Already R.W.I.T.C., Calcutta and Madras Race Clubs have started getting large revenues from non-racing activities and clubs like Bangalore and Hyderabad, who rely completely on racing for our revenues, will face problems in the near future.”
When it was pointed out that the clubs who were receiving large non-racing incomes were basically utilising their assets to cash in, Mr. Surender Reddy was adamant that unless clubs built up their assets and then managed them in the best possible manner for the benefit of the institutions it was going to be very difficult for racing to sustain itself only on the revenues it generated. It was with this in mind that H.R.C. went ahead and invested in real estate in Vijayawada.
Expanding further on what he meant by innovating and looking for avenues outside of racing for race clubs to thrive he said, “Betting on sporting activities is being seriously considered by the Government of India. I see this becoming a reality in the very near future. This is an area where race clubs can ideally position themselves to be the authorised entities that conduct betting on all kinds of sports. We all know that cricket betting volumes are huge and by being involved legally in this, race clubs will be able to potentially earn much more than what they get out of racing. We only have to look at the Hong Kong Jockey Club, which was appointed as the official agency to conduct betting on the European football leagues and now earns many times more from this activity than it does from racing, as an example worthy of emulation.”
Asked what was needed to be done to attract newer people to racing Mr. Reddy said, “Clubs must look after the welfare of the racing public. After all we are custodians of huge amounts of public money and what we receive as profits must be used to improve facilities. People have higher expectations today and if we fail to meet those expectations we will be the losers. The same is true of owners of horses. The betting public and the owners are the two pillars on which every race club stands and we have to provide the best possible infrastructure within our means to ensure that the horses are healthy and able to perform at their best.”
In keeping with the present clamour for more transparency that is ringing around the country H.R.C. has introduced a system where its accounts are audited every quarter by an external committee of eminent persons. The recommendations of this committee are binding on the managing committee. A whistleblower policy too has been instituted in a bid to ensure a corruption free administration in the club.
When speaking about the journey over the last fifty years of the club Mr. Reddy was effusive in his praise for all the people who had sweated to make Hyderabad Race Club what it is today and he singled out one man without whom this club may never have reached such heights. “Whatever H.R.C. is today is only due to the passion, commitment and sweat of Nari Reddy,” said Mr. Surender Reddy of Mr. N. N. Reddy who was the secretary of the club for twenty years and is still asked for advice on many matters today.
“I am happy that we have been able to achieve a lot at H.R.C. in these respects but there is a lot of work still to be done,” concludes Mr. Reddy at the end of a wide ranging discussion.

— Sanjay Reddy

October-November 2011