The familiar rhythm of hooves has disappeared from the Delhi Race Club. In its place are broken walls, scattered hay and the remains of stables that sheltered generations of thoroughbreds at one of the capital’s oldest sporting institutions. Bulldozers moved through the nearly century-old racecourse on Lok Kalyan Marg on Thursday after the Centre took possession of the property following a court setback for the club. Several structures integral to racing — including stables, the bookmakers’ ring, winning post, photofinish camera facilities and saddling enclosure — were brought down.
The action followed the Patiala House Court’s refusal to grant the club interim protection against an August 11 eviction order issued under the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act. By evening, parts of a complex that had hosted horses, jockeys, trainers and racing enthusiasts for generations had been transformed into heaps of debris.
Horses begin leaving
The transformation began even before Thursday’s demolition. More than 200 of the roughly 250 horses housed at the racecourse have already been removed by their owners. Only 52 remain, according to a club official.
The remaining animals are expected to leave within the next fortnight, with the club having been given until September 14 to complete necessary arrangements.
Horse floats have been carrying the thoroughbreds to racing centres elsewhere in the country, including Pune, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Mysuru, Hyderabad and Kolkata.
The animals represent considerable investments for their owners. Depending on pedigree and performance, individual horses are valued between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 50 lakh.
Older animals that have retired from competitive racing are finding different destinations. Some have been sold to riding schools, while others have been shifted to a racing facility in Meerut.
Moving them is not simply a question of finding vacant stables. Workers say racehorses are highly conditioned animals accustomed to carefully controlled routines involving specialised feed, exercise, grooming and veterinary supervision.
The Delhi stables themselves had evolved around those requirements. Renovated during the 1940s, they were designed to provide ventilation and protection from the capital’s punishing summers. Wet gunny sacks and coolers were used to lower temperatures during hotter months.
Generations face uncertainty
The disappearance of the racecourse also threatens a community whose livelihoods grew around the horses.
According to the club, nearly 5,000 families have depended directly or indirectly on racing there over the decades. The ecosystem includes trainers, jockeys, stable workers, contractors and others whose skills are closely tied to the sport.
For trainer Irfan Ali, the association stretches across six generations.
His ancestors tended horses belonging to British owners in Lucknow before the family eventually moved to Delhi with the colonial cavalry. Ali learnt the profession from his grandfather, beginning as an assistant before becoming a trainer himself.
Over his career, he has trained around 50 thoroughbreds and currently looks after 13 racehorses.
“This is the only race club in north India. Our families depend on it,” Ali said.
For stable workers, daily life revolved around feeding horses, cleaning stalls, grooming the animals and preparing them for training and races. The sudden dismantling of that environment has therefore meant considerably more than the loss of physical structures.
A legacy dating to 1926
The Delhi Race Club was established at its present site on March 8, 1926, when New Delhi itself was still taking shape as the imperial capital.
It initially operated as a Gymkhana Club with an oval racing track. The configuration later changed after a portion of the land was taken over by the Indian Air Force, leaving the course with its distinctive horseshoe-shaped track.
The organisation was registered under Section 25 of the Companies Act in 1940. From April 1959, racing was conducted under the rules of Mumbai’s Royal Western India Turf Club, while Gymkhana racing continued until 1969.
Over the decades, the racecourse became a rare surviving part of Delhi’s older sporting landscape even as the city around it changed dramatically.
Legal battle ends in eviction
The immediate dispute over the property dates to March, when the Land and Development Office directed the club to vacate the government-owned land within 15 days, saying the site was required for public purposes.
The club challenged the action before the Delhi High Court and initially secured protection against the proceedings.
That protection did not last. On May 26, a division bench of the High Court overturned an interim order that had stalled the show-cause process, clearing the way for authorities to continue eviction proceedings.
An estate officer subsequently passed the August 11 eviction order. The club approached the Patiala House Court seeking interim relief but failed to secure a stay, allowing the Centre to take possession on Thursday.
For those whose lives were intertwined with the racecourse, the legal process has now produced a stark physical reality. Horses are being dispersed across India, workers face an uncertain future and structures that survived decades of change in the capital have disappeared within hours.
What remains is a horseshoe-shaped track, memories of generations of racing — and an unusual silence where Delhi once heard the sound of hooves.