Horse power: The bronze equestrians of Bengaluru

In less than two weeks, Bangalore's summer racing season will kick off at the century-old Bangalore Turf Club (BTC) in the heart of the city.

- Roopa Pai

Way back in 1916, Maharaja Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar leased out 92 acres of prime real estate in the neighbourhood known as High Grounds to the stewards of the Bangalore races, under the condition that the land be used exclusively for horse racing. On May 20, 1921, those stewards created the Bangalore Race Club (which, in 1956, became the BTC).

Horses and horsepersons have been around in Bangalore well before the BTC, of course, as the number of equestrian statues dotting the city reveal. The oldest is the statue of Sir Mark Cubbon, Commissioner of Bangalore from 1834 to 1861. Respected both by the locals and his fellow officers, the horse-mad Cubbon personally owned 60 fine steeds, which he stabled in the extensive grounds of his home (today the Karnataka Raj Bhavan) in the High Grounds. His statue, cast in bronze by Baron Marochetti, a Chelsea sculptor who was the toast of London society, arrived in Bangalore in 1866, and eventually found a home in the park that was named after him.