Friday, 29 March 2024
Royal Turf Club unveils next race season's plans

Royal Turf Club unveils next race season's plans

The Royal Turf Club [ RTC] recently unveiled their plans for the forthcoming race season which commences on 6th August.

At the media briefing, the RTC also announced other improvements to the facilities that have been taking place up at the Nuwara Eliya Race Track and the investment that looks promising.

Present were the committee members of the RTC, President Mr Suranjith Premadasa, CEO of the RTC Wayne Wood, Consultant to the RTC Cyrus Madan and Event Coordinator of the RTC Nikhil Punna .

The proceedings commenced with the announcement that an A list Hollywood star would be present to launch the racing season which commences on 6th August, which has also been designated a Charity Race Day with all the proceeds going to Charity, namely the Sri Lanka Cancer Society in this case.

“We have earmarked a Special Race Day in aid of the Cancer Hospital and this is just one example of our committed solidarity to Charity. In fact charity will be an ongoing association and not just an off the cuff one time affair” said Wood. President of the Sri Lanka Cancer society, Mr Tony Angi was also present at the media briefing.

Wood acknowledged the contribution of their sponsors who played a major role in the success of the April Racing Festival as sponsors do in any event. The sponsors who came on board were the Rupavahini Corporation , Channel Eye , Dashmesh Stud Farm, The Sporting Times, Blackpool Hotel, Alpine Hotel, Edwards Collection , Ministry of Tourism , Sporting Star , Araliya Green Hills Hotel, Grand Hotel , Kunigal Stud ,The Hill Club, Wijaya Newspapers, 88.3 , 110/100.2 , 88.1, Usha Stud Farm, CWC ,Continental Plantations and EBC Ascot.

With regards to the future activities of the RTC, Wood said there was plenty to look forward to in the future as the Royal Turf Club moves into the second racing season which will commence on August 6th with racing taking place nearly every two weeks until 13th May 2017. Over this period 19 race days will be conducted, while sponsors have already indicated their interest to come on board. “We are still negotiating the finer details with two international brands” said Wood.

The RTC’s feature days are: Saturday 6th August a Cancer Hospital Charity Race Day, Saturday 17th September a Ladies Days where the RTC hopes to have a lady rider, Saturday 29th October will be an Indian theme to celebrate Deepawali, Saturday 5th November will be a Guy Fawkes theme with special activities for children and Saturday 10th December will be the Christmas Cup Meeting.

With regards to foreign investment Wood said that the RTC had been approached by foreign Investors who had closely monitored it’s performance over the April Season. “Naturally the club will discuss any proposals they have and if the proposal will be of benefit to the Sri Lankan people, the Nuwara Eliya community and the racing industry we shall definitely take the matter further” said Wood. He hinted of a significant investment coming in to the RTC via a country noted for its support since World War 2 . “ I cannot divulge the details just yet but the minute we know, you will know”.

With regards to betting, Wood said that the RTC had received several verbal and written complaints that there was no betting on course.

“The RTC does not have any intention of conducting any betting at this stage” affirmed Woods. He went on to say that it is a popular myth (here and not abroad) that horse racing is associated with gambling. “It is not. On the contrary the BIGGEST races (The Dubai world cup) are all non gambling races. In fact the Indian Supreme court passed a ruling where it is clearly stated that ‘Horse racing is a game of skill’ when asked to rule on the association of horse racing with gambling”.

Last modified on Friday, 24 June 2016 15:01