Bengaluru: The Bangalore Turf Club’s summer season will kick off this Saturday with the star attraction — HPSL Bangalore Summer Derby — slated to be held on July 13, offering a guaranteed prize money of a whopping Rs 2 crore.
The season will feature a total of 24 racing days with action slated mostly during the weekends, except during the final week. BTC will also host 12 special race days like the Colts Championship Stakes and Fillies Championship Stakes among others, with the season set to conclude on August 1.
The K N Guruswamy Memorial Trophy, one of the key events in the season, is scheduled to take place on May 24.
The syces (people who take care of horses in the stable) had staged a protest over unpaid dues earlier this week and even threatened to boycott the opening weekend’s action. BTC chairman R Manjunatha Ramesh, however, said the issue has been sorted out and there is no threat to racing.
“We’ve had a meeting with the syces and their welfare association. We’ve given them the guarantee over the pending dues. They have agreed and racing will go on smoothly,” said Ramesh at a press conference on Thursday.
BTC, in a novel idea, will be conducting races over 1300m and 1500m distances, something that happens only in Ooty and Chennai but not in other major centres. When asked what was the rationale behind it, Ramesh said the club wants to broaden the competition.
“Some horses that are good over 1200m may find 1400m hard. Some good over 1400m may find 1600m tougher. This intermediary distance has the potential to attract many horses. Horses abroad run over six and half furlongs or seven and a half furlongs. We will have four races and if it’s a success, we intend to have more. No harm in trying something new,” offered Ramesh.