After a stuttering start to the Calcutta cold weather season which saw the cancellation of the opening day’s races due to paucity of entries, the Royal Calcutta Turf Club seems to be back on track for the forthcoming meet which will now take off on Saturday. The climax of the shorter 25-day meet will no doubt be the Invitation Cup to be run on the first Sunday of March. The other major graded races such as the Sprinters Cup, Super Mile Cup and Stayers Cup to be conducted during that first weekend of March gives the aficionados of the sport much to look forward to during the coming autumn and winter months.

The meeting will conclude after five months of exciting racing on March29, 2018.  There are approximately 164 races, excluding the Invitation Cup weekend races, scheduled to be run during these five months. The advertised stake money for the season excluding the Invitation Cup weekend is Rs 9.93 crore.   A further sum of Rs. 22. 40 lakh is the value of cups and trophies (excluding the Invitation Cup Weekend).

The Club presently has approximately 484 horses in station, including 115 two-year-olds.  A further number of horses are expected to arrive from other centres to compete during the five-month long meet. As many as 20 trainers and 26 jockeys have been issued ‘A licenses and at the moment there are 28 ‘B’ licensed jockeys and 10 apprentices who will be seen in action.

Brothers Vijay and Bharath Singh will once again lead the way for the local stables with their exclusive set of thoroughbreds, while this centre’s champion jockey Christopher Alford will have to get the better of outstation saddle artists like John, Dashrath and Dhebe in all the major events where their presence will undoubtedly be felt. Some of the three-year-olds to look out for are Derby and Oaks candidate Sana, surprise package Rufus, fast-improving Namcha and classy import Victoriana. 

 For the benefit of the owners, RCTC has introduced stakes for the fifth place runner and this will be paid in all races except for sweepstakes races and sponsored races where the stakes exceed Rs 6.30 lakh subject to the condition that the number of actual starters in a race are eight or more. An incentive of 10% of the advertised stakes will be given to local owners (residing in the State of West Bengal) whose horses are under the care of ‘A’ licensed trainers and which have earned stakes in a race.  This will not be payable for sponsored/sweepstakes races and races where the total stakes exceed Rs. 6.30 lakh.  There will be no deduction by way of trainers and jockeys commission on the above incentive.

A number of outstation Trainers have shown interest in racing their charges in Sweepstakes races during the season which should make racing more competitive.

The important races scheduled to be run during the season are  as under:-

The Calcutta 1000 Guineas (Grade III) - November 25

The Aakriti Art Gallery Calcutta 2000 Guineas (Grade II) - December 9.

The Deepak Khaitan Memorial Calcutta Gold Cup (Grade II) - December 16

The Calcutta Oaks (Grade III) - December 16

The Eveready RCTC Gold Vase – New Year’s Day

The Indian Produce Stakes - New Year’s Day

The  Calcutta Derby Stakes (Grade I) – January 7

The Dashmesh Stud Alokananda Stakes – January 7

The Calcutta Champion Sprint Trophy (Grade III) – January 13

The Indian Champion Cup (Grade I) – January 23

The Indian Champagne Stakes (Grade III) – January 23

The Queen Elizabeth II Cup (Grade III) – February 11

The Calcutta Million (Grade II) – February 11

The Invitation Weekend – March 3 & 4

The Calcutta St. Leger (Grade III) – March 17