Even before the starter lowers the flag on the opening event, signalling the start of the summer season on May Day, the Bangalore Turf Club (BTC) in association with the famed breeder and most sought after promoter Mr Zavaray Poonawalla has set a new record, offering the richest purse, Rs five crore in total stakes for the summer Derby scheduled to be held on Sunday, July 12. This is the highest stake money offered in the annals of Indian racing history.

The record Derby purse apart, Mr Zavaray Poonawalla will sponsor, the Fillies and Colts Championship Stakes and the St.Leger on the concluding day (July 31) of the 28-day summer season."Mr Zavaray is ready and willing to support and promote racing and he again has helped BTC raise the bar, " said BTC chairman, Shivashankar adding that the Summer Derby will prove to be the biggest draw card.

Mr Zavaray has also agreed to sponsor all the winter classics and BTC is looking forward to seal the deal," said racing committee chairman, Manjunath Ramesh, pointing out that following the five-month long break, hit hard by the zoonotic Glanders disease, the club is facing a financial crunch and this timely sponsorship from Mr Zavaray came as a boon.

A competitive seven-event card is framed on the opening day, the feature event, the International Labour Day Trophy attracting a creditable field of nine runners. The mandarins of the club lauded the efforts of the trainers and stakeholders at this premier centre, who despite the fact that the track is hard and the hot and humid climatic conditions chose to race their wards in the effort to make the first-day, first-show successful.

To the credit of the management committee, it must be mentioned that the committee did well to get the state Animal Husbandry Department to De-notify the earlier notified area of the club as per clause-5 of the "National Action Plan for Control and Eradication of Glanders in India (Revised 2025) and open up the restriction imposed on the movement of equines, donkeys and mules in and out of the notified area with immediate effect.

BTC chairman, L.Shivashankar while admitting that the track is a trifle hard, said: "It's good enough to start, but we need two good spells of rains during the week. One thundershower lashed the city at the time of writing to the delight of management committee. And the railbirds at the course. betting on Delhi races and the pros in the stables too joined in the song and dance in the evening on Wednesday. "Nevertheless the club is watering the track, hiring 20-25 water tankers on a daily basis, but I do agree there is no substitute for rain water," said Shivashankar.  

The chairman of the club, when posed with the question, if the club has gained the licence to start the season on  May Day, disclosed that the process is on and license should not pose a problem taking into account that the committee has addressed all issues in the right spirit. "125 outstation horses including many classic hopefuls from Mumbai and Hyderabad are expected to compete in the summer bonanza," said Shivashankar. Responding to a question, that the horses will find it hard to perform at their optimum level in the sweltering heat and the energy sapping conditions, Shivashankar said: "The trainers are satisfied with the prevailing climatic conditions and we from our end scheduled the opening event at 3.00 p.m. "The idea is to beat the heat " said Shivashankar.

While addressing the media on the start of the summer season, the chairman surprisingly chose to disclose that BTC has agreed to relocate to Kunigal in the next two years following a government directive. "The government has allotted BTC 110 acres at the heritage Kunigal Stud Farm apart from the four acres at the existing premises to construct a grand club house and for the on-course and off-course betting operations and in the next couple of months we will initiate dialogue with the government on the shifting issue," said Shivashankar.