Night racing is the death of racing. Card of 6 races is a joke most of the runners are running every week to bring their handicap down. Racing has been brought down to its knees by GST. In and out running massive gambles has made genuine punters to think twice weather to come racing or not. We need to bring back creditability back soon. Letting wrong doers go Scott free and reducing punishments will not get back creditability.
Please save the RWITC not close it down.
Well wisher

@Tote

I don't have any reason that BJP won't increase GST on race clubs. I want the race clubs to fight for justice. 28% GST on turnover is killing punters and race clubs. End of the day punters are paying the taxes and all the expenses of race club.

@ParveenS

Please don't this site Political Hub How you can say in 2019 if BJP will be in power then GST will increase 35% and petrol will be 100 Rs per Ltr?
You simply just enjoy and gamble

Tota

Can any one please tell me when did last few yrs we had 6 race days in a long row. in RWITC.

if you cannot convince your own how do you expect punters to like it.Coming to the race course sounds a very silly idea for the current scene of 6 races.

We are famous for new ideas fault finding when on the other side
Mr Vivek Jain belongs to that class.When as chairman and had good going spent rs 25to 30 lakhs on film stars just coming for one trophy event many times!

N.R. is a fiasco but RWITC will not admit it

With a card of 6 races you cannot expect ERaces to be successful. All the race clubs should go to court against GST on races if you don't act today and in 2019 assuming BJP will come to power in centre GST on races will be increased from 28 to 35% at that time what you will do. Petrol will be 100Rs per litre irrespective of how low crude prices will be internationally. So better go to court today.

No decision is perfect, there are pros and cons and whatever you do there will always be critics. You have to give new ideas fruition to move forward, respond to the need of the hour or else perish.

I feel the idea of night racing or evening racing is progressive and has immense potential. It is the future and it is imperative for the guys who manage racing in India to make a success of it, for racing to survive. Day racing except Sunday and maybe Saturday has no future and is certain to perish with time

I have been a racing enthusiast for more than 35 years. I stay at Kolkata but only follow RWITC racing. I started by following RCTC in the early 1980s and gradually moved to following RWITC. I am not a horse owner. I am not a gambler.I am not a bookmaker. I have no vested interest.

I visit the races for 'me time' on Sundays, study hard and test my racing pundit skills with 100/200 Rupee wagers. I look at people around me at the races and have been disappointingly watching the drop in standards both in quality of racing and glamour over the years.

All sport has moved from day to evening/night - if you want a following, that is the only way out. Am shocked by the recent reports that other centres have persuaded RWITC to curtail evening races next year. The reasons for not meeting success need to be analysed. The decision should not be shunned. Are the evening races starting too early for somebody busy in profession/business/job to visit the races? Is GST a strong deterrent ? Is F&B and entertainment package required for the success of evening racing?

Continuation of day racing will certain to erode audiences both in terms of quality and quantity. I have seen the quality of race going public erode over the years. Racing has gradually become a CUG - Closed User Group -activity. It does not attract youngsters the way it attracted me when I was young. Besides progressive India works hard during the day and seeks entertainment only after work is over.Racing competes with other entertainment and compares poorly and is by and large a day sport. The rich and famous are not interested in investing in it. Celebrities are not associated with racing.

What attracted me to RWITC racing were the thrilling close finishes that were commonplace then. I'm sorry to say, the mindset of the present day stakeholders is one-sided favourite racing. That works for the CUG, but does not attract fresh followers. In the long term it is counter-productive for the CUG!!

I am a stake holder in an institute that runs successful Business Analytics programs. Our team has often suggested that we work on creating analytics models for racing - it has innumerable variables and the potential is exciting. My pessimism of the current state of affairs is so high that my retort to the team is that it will not be worth our while!!

GST is a killer. There has to be some way of making the government understand that substantial reduction in GST can lead to a monumental increase in GST collections. Racing supports livelihood and creates jobs. It is regressive to look at it as a gambling den. The perception has to change and the Clubs have a big role to play in steering the sport out of the trough it is currently in.

Mr. Vivek Jain, you are a thought leader in the sport. I suggest RWITC (and all other clubs for that matter) keep faith in the idea of evening racing. It certainly has more long term potential than day racing. A world wide study may enforce that belief. The potential is there because racing can 'bid' for the free time of working masses when they are looking for entertainment after work. There is no free time during the day, so whatever the clubs do, there are no takers outside the CUG.

Night racing allows me to attend racing more often than day racing. There must be many others like me out there. May the tribe of the racing enthusiast increase.

@PDS

Read below article by Mr Vivek Jain about night racing future.

It was circa April 2015 that the RWITC committee decided to experiment with conducting trials for night racing at Mahalaxmi. This was led almost single-handedly by Ram Shroff, who bravely promoted it as a “game changer” for the sport. Though the initial splash got rave reviews as a path-breaker, I had, from inception, questioned its financial viability, accepting, however, that it was a great innovation.

I take you back to the time Dr Vijay Mallya was on our committee, who was as enthusiastic about this project as any, more than a decade ago. However, on the back of a study done by Homi Aibara, Vijay agreed to fund the project with the capital fully sponsored by the UB Group, only if, he was given space to run F & B exclusively on such days. The study (expectedly) revealed that night racing would not earn a return on this investment on its own unless it was supported by a revenue stream from liquor and food.

The committee yet sanctioned a near Rs 15 crore cap in 2015 on a hope and a prayer of this achieving at least break even, assuming a long gestation period to profit. The perceived “cooler” hours and its potential to draw a younger audience to a new “evening destination” were seen as strong positives to its success.

The moot point is has night, or renamed “evening” racing (ER) even after a three-year run, justified the huge spend? The figures given by the club’s accounts revealed a substantial loss in the year of its introduction even after taking Zavaray Poonawalla’s title sponsorship of 1 crore. Though the club got a few ad hoc day sponsors in the year 16/17, the result was only a shade better.

Factoring in the finance costs, it certainly did not add to the bottom line, and no title rights sponsors were forthcoming either. In the current season the surfeit of 23 evening days, has been an overkill and with the average attendance in the vicinity of just 2,500-3,500 been quite a dampener.

As the capital is now a sunk cost (unless the assets can be sold), the RWITC has to somehow, anyhow make this work. One way is to cut down on evening days so that it makes promotion easier and running costs are trimmed. The other clubs have now forced the RWITC to cut down these days next year by 30% with ER mostly only in April. The only way forward would be to lure a big title sponsor, who is given the freedom to execute food, liquor and entertainment as its possible saviour.

Despite the glam and gloss of the lights, the bookmakers, the elderly & other clubs, the staff and indeed even our international telecast partners have been unenthusiastic on ER and which has certainly not set the Thames on fire. Finally, unless the public has confidence in the way the sport is administered with fair racing at its cornerstone (unlike IPL where cricket is a dharma for most) ER is unlikely to see much better days.

Courtesy Vivek Jain