"We have trainers on board on this one," Zavaray informed mid-day, "8-in-8 is a dream position, we hope to at least start with five of the eight races filled with eight runners each, and progress from there."
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The Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC) is besieged on all sides with multiple problems, the exorbitant 28 per cent GST on the betting money topping the list. The future of horse racing in the state hangs in balance, but Zavaray S Poonawalla, chairman of the race club, is not losing hope--yet!
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After putting their own money into the sponsor-less Pune Derby kitty more than a month ago, ZS Poonawalla and his colleagues are now focusing their effort on making the once-premier club's racing product attractive for the race-goer, who hates to see sparsely filled pathetic six-race cards.
Not allowing to dampen their spirits by the smallish six-race card for the Mahalaxmi opener, Poonawalla and his team are hopeful they will soon be able to regularly offer cards of at least eight races with at least eight runners in each race.
"We have trainers on board on this one," Zavaray informed mid-day, "8-in-8 is a dream position, we hope to at least start with five of the eight races filled with eight runners each, and progress from there."
"There are obvious limitations on day's the feature races over longer trips as the combined horse strength is only 60 for the top two classes (I & II)," he admitted, "but we are planning some inducements to encourage more participation."
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