Royal Turf Club to invest USD 40m

Second racing season in Nuwara Eliya in August:

The Royal Turf Club will bring in USD 40 million next month through several foreign investors. "The RTC had been approached by several foreign investors who had closely monitored its performance over the April season," CEO, RTC, Wayne Wood said.

"Naturally the club will discuss any proposals they have and if the proposal benefits the Sri Lankan people, the Nuwara Eliya community and the racing industry we shall definitely take the matter further," he said.

Wood said horse racing is a way to attract up-market tourists. "With tourism being a key foreign exchange earner, horse racing is bound to bring in many high-spending tourists as is the case around the world, evidenced at the Royal Ascot, the Melbourne Cup, in Dubai, Japan, Hong Kong and elsewhere," Wood said.

"With the proper development of this sport, tourism will greatly benefit, resulting again in the generation of employment directly as well as indirectly, not forgetting valuable foreign exchange that will be brought into the country," he said.

The Royal Turf Club will hold its second racing season from August 6 with racing taking place nearly every two weeks until May 13, 2017. "Over this period there will be 19 race days, while sponsors have indicated their interest. We are still negotiating the finer details with two international brands," Wood said.

He said an A-list Hollywood star will launch the racing season which has also been designated a Charity Race Day with all the proceeds going to charity. "We have earmarked a Special Race Day in aid of the Cancer Hospital and this is just one example of our committed solidarity to charity. In fact charity will be an ongoing association and not just an off the cuff one time affair," Wood told the media in Colombo last week.

President of the Sri Lanka Cancer Society, Tony Angi was also present at the media briefing.

Consultant to the RTC, Cyrus Madan outlined the scope of the development activities in Nuwara Eliya and RTC's commitment to uplift horse racing as a tourism attraction while passing the economic benefits to the communities there. The evening concluded with a fashion show - as fashion is an integral part of horse racing worldwide and the RTC hopes that this industry too would receive a boost as a result of Sri Lanka becoming an international race hub in the future.