Hollywood star to launch racing season in August

The Royal Turf Club [ RTC] , held a media briefing to appraise the public of the forthcoming race season that commences on 6th August as well as the other improvements to the facilities that have been taking place up at the Nuwara Eliya Race Track , not forgetting the investment that will come in to the country .

Present were the committee members of the RTC, President Mr Suranjith Premadasa, CEO of the RTC Wayne Wood, Consultant to the RTC Cyrus Madan and Event Coordinator of the RTC Nikhil Punna .

The proceedings commenced with the announcement that an A list Hollywood star would be present to launch the racing season which commences on 6th August, which has also been designated a Charity Race Day with all the proceeds going to Charity, namely the Sri Lanka Cancer Society in this case .

Speaking on the occasion, CEO of the Royal Turf Club, Mr Wayne Wood, initially touched on the recently concluded April racing season.

“Firstly I shall mention the running of the five (5) meetings that were conducted commencing March 20th and concluded on April 30th. Thanks to the sponsorship from the Kunigal Stud near Bangalore, the club staged the first race where Rs 1,000,000 was awarded to the winner. Thirty-five (35) races were run during the Festival attracting 176 starters with Rs 11,053,250 being distributed as prize money. The five (5) thoroughbred Trainers shared Rs 1,104,500 between them while twenty-three (23) licensed riders shared Rs 828,374-50”. Wood said that not only was such a distribution of funds unheard of in Sri Lankan horse racing but said that this money has circulated amongst the local businesses in Nuwara Eliya as well thus generating income at all levels. In addition, this season saw a major boost in Sports Tourism in the area with a massive increase in bookings at all Hotels.

On April 16th alone [ just one day ] there was a tremendous increase of 1000 room nights and overall the season saw an increase of 2,100 room nights. “This is a major flow on effect when this industry is conducted in a professional manner.

“I can assure you that if any Licensee were to be asked if they approved of the conduct of racing under the Royal Turf Club, you would receive a resounding YES”. Thirty three [ 33] individual owners also participated over the 5 days.