kolkata new race season

With the Monsoon Racing Season of 2008 scheduled to kick off on Thursday, July 10, the Stewards of RCTC have left no stone unturned in their quest for a trouble-free, lucrative season spanning three months and 21 racedays.This, in effect, is likely to attract a quite a few big names among trainers to this centre. It's in the air that the likes of Pesi Shroff and Darius Byramji may be seen stationing themselves here for a lengthy period of time.Anyway, first things first. RCTC already has 330 horses stationed in the city and are expecting about 100 more in the months to follow. Trainer Anupam Sharma from Delhi has been granted a B licence, while Jasbir Singh is making his debut as a trainer with an A licence. A total of 15 'A' Licensed and 8 'B' Licensed trainers will take part in 152 races through the season. The Stake money has been doubled in relation to that of the Monsoon Season of 2007. For the 152 races that are proposed to be run during the season the advertised stake money is over Rs 4 crore (Rs.4,27,20,000). Cups and Trophies, valued at Rs.5,63,000 will be presented to some of the winning owners this season. Three Sweepstakes races have been added this season, which brings the total number of such races to 20. The Monsoon Cup, a handicap race for horses in the highest class has been upgraded to a terms race for 4 year olds and over. Rs 5 Lakh is added to each of the new sweepstakes races, namely, The Calcutta Juvenile Sprint (1100 m Terms), The Calcutta Monsoon Sprint (1200 m) and The Stewards Cup (1400 m). The Calcutta Fillies Trial Stakes, The Calcutta Colts Trial Stakes and The Monsoon Cup will each have added money of Rs 10 lakh. The Calcutta Monsoon Derby, to be run on Sunday October 5, 2008, will have added money of Rs 15 lakh. Some of the special racedays are: August 16, 2008 – Independence Cup and Calcutta Juvenile Sprint; September 13, 2008 – Calcutta Fillies Trial Stakes; September 17, 2008 – Calcutta Monsoon Sprint; September 20, 2008 – Calcutta Colts Trial Stakes; October 5, 2008 – Stewards Cup and Calcutta Monsoon Derby; and October 15, 2008 – Monsoon Cup. The RCTC Tipsters' Tally Contest will carry a winner's purse worth Rs 20,000, Rs 10,000 for the runner-up and Rs 5,000 for the third place. The RCTC Tipsters' Cup contest will have prizes worth Rs 10,000, Rs 7,500 for the runner-up and Rs 5,000 the third place. Apart from the two big guns, Daniel David and Vijay Singh, some of the trainers to watch out for during the season are Arti Doctor with a string of 11 horses, Deepak Karki with the same number, Javed Khan with a total of 41 horses (which include 8 two-year-olds), Shafiq Khan with a stable strength of 21, Patrick Quinn with 28 horses, Richard Alford with 14 horses, John Stephens with a string of 20 and Robin Corner with 5 youngsters and 21 older horses under his wing. Daniel and Vijay both have well-filled yards with 75 horses each, which consist of 30 two-year-olds apiece.