Ooty: Ooty’s horse racing season, a summer attraction here since British era, will commence from Thursday, as over 600 horses arrive in Ooty for the two-month long show with 23 race days in the two months.
The horse racing season commences on the auspicious Tamil New Year’s day, a tradition associated with the hills here since the British regime. It also heralds the beginning of summer in the hills. The sprawling race course in the heart of the town here, which is the only high altitude race course in the country, is ready to host 23 race meetings with nearly 620 horses that have arrived here for the summer competition.
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Dr S.M. Karthikeyan, secretary of the Madras Race Club, said that the racing season, 130th racing season in this hill center this summer, will commence on April 14 and would go on till June 8.
This year 25 trainers, including five outstation trainers and 40 jockeys, including some outstation jockeys, are expected to take part. All racers will be held in the mornings. Out of the three classic events, which are scheduled for the season, the Nilgiris 1000 guineas would be held on April 24.
The Nilgiris 2000 guineas would be held on May 1. The Nilgiris Derby stakes would be held on May 8. The Nilgiris Gold Cup, the traditional and most popular race on this hill race course, will be run on May 22, he added. He said this year as an added attraction for the public, the race club is going to install five totalizator windows.
“The Ooty race course is privileged to have the world famous ‘Lynx’ photo finish system,” Dr Karthikeyan said. This year UPVC rails have been installed in the course to make it at par with global standards.
The dates of racing is as follows:
In April it will be on 14, 20, 23, 24, 27 and 30. In the month of May, it will be on 1, 4, 7, 8, 11, 14, 15, 18, 21, 22, 25, 28 and 29. In the month of June it will be on 1, 4, 5 and 8.
