Pune Gears Up for Weekend of great Racing and Entertainment
The Pune season, now rapidly drawing to a close, will pick up an extra gear or two this weekend, as the season's piece-de-resistance, The Nanoli Stud Pune Derby gets top billing. It is the only Grade 1 race at Pune.
The Pune Derby will be sponsored by Nanoli for the 15th year in succession, a record of sorts for a monsoon season. Infact, the Pune Derby has become synonomous with Nanoli, as has the Indian Derby with McDowell. This year's stakes are at a record 8 million, making it one of the country's richest classics. The stakes got a boost with a final entry from Eloise, part owned incidentally by the sponsors' farm. A big field of 14 does justice to the magnitude of the event.
The side attraction will be the Dhunjibhoy family sponsored Sprint Million, the only million of the season for older terms horses. As a further bonus, 1 million will be added to the second jackpot and half a million to the Super Jackpot, which may breathe some life into the totalisator, which has been a laggard after the tax hike.
The weekend will come alive with the Indo-German sponsored Oktoberfest, which will bring a bit of Munich to Pune. With barrels of German beer, a live German band that has been flown down, German food and festivity all over the lawns, a record crowd is expected on Derby Day. And the icing on the cake will be the VW Polo on offer- to be won by predicting the winners of The VW Trophy and the Pune Derby.
Saturday will be the perfect appetiser before the Sunday feast, with the Oktoberfest and races sponsored by the IGCC and Marriott Hotels, Pune, who kick off the weekend with a high decibel press meet on Friday evening where the jockey's and draw numbers will be pulled out and entertainment from the live band and dinner from Marriott will stamp the evening with quality. The Arc de Triomphe film and the presentation made by India at IFHA meeting are expected to be also shown at this meeting. IGCC and Marriott are committed to a three year tie-up with the RWITC for the Derby Nite.
And to add to the quality of an already packed weekend will be the Keeneland Fillies' Stakes, being sponsored by the U.S. based Keeneland Association, in recognition of the opening up of countries for import of bloodstock to India. An interesting innovation, for a fillies only race, eight will line up at the start.
The Weekend promises to fulfill RWITC's promise and excellent record in showcasing racing as a blue blooded life style sport, to be enjoyed by the elite as much as the commoner. And as the Club's marketing by-line goes-if you never go, you'll never know!
