130th Anniversary Weekend a huge success for the RWITC
Posted on - 31 Mar 2014
130th Anniversary Weekend a huge success for the RWITC
The RWITC did it. And in style. The high visibility weekend to celebrate the 130th Anniversary of the much loved Mahalakshmi race course went off as per plan and created the desired buzz across the city.
Screaming full page ads heralded the weekend, and the appetiser to Sunday'sracing, the dinner under the AC tent for the members was packed to capacity with an estimated near 1000 attendance. After a heart stirring national anthem, AVs on The Green Circle and a brilliantly produced film on the 130 years of racing was very well received. Chairman Vivek Jain later talked of the history of the Club, where it is today and how the race course has been "woven into the fabric of the city." After a stupendous Sufi dance by Zia Nath, the logo was unveiled by the Chairman and other members of the Committee, to the bursting of pop up crackers and glitter! The sumptuous dinner followed as Bay City Lights belted out some terrific jazz and easy listeners.
The Sunday race day had the Raghu Rai and Jeremy Houghton art show continue under the tent, but the highlight was the carry forward super jackpot, which scaled a mammoth 133.76 lacs, with 19 hitting the bullseye for a dividend of just over 2 lakhs each.
The attendance, even after a surge of big days, was near 6,000 - up 20% percent, and the tote collection of 1.5 crore - up nearly 100 per cent, one of the highest for the season.
In a a rare gesture, the Stewards invited senior members to give away trophies - Rusi Patel, Dr Shashi Jain, Mahesh Thakker, Abbas Jasdanwalla, F.H.Tapia, Fali Poncha, Julio Ribeiro, the Bandukwalla brothers did the honours. The Joggers Trophy was given away by the President of the Joggers and Walkers society.
The contest in the public enclosure, correctly nominating the first 4 in the main race was won by Mr Bhandary, who claimed all the 3 prizes as he had 40 of the 41 correct forms! When the Chairman asked him how did he choose the horses, he quickly replied, "I dreamt of the 4 numbers last night."
This is the stuff racing is all about!
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