Press release for Mumbai Meeting 2015/16
Posted on - 18 Nov 2015
STATEMENT BY MR.VIVEK JAIN, CHAIRMAN, MARKETING, MEDIA, PUBLIC RELATIONS, LIVE TELECAST & WEBSITE WORKING GROUP RWITC LTD. ON THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE MUMBAI MEETING 2015-2016.
The 43 days Mumbai Meeting, looked upon as the jewel of all racing seasons in India, is in all readiness to “gallop” off the blocks on Thursday, November 19th 2015.
THE HIGHLIGHTS:
PRIZE MONEY:
The advertised prize money, excluding trophies, is about Rs.23 crores as against less than 20 crores last year (excluding the Invitation Cup weekend). However, after adding performance bonus, sweepstakes and the extra payout for divided races, the actual disbursement will cross Rs.33 crores, making the payout, the highest at a single season, anywhere in the country. This does not include owners’ subsidies and shows our support to our owners.
SPONSORSHIPS:
The Club maintains its leadership position in attracting record sponsorships and alliances, and the season ahead will be no exception. Contributions are at Rs.7.75 crores, with virtually each weekend of racing featuring a sponsored race. This compares with approx. Rs.6 crores achieved last year (not including the Invitation Cup). In addition to the lavish prize money, the bigger days are promoted, as always, as carnivals of leisure, entertainment and prizes, adding to the lure of the day.
THE INDIAN DERBY (Gr.1):
The Indian Derby Weekend (6TH & 7TH February 2016), is the biggest in Indian Racing, The race, will again cross the 3 crore mark in prize money, making it one of the richest sporting events in the country, and promoted with pomp and splendour.
United Spirits, long time sponsors, have intimated their intent to withdraw their sponsorship with immediate effect. Negotiations have been recently held with USL who have now agreed to contribute half their contracted value and authorising the Club to find a co-sponsor for the race with joint branding. Talks are at an advanced stage with potential partners and we hope to conclude this by the end of the month, and we are confident of a satisfactory conclusion.
THE RACING PROGRAM:
As always, the racing program is replete with top quality races, five Grade 1 races and several millions and multi millions across all age groups. We have added “Double stakes” and even a “Triple Stakes” race to lend an innovative touch to our program. Many Million races are in the handicaps to equitably distribute the sponsored stakes.
SPONSORS
The Club has a record number of first time sponsors in Stylecracker, Eat India Company, Platinum World, Dome Entertainment, Nucleus Lifestyle, AmTote, At the Races, Design One, Godrej Properties, AVM Packaging, and Lighting Technologies. We welcome them aboard!
ALLIANCES:
The Club has always viewed media and hospitality as its partners in the promotion of the sport. Hence, in the media space, partnerships with Mid Day, Forbes, Hello!, G2 will give the Club visibility in their papers and magazines. We have a first time ever dental care partner in Dentzz and are in advanced talks with a leading hotel chain as our hospitality partner. Dentzz will offer significant discounts to RWITC members at its range of clinics.
CHAMPIONS DAY AT THE RACES
In an innovation from last year, the RWITC started Champions Day as in Britain, in a boost to giving racing a quality boost. Three Group races over 1200, 1600 and 2000 metres and two million races will make Champions’ Day on February 14th, 2016, a red letter one.
CLUB DAY AT THE RACES
In a first by any Club in India, eight premier Clubs will partner the RWITC in a day reserved for sporting Clubs in Mumbai. Willingdon Club,NSCl, Otters, CCI, Royal Bombay Yacht Club, Bombay Presidency Radio Club, Bombay Gymkhana and Amateur Riders Club will each sponsor a trophy and we hope to extend an invitation to their entire membership, drawing a huge new attendance. This will build reciprocity between premier Clubs in the City.
IVY LEAGUE DAY AT THE RACES
In yet another first, and to draw the elite of the city to our races, we are having an “Ivy League Day” at the races. Races will be run in honour of Harvard, Cornell, University of Pennsylvania, Columbia and Brown Universities with trophies contributed by distinguished alumnus. We hope to get an acceptance of the balance 3 Ivy League schools of the U.S. This is yet another effort to attract the right audience, as alumni of these schools will be invited.
FOOD, THEATRE & FASHION FESTS
To bring an added dimension to our races we will have a large number of food, fashion and theatre festivals on our racing days. We start with the Stylecracker weekend on November 29-30 and again on April 23-24, with a young fashion exhibition, a Food fest with Eat India mid December, another food or theatre fest with the AGP World Multimillion, and the huge Design One exhibition on February 9th. We have several other partnerships which are in discussion stage, to add to our already full menu.
THE PRITHVI THEATRE FESTIVAL
We will bring back the Prithvi Theatre Festival to the Turf in early March. Audi, who were partners to this great idea last year are once again potential partners and in addition, will sponsor a multi million at the closing weekend of the Theatre Fest in March.
DOME ENTERTAINMENT COMES TO THE RWITC
Dome, the famous indoor venue of the next door NSCl, are our newest partners. In addition to contributing to a million race, they will partner RWITC in giving a new edge to our events and will invite our members at a number of their high profile events.
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY:
The Club has made corporate social responsibility a focus area, and as last year, we will be associated with several NGOs both on race days and other events, to help a range of noble causes. We will rebrand our CSR initiatives under “RWITC Cares” with a brand new logo. The Mumbai Season has Indian Cancer Society, Sahachari Foundation and Lions Club, to name a few, as our partners of other worthy causes, with a long list of others in wait.
A full day is being dedicated to The Lions Club on the last Sunday of March, where all races will be named after associates of the Club, who will raise crores for charity by this noble initiative, replicating the outstanding success of the Rotary Club Day.
SOCIAL MEDIA:
RWITC has a presence on Facebook, Twitter and instagram. We hope to significantly upgrade these initiatives with professional guidance and in addition we will give our website a brand new look.
MEMORIAL RACES:
We wish to pay homage to those members who passed away and were contributors to the sport, as owners, breeders or trainers. We continue the Dr Jagjit Singh Million, on 14th February 2016, and will run The Gracias Saldhana Memorial Million on 20th December 2015, sponsored by the wife of a long standing member. R M & Rukmani Goculdas Million is another on 26th March 2016 as also the Mulraj Goculdas Trophy. The time honoured Sir H M Mehta Trophy will now be a Million for older horses sponsored by Metro Motors and Auto Hangar. Mr.Kishore Rungta and Mr.Rohit Patel have given a boost to their family races and we will encourage other families to do so.
36th ASIAN RACING CONFERENCE:
The RWITC Ltd. is privileged to host the 36th Asian Racing Conference in Mumbai from January 24th to 29th, 2016 after a gap of 19 years. About 700 delegates from countries around the world and distinguished invitee speakers are expected to attend this event. The race day to kick off the ARC will be spectacular. In addition to the Viloo Poonawalla Indian Oaks, the Gool S. Poonawalla Million will be run on the same day with a 3 million purse. 4 international companies will sponsor races on the day – At the Races, Am Tote, ITM & TRM. Each of these races will have prize money ranging from Rs.2 to Rs.4 million. In another first, 5 breeders will jointly sponsor The Breeders’ Championship Stakes as this is with a whopping Rs.4 million purse.
EVENING RACING:
Last year the preliminary run of night racing was an instant success. The good news is that 20 days of night racing has been scheduled during the season. The first day of evening racing is scheduled for January 3rd, with Mr.Zavaray Poonawalla coming in as a magnanimous sponsor for the inauguration of evening racing with a “TRIPLE MILLION” race and a stunning trophy valued at an unheard of 10 lakh rupees. The Club has invited bids for the title rights of evening racing with a minimum reserve of 1.15 crores.
LIVESTREAMING, LIVE TELECAST & RWITC TV
In association with BCP(P) Ltd. Of Singapore we will relaunch RWITC TV and give a much more viewer friendly streaming of our races. Better graphics, visuals, content, live track work, hosts and interviews will encompass both live streaming and RWITC.TV. In addition we will partner with Neo Sports for bringing 20 of our race days live on television. All these initiatives will be the first by a racing Club in India.
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