MUMBAI: The blue riband of the Indian Turf, the Kingfisher Ultra Indian Derby, is scheduled to be run on Sunday, February 4 at Mahalaxmi Race Course here.
The weekend racing carnival will feature evening racing on Saturday (Feb. 3) and the Sunday’s (Feb. 4) races will start at 2.30 p.m. but there will be a gap of 45 minutes after the Derby is run at 5.30 p.m. and the remaining two races will be run in the evening under the floodlights till 7 p.m.
This year’s edition will mark the 76th running of this mega event which has a total prize money of Rs 18.89 million, which is comparatively lower than the last year’s Rs 33.605 million, due to the absence of a co-sponsor, The Hindu reports.
Ram Shroff, chairman, Marketing Committee, RWITC, stated, “We have the most wonderful association with the UB Group for last the three decades and I would like to thank them. The Indian racing is so synonymous with the Indian Derby that if we ask anyone about racing they would say it’s the Indian Derby! We have new sponsors this year in Shaze, Sakshi Art Gallery and Ebco for different races during the weekend.
The UB Group has graciously agreed to sponsor the Ducati Scrambler bike associated with the lucky draw towards the Indian Derby.”
He also said, “The biggest prize for the punters on the Derby day will be the carried forward amount of Rs 5 million will be added to the collection of the combined jackpot pool and the total collection for the day would cross over 1 crore (Rs 10 million) mark.”
Speaking on the occasion, Prashant Patwardhan, general manger (Marketing), UB Ltd., said, “We are proud to be associated with the Indian Derby and this extremely exciting event. There is no arena or event that can provide such a unique and thrilling experience.”
