RCTC had to wait for five long years after the Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC) took the lead and gave new dimension to the Indian thoroughbred racing. Bangalore followed suit and so did Pune. Mysore and Hyderabad were late starter but reaping good returns.
“The pressing financial conditions had to be overcome before taking this giant step as the cost of new ‘Sony’ cameras alone was close to Rs 40 lakh, said Boman Parakh. Add another 40 lakh on account of infrastructure for the live broadcast,” said Parakh.
The cost problem was brought down to a bare minimum by hiring the ‘Sony’ cameras from a reputed Hyderabad firm and a bank guarantee Rs 30 lakh towards the purchase and installation of broadcasting software has put the RCTC finances to manageable limits. “We ought to do better and on a conservative calculation our sales may take a jump by 25 per cent. With assurance from turf clubs in Hyderabad, Madras and Mysore to take almost full season, the popularity and sales of RCTC racing is bound to take an upward swing,” added Parakh. RWITC and BTC, too, have promised to significantly increase the number of Calcutta off-course days in their racing calendar, informed Parakh.
“Our new digital cameras are going to be as good as those used in Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. The camera for recording the head-on view in final 300m will be 18 feet above the ground level to capture the most exciting moments of the races We are also working hard on graphics and targeting on past three runs of each runner in the day’s card,” continued
Parakh.
