Bengaluru summer season begins tomorrow

BENGALURU: The United Breweries Limited will honour its commitment to the Kingfisher Bangalore Derby this season despite the recent upheavals. The group, which has sponsored the derby for 28 successive years, will see out the final year of the three-year contract it signed with the Bangalore Turf Club in 2014 but there is no word on an extension yet.
BTC chairman AC Satish Chandra hoped the group would continue to back the big race. "They may continue to sponsor the Derby considering their company's interest in racing. It's a sport that suits them well to improve their brand," he said.
The Derby, to be run on July 10, is the second richest event in Indian racing this year after the Indian Derby with a total winning purse of Rs 2.5 crore. "The added money would be Rs 1.5 crore including the BTC's contribution of Rs 75 lakh and an equal contribution from the sponsor," said Chandra.
The Kingfisher Derby (Grade I) along with the Bangalore St Leger (Grade II) will be part of the 26-day summer race season which will commence at the BTC on Saturday and conclude on August 5. "The Bangalore St Leger, so far confined to four-year-old horses, is now open to older horses," Chandra said adding that a total of 800 horses are expected to take part in the summer meeting.
"The added money for the sweepstakes races has been increased by 20% from last season. The added money for the Fillies Championship Stakes (Grade I) and the Colts Championship Stakes (Grade I) will be Rs 50 lakh each,"he said. The total outlay for the season is around Rs 25 crore as compared to Rs 19.58 crore paid during the same period last year.
In what could be a small tax relief for the punters, the club announced that the central government has increased the limit for TDS on winnings from Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 from June 1. The club commission on win and place pools too have been reduced by 0.5% to 11.5%. Frenchmen David Raymond Henri Breux will be the only foreign jockey riding for the late MAM Ramaswamy's Chettinad Charitable Trust.