The Royal Turf Club April Horse Racing Festival begins! 

The Royal Turf Club (RTC) commences its exciting April Racing Festival on the 10th of April at the beautifully renovated Nuwara Eliya Race Course from 10am onwards. 

Quite possibly the richest race to ever run in Sri Lanka, the stakes are high for the April Racing Festival which includes the prestigious Kunigal Stud Million championship race on the 16th of April. The biggest of the season that has an incredible purse distribution of Rs. 1.75 million. This  is a significantly higher purse size than any race ever run in Sri Lanka and is one of the many sponsored high stakes cup to be run through the Royal Turf Club. The April Horse Racing Festival runs on the 10th, 16th, 23rd and 30th of April. 

The 8 Trophies and Stakes, including the Dashmesh Stud Cup

Class 2 Handicap 1600M of Rs. 482,500, Sporting Times Cup 

Class 3 and Class 4 Stakes 1200M of Rs. 387,500, the Blackpool Hotel Cup,

Class 5 Handicap 1200M of SLRs 150,000 and many more will be hotly contested by many veteran horse owners at the 10th April races.

These owners include, Isira Dassanayaaka, Gamini Jayaratne, Hasanga Jayaratne, Rienzie & Purni Edwards, J R Irugal Bandara, Ajantha De Soyza and Mr. Anura Delgoda. 

With the blessing of Hon. Minister Navin Dissanayake organiser for Nuwara Eliya and His Worship the Mayor Mahinda Dodampegamage, the 20th March Inaugural Races, were held on the newly renovated and restored race course which saw 5,000 on course spectators and over a million viewers on live TV. 

The number of spectators and TV Viewership is expected to double for the April Season. In addition, more than 150 room nights were booked by visiting spectators and dignitaries for the 20th March Races. The April Races expect to see a record 1000 room nights being booked providing an immense boost to the local economy. RTC believes that Horse Racing will provide a massive addition to sports tourism in Sri Lanka for years to come. 

With the intention of eradicating manipulation from the sport, the Royal Turf Club will follow the anti-doping procedures that were successfully implemented at their Premier Cup races on the 20th of March. 

The Royal Turf Club has brought back the exciting sport of horse racing with its glamour, prestige and showmanship and has to date made a sizeable investment to develop the infrastructure. The RTC intends to continue with its programme of development investing on the race track and attending to infrastructure over the next two years in partnership with foreign investors, with a view to make Sri Lanka and Nuwara Eliya, a racing hub for the region. 

Headed by Suranjith Premadasa, President of the Royal Turf Club the other office bearers are Secretary Lucille Dahanayake and Treasurer Nishitha Rupasinghe, while the committee comprises of Ranjith Dahanayake, Nihara Jayatilleke and Sudharshana Deshapriya. 

As part of their long term development strategy, in addition to renowned CEO Mr. Wayne Wood, the RTC has also secured the services of Sinclair Marshall as Clerk of the Course and Stipendiary Steward. Under the guidance of these two expert names in the global world of horse racing and the Royal Turf Club committee, it is the aim of the club to elevate and uplift the standard of horse racing in Sri Lanka to new heights and bring back the traditions of this gentlemanly sport. 

The Royal Turf Club is passionate about  and dedicated to ensuring and upholding ethics through maintaining a zero tolerance policy towards drug and animal abuse. The Royal Turf Club was also formed to ensure that any cruel and inhuman treatment of horses is brought to a complete halt. The Royal Turf Club races with the horses welfare in mind.