9,000 racing enthusiasts, guests witness grand spectacle

‘Southern Ruler,’ ridden by Jockey Y.S. Srinath, won ‘The AVR Group and Catalyst Properties Mysore Derby 2019 (Grade I),’ the main event of the Mysore Races held at the sprawling Mysore Race Course in city yesterday evening.

The winning horse, trained by S. Ganapathy, is owned by Dr. M.A.M. Ramaswamy Chettiar of Chettinad Charitable Trust, rep. by Dr. A.C. Muthiah.

The grand event, organised under the leadership of Mysore Race Club (MRC) Chairman Dr. N. Nithyanand Rao, was witnessed by over 9,000 racing enthusiasts and invited guests.

Catalyst Properties and AVR Group were the sponsors for this year’s Mysore Derby.

Horses that won other races yesterday include: Country’s Power – The Royal Calcutta Turf Club Trophy; Blue Jack – The Madras Race Club Trophy Div.I; Courage – The Bangalore Turf Club Trophy; Tremendous – The Hyderabad Race Club Trophy; Magnum Opus – The Royal Western India Turf Club Ltd., Trophy; Happy Dancing – The Delhi Race Club Trophy.

The sponsors

Two business entrepreneurs and sports promoters came together to sponsor this year’s Mysore Derby-2019 that went on in a big way. The prize money for Derby was around Rs.80 lakh.

One of the sponsors is Anjan Rangaraj, Chairman and Managing Director, Catalyst Properties and Trident India.com. He is one of the first persons in India to set up the property underwriting company in 2008. His company’s presence is in Chennai, Bengaluru, Myanmar, Singapore and now he plans to start business in Mysuru as well.

Anjan Rangaraj, who owns horses since more than a decade, has been promoting horse-racing for quite a while.

Bengaluru-based Arvind Venkatesh Reddy, who is having various businesses in land banking, hospitality and the most sought after entertainment business EM is the other sponsor.

Arvind Venkatesh Reddy is the Principal Owner of the Cricket team ‘Ballari Tuskers,’ which went on to qualify for the finals in the just concluded KPL tournament.