Lucknow: Members of Aadaab Arj Lucknow, a social awareness group to promote awareness about the history, heritage and culture of Lucknow, organised a Heritage Walk to Lucknow Race Course in Neil Lines Cantt Lucknow.
Along with the members of Aadaab Arj team, well-known horse trainer Roshan Singh Raghuvanshi also led the event and shared detailed information about the race course.
Located on Bahadur Shah Marg in the Cantonment area of Lucknow, the race course is spread across 70 acres, it is lush green all around.
Horse racing in Lucknow has come a long way since its early days. The colonial influence was dominant, the race course was established in 1880. Horse racing has become a favourite sport of the city’s elite and army personnel.
The race course has a track that is more than a mile long. Several races are organised here every year, which makes it easy for horse racing enthusiasts to participate and enjoy their favourite horses. The club provides an opportunity to engage in pastimes. The managers running the club include both civil and military members who form the general and executive body.
The first Civil Service Race Cup was held here in 1880 and nine horses took part in it. In those days steeple chase was also a part of the race. Horses of Arabian and Australian breed were used in the race. Some of the prominent owners of that time were Maharaj Kishor Singh, Kumar I.C. Singh and Nawab Khurshid Mirza.
There was a time when it was included in the list of the longest anti-clockwise race course in the world whose length was about 3200 meters which is now half.
The horse stables that we see today in Lucknow Race Course, earlier horses were brought there only for preparation during the race. There used to be about 200, 300 horses in Lucknow Race Course but today only 20 to 25 horses are left here.
The races held here today include SARACA Cup, Shri B.P. Halwasiya Memorial Cup, Army Commander Cup, MB Club Race, Major General Mahendra Pratap Memorial Cup and Tanishq Cup.
In the 2023 season the MB Cup race was won by Grey Goose owned by M. Bhandari. Daddy Cool owned by Jaideep Narain and Kumail Hasan won the first prize in the Thoroughbred race.
The Gymkhana races are back at Lucknow Race Course after a long gap. Earlier these were held regularly and were mainly attended by Tonga horses.
Lucknow Race Course also has off course betting facility and also shows live telecast of races held at other race courses in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, Mysore and Ooty.
The race course has also revived polo matches with the Avadh Polo Cup, 100 years after India’s first polo match was held in Lucknow. Five teams participated in the Avadh Polo Cup held in December 2012.
Such trips give us a chance to get acquainted with heritage sites about which common people have less knowledge. Founders and members Iffat Khan, Zohair Khan, AK Srivastava, Rekha Kumar, Neha Praveen, Imrana Azmat and Arsheen Fatima were present.
