As an emergency measure, the Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC) decided to slash the stakes money by 50% for the first four racing days of the forthcoming Mahalaxmi season which is scheduled to begin on Sunday (Nov 20). Vivek Jain, chairman of the race club, confirmed the development to mid-day.

Catch-22 situation
What was actually scheduled as a routine meeting of the managing committee last week turned into a serious affair in view of the prime minister's Tuesday evening announcement of demonetization and scrapping of the 500 & 1,000-rupee bills. The government move has resulted in extreme cash crunch, and has delivered a death blow to the horse racing industry which is solely and wholly dependent on hard cash that comes in as betting money through their tote system and official bookmakers. As reaction to the sudden govt move, the Chennai and Bangalore turf clubs had cancelled their races last week.