Betting on horse racing and Kolkata Horse Race
Horse racing is one of the most popular sports in a number of countries: the USA, Australia, Britain, the United Arab Emirates, and India.
At the end of the 19th century, Todd Sloan reigned on the British hippodromes. The jockey used an unconventional seat for that time and pressed his whole body against the stallion. Previously, jockeys sat with a straight back, so Sloan’s technique literally turned the world of equestrian sports contests upside down.
Since then, more and more people have become interested in this sport and betting on the equestrian sport.
At the end of the 19th century, only wealthy people who visited hippodromes could afford to wager on such an activity. But throughout time and technological evolution, the situation has changed.
Contests are held at different distances and on various surfaces (grass, sand, etc.), and only this suggests that you need to delve into them before placing funds. For example, Kolkata Horse Race is a ground contest
According to one version, it was at the hippodrome that bookmakers and sports betting were born. At first glance, everything is simple: you choose a stallion, wager on it, and if it came first, you get a win. In fact, such activity, like any other sport, has its own nuances.
What is Kolkata Horse Race?
Kolkata Horse Race is a competition taking place at the Kolkata Race Course located in the southern part of the Maidan of Kolkata (Calcutta). The first racecourse built in British India (in 1819) is still, with its polo ground, the largest and most important center of equestrian activities in contemporary India.
It seems that the tournament took place in 1769 firstly, in the gardens of the raja of Oudh – deposed by the English and in exile in Calcutta – whose descendants occupied the palace in the region of Akra, today Garden Reach, south of Kolkata. The racecourse was certainly modest as only four stallions could compete at a time. In 1798 racing was banned by Lord Wellesley, a Puritan reformer.
Five years later racing resumed, this time under the aegis of a newly created association, the ‘Bengal Jockey Club’, and the racecourse moved in 1809 to the Maidan, where it still is today. The tournaments took place early in the morning and were followed by a sumptuous breakfast.
They were already well known and their result was published in the local press, and even in London. The grandstand was built in 1819.
The most famous contest, the ‘Calcutta Derby Stakes’, the first ‘derby’ of the Indian subcontinent, was disputed in 1842: forty participants. With the cup, the winner received 5000 Rs, a colossal sum at the time.
It became the ‘Viceroy cup’ in 1856 and changed its name several times, to be contested today under the name of ‘Elisabeth II cup’. In 1847 the ‘Calcutta Turf Club’1 was founded, which still manages the course and its activities today, and is practically the law in the field of such contests in India.
The ‘Pari Mutuel’ was introduced in 1872 and the first ‘monsoon season’ was inaugurated in 1879 on a track suitable for rainy weather3. From 1880 the competition took place in the afternoon.
During the 1870s the steeplechase becoming popular in Calcutta was taken under the authority of the ‘Calcutta Turf Club’ in 1888 which introduced the ‘Grand National’ in 1895. The last competition of this type was held in 1929.
Latest tournaments
Tests by the scorching sun and champagne, betting etiquette, the strictest dress code, and fashion police. During its three-hundred-year history, these equestrian competitions have preserved all the key traditions.
The latest tournaments of the Kolkata Horse Race were held in 2021 and 2022.
Lets’ consider the final results of 2021 tournament:
KOLKATA: Birthday Girl Handicap | ||
Place | Horse | Jockey |
1 | Ieilani | Naidu N./Vijay S. |
2 | D Knight Mysore | Bhati R. S./B M. |
3 | Scarlet Witch | Imran M./Vikash J. |
4 | Daring Heart | Paswan S. K./Bharath S. |
5 | Atom | Tejeshwar P./Aashay D. |
The season 2022 has finished too. Let’s study the final results of the contest held 2022:
KOLKATA: Navy Cup – Handicap | ||
Place | Horse | Jockey |
1 | Basharat | Jodha C. S./Shyam S. H. |
2 | Fenicia Glint | Paswan S. K./Vikash J. |
3 | Exotique | Rawal N./Arti D. |
4 | Cletus | Bhati R. S./Vijay S. |
5 | Justified | Naidu N./Aashay D. |
It is interesting that the primary winners in the competitions are always the stallions. Jockeys don’t get so much attention.
Schedule (fixtures) for 2022-2023
Such races are often a real holiday, where there is a place for concerts, fireworks, food courts, and other entertainment events. This is one of the most expensive types of equestrian sports, while very much preserving the spirit of the aristocracy, often gathering the entire color of society.
Unfortunately, the schedule for 2023 is still unknown. According to the traditional schedule, Kolkata Horse Race takes place from July to September (monsoon season) and from November to March (winter and spring), usually on Saturdays, but also on other festive days.
Let’s take a look at the upcoming events of the tournament:
Calcutta Monsoon Meeting 2022 | ||
Day | Date | Additional information |
Thursday | October 6, 2022 | |
Wednesday | October 12, 2022 | |
Sunday | October 23, 2022 | Derby |
Wednesday | October 26, 2022 | Meeting Final |
It’s interesting to know which stallion will be the leader this year!
Tips to choose betting site to gamble on Kolkata Horse Race
Such a field of gambling is extremely popular in India. However, local contests are still quite more profitable in the context of betting since they are less known globally and the odds are higher. Today, bookmakers are associated mainly with football and a couple of other popular sports, but the development of bookmakers began precisely with equestrian sport.
Top bookmakers offer wide lines of equestrian sport competition. When choosing a bookmaker, the following factors are important:
- Office age. The longer the office offers its services to cappers, the more reliable it is;
- Quotation. Bookmakers calculate odds using their own algorithms. Therefore, cappers choose offices where the coefficients are higher and the margin is lower;
- Schedule of events. Popular bookmakers offer to wager on top competitions, and small tournaments are usually offered by highly specialized offices;
- Line. Each bookmaker offers its own line of results – it can have exotic and combined variations;
- Bonuses and special offers. Most of the top companies provide bonuses that make betting more attractive!
Now, most bettors place stakes on equestrian sports on one of the Internet wagering pages. Among them, there are many bookmakers that stand out for their event offers, quality, number of online services, and offered bonuses.
Experts recommend placing stakes within this discipline with such bookmakers, as Betwinner, Parimatch, Royal Panda, Betobet, and ComeOn. They provide the most profitable conditions for stakes.
Before placing stakes, study the check-in card provided by the bookmakers.
The card contains information about the recent participants’ results, which will help to evaluate the current form of the stallions.
Equestrian sports is a discipline that has dwindled in popularity in physical agencies over the years, but it still captivates many people online with the adrenaline it can deliver. The public has moved online also thanks to the bonuses offered by online bookmakers.
Promotions range from increased winnings if you bet on competition at a particular racetrack, to rewards for those who place multiple stakes.
Will horse race betting bring money?
At the beginning of the last century, British gentlemen came to the racetracks and watched the jockeys drive their stallions to the finish line. Of course, with the advent of ball games, equestrian sports lost a considerable share of popularity, but there are still a lot of fans of this pastime.
Stakes in this discipline are especially popular in the UK and India. In the popular Korean series The Squid Game, the main character Song Ki Hoon also places a stake in stallions in the first episode.
This kind of betting includes diverse contests and games. In order to win and earn money in this gentlemen’s sport, we recommend following some racing strategies and advice, such as carefully studying the characteristics of stallions and jockeys, their previous results, surfaces, and favorite competitions.
How to increase your chances in gambling? Unlike other sports, such as betting on football, tennis, or basketball, the equestrian sport uses stakes not only on fixed odds but also on the totalizator. In fact, if the former guarantee a certain gain through certain investments, then the totalizator – rates depend on the flow of stakes and the amounts played on a given event.
In practice, the collected amount is then redistributed among the winners, depending on the number of their stakes. After that, bookmakers deduct a percentage representing their earnings. Only at the end of the competition will it become known how high the winnings will be at stakes.