Mauritius Turf

Creating Generative Value
The last 5 races of 28th Meeting of the 2016 Horse racing Season which were annulled last Saturday, 8 October, in my opinion, should not have been annulled because firstly, I agree that two of the three races were run in the rain but there was no torrential rain, so, if two of the first three races could have been run in the rain, the last five races also could have been run under similar weather conditions. For example, during the last 10 years, many race meetings were not annulled despite worse weather conditions than last week. Also, after the 3rd Race, the penetrometer reading was 3.0 units which indicated a soft going, again, no further than this season itself, races were run in a soft going of 3.0 units or even 3.1 units. Annulling the last five races of last week also means that the horses which were carded to run the last 5 races, except the main race, The Mauritius Union Group Colonel Draper Cup, a semi-classic race on 1500 m which is known as the Draper's Mile - this race has been postponed for the following week - will not be able to run for the next 2 or 3 weeks because there is no races for all the horses every week, the conditions of races are not the same every week, the distances and the benchmarks of races of this week will most probably not be the same next week, so, trainers and racehorse owners will have to wait 2 or 3 more weeks for their horse to run but even if their horses are not running, at the end of the month, they will still need to pay the keep for their horses which is Rs 23,000 per month per horse. If the horses do not run, therefore, the horses will not win any stakes money, so, where will the owner find Rs 23,000 at the end of the month to pay the keep for his horses? He will have to pay from his own pocket. Not all horses prefer to run on normal going of 2.8 units, there are horses which prefer to run on soft going of 2.9 units and above, so as the races have been annulled last week, when will these horses run on their preferred track and win at least a race and some stake money for their owners?

Introducing Your Topic
Horse racing is the sports of kings, "le sport roi" as it is said in French. And who would not want to be associated to something royal? Horse racing being the sports of kings is a very classy sport as opposite to numerous other sports. The English introduced horse racing in Mauritius in 1812, 2 years after Mauritius became a British colony after a century of French occupancy. To reconcile both French and English, horse racing was introduced by the English Governor, Sir Robert Farquhar and later Colonel Edward Alured Draper contributed more to the advancement of horse racing in Mauritius and he became the 'Father' of horse racing in Mauritius as he is known today (http://www.mauritiusturfclub.com/index.php/presentation/historique). More than 200 years later, horseraces are still being organised in Mauritius by the Mauritius Turf Club which celebrated its bicentenary in June 2012, the third oldest horse racing organiser in the word after The Jockey Club (UK) - since 1750 - and the Irish Jockey Club - since 1790 - and the Champ de Mars is the oldest racecourse in the Southern Hemisphere and third oldest in the world. My readers will be interested in the topic because horse racing in Mauritius is organised by a bicentenary institution, something which Mauritians need to be proud of as only two other institutions in the world can boast about this feat as mentioned earlier. Also, horse racing in Mauritius and in the world also; it is a very glamorous and charming industry. For example in Mauritius, to come to the races, the dress code is 'tenue de ville' which is a shirt, a pair of trousers, a tie and a suit. There are people who like to be well dressed and this is what attracts them to the races. People are interested in horse racing is that coming to the races is a means to socialise and as horse racing is the sports and kings and rightly so, you will not be socialising or meeting with any person, you will be meeting people who are from the higher classes of the society.

Narrating Personal Interest
I am interested in the topic which I have chosen which is horse racing because horse racing is my passion and I have been watching horse racing since 1998 when I was just 4 or 5. Another reason why I have chosen this topic is that this is something, which I like, and about which I have a great knowledge and on which I should not be having any problem doing an assignment. Another plus point is that I have started to work in this industry itself since the 1st Meeting of the Horse Racing Season 2016 and I am living my passion from nearer. Also, I have a unit called Public Relations Internship this semester for which I need to do an internship of approximately 25 days in the Public Relations department of a company and I am doing my internship in the Communication & Events & Marketing department of the Mauritius Turf Club since the end of August. Almost the whole week I am at the MTC and I watch from close the everyday life of the horse racing industry, more precisely, the 'behind the scenes' of organising horserace which will certainly contribute to this assignment. During my internship, I am not much in the organisation of horserace but more in the administration, that is, the communication between the MTC and outside, the organisation of events and also the marketing of these events since I work at the MTC Studio also. All these skills will definitely help me in doing this assignment because I am no more watching the horse racing industry, precisely the MTC from outside, but now, I have an absolutely different view of it since I am inside it and I form part of the organisation. When working there or even for my internship, I meet the professionals of the industry like the horse racing commentators, horse racing consultants and interviewers and these very people are my colleagues since we work together on race days and the knowledge imparted by them to me will absolutely improve my assignment and they have very much experience and it is their experience which can make the difference.