Calcutta: Call it a kind gesture or a business strategy, Eveready Industries has withdrawn from the New Year?s Day sponsorship. ?The company has decided to promote the Calcutta Gold Cup on a much bigger scale,? informed Deepak Khaitan, steward, RCTC, and also the Eveready supremo, at a media conference on Friday evening. Gold Cup is billed for December 18. ?RCTC is gearing up to meet any challenge to restore the thoroughbred racing to its glorious past. The club has been the Mecca of Indian racing in not long ago and efforts are being made to turn the clock back,? he added.

Eveready?s withdrawal decision, from the January 1 races, did come as a surprise considering that a crowd of about 17,000 is assured on January 1. Gold Cup meet, on the other hand, may not attract even half of it. But Khaitan?s logic for the switch sounded much like: Sacrifice a bit to achieve big.

In his view, the Derby and the January 1 races have already a guaranteed patronage. Therefore, his idea behind promoting the Gold Cup was to create the same ambience and a carnival-like atmosphere so that the event is mentioned in the same breath. ?For the past 15 years we have sponsored the January 1 racing in a big way. In the interest of the club?s prosperity, we invite others take a tilt at it...... Our plans for the Gold Cup are also big,? added Khaitan.

If he succeeds, it will be a good job accomplished. It may also help RCTC sell the some other premium fixtures in its racing calendar.

The shortage of yearlings in the country also worried Khaitan. In his view the shortage was having a direct bearing on the sales of older horses. ?RCTC has shelved this years Breeze Up sales. It?s becoming extremely difficult for us to fetch older horses for the Breeze Up sales. The auction sales of the two-year-olds will be conducted as usual, continued Khaitan.

He was hopeful that the horse-strength will improve to 385, including the 88 two-year-olds. There are 346 horses in the Hastings stables but about 40 to 60 more horses are expected to arrive here by the next month, according to him.

When asked why nearly half of the 30-day season was marked for weekends which clash with the more popular Mumbai/Bangalore racing, Khaitan said: ?Financially, it isn?t going to make much of difference. Putting his own house in order was, perhaps, his first priority ? a positive step, and in the right direction.