New Year races are a tradition that Calcutta enthusiastically upholds, turning up in droves for a day of style, glamour, gallops and bets. The first day of the year might be the most prominent in the city’s racing calendar but winter racing is actually a five-month affair, beginning on November 1, 2014, and going right up till March 31, 2015.

In these five months, the Cold Weather Season 2014-15 at the Royal Calcutta Turf Club (RCTC) will see about 247 races with a combined stake of over Rs 15 crore. The season will see champion horses, jockeys and trainers from the city being challenged by outstation heroes, plus, derbies, jackpots, ladies in chiffons and pearls and gentlemen in smart suits and zany hats soaking in the winter sun amid sips and bites and courting Lady Luck at the stakes.

Other than the New Year races, the second Sunday of January will host Derby Day, the other much-awaited day of social racing in Calcutta (see chart). The stakes at the derby have been getting bigger with each passing year, as has been the footfall in the stands. Then, for a brush with British royalty, there’s the Queen’s Cup in February, for which Queen Elizabeth II continues to send the cup through the British deputy high commission in Calcutta every year. The cup was instituted after the queen and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, visited RCTC in 1961. The visit also earned the club the “Royal” prefix.

“There’s much excitement in store at the racecourse in the coming weeks and months. Winter is a grand time to be at the races and with so many big races coming up, we’re geared for a full house on each of the days,” said Anit Casyab, the assistant general manager (racing and media relations) and commentator of RCTC.

Entry tickets are available at the club gates on the day of racing, priced Rs 200 per head.