page_title: Mahalaxmi Racecourse
section_title: Overview
hierarchical_section_title: Mahalaxmi Racecourse / Overview
caption_attribution_description: English: A fractious horse being led to the starting gates. http://wwwmahalaxmiracecourseindianderby.blogspot.com/
context_page_description: The Mahalaxmi Racecourse is a horse racing track in Mahalaxmi neighbourhood of Mumbai. The track is oval shaped with 2,400 metres straight chute, spread over approximately 225 acres of open land in the heart of Mumbai city. It was created out of a marshy land known as Mahalakshmi Flats. Built in 1883 and modelled on the Caulfield Racecourse in Melbourne, it is spread over land facing the sea.
  The racecourse was originally donated by Sir Cusrow N Wadia and today it is on lease from the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai to Royal Western India Turf Club which runs the racecourse. The Grandstand, off the course, is a designated heritage structure. The racecourse is the only helipad open for civilian use in South Mumbai.
context_section_description: The horse racing season starts in mid-November and ends in the last week of April. On the first Sunday in February, the Derby is conducted annually and is attended by many of the city's glitterati. Since the year 1986 till date McDowell's Indian Derby has been sponsored by liquor baron Vijay Mallya's UB Group under the name of flagship company McDowells Co. Ltd. as The McDowell's Indian Derby.
  The common Mumbaikar has access to the racecourse in the mornings and evenings during specified timings for exercising, walking or jogging in the inner lane of the main horse race track. The racecourse has also transformed many common Mumbaikars to Marathoners. Yoga sessions akin to Tai-chi are conducted in the garden situated within the race-track during the common permissible timings, akin to "Happy Valley Racecourse" in Hong Kong. Lessons for horse-riding are also provided by Amateurs Riders Club. In the evenings, dogs are also allowed to be walked, but one has to check the permissibility. On weekends it is common to find Aero-Modelling hobbyists flying  planes on the polo ground, performing aerial acrobats with motorized radio-controlled planes during non-racing days. The ground is also used as a heli-pad. Lately, they have even started with providing newspapers in the morning to the joggers.
caption: Jockey B. Prakash on Fractious Fav Secret Memory.
exif: {"Image Make": "PENTAX Corporation", "Image Model": "PENTAX Optio E40", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Optio E40 Ver 1.00", "Image DateTime": "2007:01:01 01:33:07", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "724", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 20, 33, 0, 1, 0, 22, 0, ... ]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "3588", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "2944", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/500", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:01:01 01:33:06", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:01:01 01:33:06", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "16/5", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "31/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3264", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2448", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "3556", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "37", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Landscape", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "3"}