Monument for horse race unveiled in Race Course

Two statues, in commemoration of horse race and rekla race, were unveiled at the Race Course and Sungam here by Mr. Kranthi Kumar Pati, District Collector; Mr. V. Balakrishnan, Police Commissioner, and Mr. M. Sivaguru Prabhakaran, Corporation Commissioner, on Wednesday. The statues have been erected by Kuppusamy Naidu Hospital at a cost of Rs 50 lakh to commemorate horse racing and rekla racing that were organised in the past at the Race Course and Sungam area respectively.

The present Race Course was a venue for horse racing during British rule. The Kuppusamy Naidu Hospital administration came forward to erect two statues in memory of horse racing and traditional rekla racing. The statues, made of fibre, aluminium and iron, were designed and fabricated by the Chennai-based Flagship Media. They were artistically painted by a team that worked on the Bahubali film project.

Addressing the media after the event,  the District Collector appealed to the people to help in the proper upkeep of the statues that were reminders of history. Their maintenance would be taken care of by the private organisation. He claimed that traffic congestion had been mitigated in the city following the removal of traffic signals and an increase in the number of roundabouts. A statue of Thiruvalluvar would be unveiled in Kurichi soon. To a question on clogging of waterways resulting in stagnation of rainwater, the Collector said that the Corporation Commissioner and other officials had already conducted a survey of waterways and steps would be taken to ensure that rainwater drained into water bodies. As there was copious rainfall this year, all water bodies had comfortable storage, he added.