Racing activities of Bangalore Turf Club to move to Kunigal Stud Farm

After years of dithering over the shifting of racing activities on the more-than-a-century-old Bangalore Turf Club (BTC) premises, the Karnataka government on Thursday approved granting 110 acres in the historic Kunigal Stud Farm, about 60 kms from here, to lay a new racing track and move the racing activities there.

The BTC will be given two years deadline to vacate the current premises in High Grounds area and move to the Stud Farm.

Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H.K. Patil said in the post-Cabinet briefing, “The existing turf club in Bengaluru will be turned into a lung space. The turf club has been asked to move to the new premises within two years. The land at Kunigal Stud Farm will be given on a 29 years lease with an extension facility of another 29 years”.

Heritage building

The Minister said that the BTC will be allowed to retain four acres on the current premises that have a heritage building and other infrastructure to run the club. The lease amount will be 2.5% of the guidance value of the land at both places - 110 acres in Kunigal and four acres in Bengaluru. The BTC has agreed to shift racing activities to Kunigal in two years, the Cabinet note said.

The BTC functioned on 83 acres in Bengaluru, granted by the erstwhile Maharaja of Mysore in 1923, and the lease period had ended in 2009. Since then, governments have been asking the BTC to vacate the land in the City centre. In recent years, the tug-of-war between the club and the government had ended in cancellation of races in peak racing season, and eventually, the BTC agreed to shift racing activities to Kunigal Stud Farm in October 2025.

Over two centuries

The Kunigal Stud Farm is 232 years old and is known for breeding horses, and the farm is equipped with veterinary hospital, stables, paddock and other structures. While the government had extended the lease of Kunigal Stud Farm from 2023 to United Racing and Bloodstock Breeders, an earlier proposal - now dropped - to develop a township had drawn ire from the locals and racing enthusiasts.