Pune Races for 12th October, 2025.
Baychimo for Villo Cyrus Poonawalla Pune Derby
The Pune racing season reaches its grand crescendo with the running of the Villo Cyrus Poonawalla Pune Derby (Gr.1) on Sunday.
Before turning to the fortunes of the contenders, it is fitting to acknowledge the unwavering contribution of the sponsors. Dr. Cyrus Poonawalla and the Poonawalla Group have been the steadfast patrons of this prestigious monsoon Derby for an incredible 41 years, elevating it to its present glory as one of the most celebrated and eagerly awaited races in the country. Their continued supp...
Questions asked in this interview
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3:17Why you as a press did not give that this Vilupunala Pune Derby is going to be run on this day and everything is coming in our Hindi, Marathi, English papers?
3:48So what can we do except to ask you to give more publicity after the race or tomorrow whenever it is?
4:23Your question that why the race is not called Cyrus Poonawalla Racecourse?
Derby. So it should have been done a long time back. You have done so much contribution for Indian industry. Suddenly today you sponsor. There was no sponsor for this race. You have walked in. But I want to ask you what made you to sponsor it. Now you are one last person and the first person whenever somebody is dying you come and pull it out from the well.
I had a thought of commemorating the memory of my wife who loved horse racing much more than even me by sponsoring the Indian Derby because the Indian Derby didn't have a sponsor last year. So the main race of whole of India is the Indian Derby. So we called it the Vilupunala Indian Derby and for five years or even more depending on how the situation is.
Thereafter when I came to Pune I found that there is no sponsor also for the Pune Derby because the person who had agreed to contribute for the Pune Derby has been put on hold by the Turf Club. So being my home center I thought it was a very good opportunity to sponsor the Pune Derby in addition to so many races that we are sponsoring. So that encouraged me to go ahead with the Pune Derby for next five years or as long as I am alive.
So they should have done in the prospectus. That person who was sponsoring, he's been blacklisted which everybody knows. They should have put it in the prospectus.
I agree that they should have put in the prospectus, but I think the conclusion of the sponsorship with the club just came a little after the prospectus was printed so they had no choice.
I don't agree with that. For a small thing they come to you. This is a problem with the government and all. You are the first person. This is all excuse. This club is...
I think they got allergic with us. We wanted to give the by his name, Vilupunala Poonawalla School. Long time we have public has given letter. When the letter came to this club they just kept it. Again I have started the movement with our Prime Minister. He has done so much in COVID and all. Everything, so many more things are coming in red light area, starting a movement over there which we are going to come to you. And we are very sorry they should not do like this. Small ad is not there in paper. Some stupid ad is there in Pune today.
Advertisement comes from the club, you're quite right. They could have done more, but why not for Poonawallas? Why you as a press did not give that this Vilupunala Pune Derby is going to be run on this day and everything is coming in our Hindi, Marathi, English papers?
Now you are the only the last person left for Indian racing industry. So all our colleagues have come here. I've told them about Dr. Cyrus as a person who helps out everyone from COVID time to everything and his wife's Indian Derby is there. We must all give publicity. So what can we do except to ask you to give more publicity after the race or tomorrow whenever it is?
Poonawalla, C. (2025, October 11). Baychimo for Villo Cyrus Poonawalla Pune Derby [Interview transcript]. Puneri Awazz News. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/935246/
MLA
Cyrus Poonawalla. "Baychimo for Villo Cyrus Poonawalla Pune Derby." Puneri Awazz News, 11 Oct. 2025. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/935246/.
BibTeX
@misc{poonawalla2025_935246,
author = {Cyrus Poonawalla},
title = {Baychimo for Villo Cyrus Poonawalla Pune Derby},
howpublished = {Interview transcript, Puneri Awazz News. CEOInterviews.AI},
year = {2025},
month = {oct},
url = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/935246/},
note = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}
