The Sunday News
Mandla Moyo
ALL roads lead to Borrowdale Race Course this afternoon for the Zimbabwe Guineas Grade (3) race, the first of the Triple Crown.
The race kicks off at 15.10pm and a lean field of eight horses has made it into the final after going through several qualifying stages conducted by Mashonaland Turf Club during the past two weeks.
The winner of this 2016 edition of the Zimbabwe Guineas race is guaranteed to gallop away $4 800 richer leaving the three runners up to pick up $1 600, $1 000 and $600 for their efforts.
South African top Jockey Andrew Fortune will collect the reigns of Pacifica as he pushes for more accolades on the domestic scene.
The grey filly with 11 runs under her belt has won three times and placed the same number of times to date.
The fact that she came second over 1 600m, a similar distance to her assignment today puts her and Fortune in a better position to even push for the top position here.
Pacifica who will take it from lane one, is the highest merit rated competitor at 94 and he has seen more action than all her eight rivals on the field today.
This Gokhan Terzi-trained equine will stride down the turf carrying 55,5kilogrammes, 2,5 kilogrammes better off than some of its rivals, therefore, a lot is expected from her this afternoon.
In lane six is Call Me Earl ridden by Ryan Munger from the yard of Penny Fisher. According to the statistics made available by MTC this is the horse expected to take Pacifica all the way to the finishing post if on song.
Call me Earl, the bay colt son of Century Stud (AUS) and Al Cazarin (ZIM) bred by Rabash (GB) has managed to garner three wins, three places from seven races to date. His last win was recorded last year in November during the TOTE race over 1 600m. He is rated 87 in this competition and weighs 58,0kilogrammes.
Then there is Super Good housed in lane three carrying also 58,0 kilogrammes with a merit rating of 83 just a few steps down the ladder away from the leader Pacifica.
However, as the saying goes — “when the stall gates open anything can happen”, punters need to keep all horses in sight as they make their predictions because this is a tricky field.
According to local horse racing analyst Sheldene Chant, Call Me earl, Duffi’s Call, Pacifica, Super Good, and Mathematician could bring something to the party this afternoon.
“I think Call Me Earl is the one to beat. Take no notice of his last run when he was carrying 63kg. Duffi’s Call and Pacifica should be there . . . maybe Super Good. Mathematician is the dark horse as he has not run against Call Me Earl before, as far as I can remember”, said Chant.
When asked which horse can go all the way to win the ultimate test of the thoroughbred horse, the Triple Crown, Sheldene had this to say.
“As for the Triple Crown — the result of this race might give us an idea of who will go further . . . but I expect horses not in the Guineas to come out for the other two legs. So probably there might be no Triple Crown winner again this year.’’
This completion is a battle of three-year-old horses pitting against each other both male and females equines.
Last year the Guineas race was won by Mica Point which however, failed to win the two final legs of the Triple Crown.
