The Sunday News
Mandla Moyo
THE custodians of horse racing in Zimbabwe, Mashonaland Turf Club, have intensified their preparations for the running of the Guineas Trail meeting slated in for 27 January at the ceremonial home of horse racing, Borrowdale Racecourse.
The competition to be contested over a 1600m has a declared stake money of $ 8000 for the main act of the day plus $7 000 for each of six minor races set to be hosted on this day.
As part of the preparations all stakeholders met at the racecourse on 16 January for the nominations stage.
A number of runners were put forward by their respective stables to fight for all the available places.
Stables that submitted names are the Bridget Stidolph yard, Kirk Swanson including the small yard of Penny Fisher.
On Monday, all the mall parties will return to the race course for the final acceptance stage.
For now all stables are waiting for the heart breaking day as no one knows which one of his or her runners will make into into the final list come Monday.
According to the racing manager, Betina Gurajena, all the stages have gone well so far.
“We have done the nominations and the weight and draws stage which went on well, on Monday (21 January) we are going to wrap up the process by conducting the final acceptance stage.
After that we expect to be done with the compiling and printing of the race card around Wednesday, 23 January,” said Gurajena.
The reigning trainer of the year Bridget Stidolph who also runs the biggest and most successful yard in Zimbabwe to date after racking in close to $300 000 last year is expected to have the highest numbers of entries.
Other races to look forward to once the card is out are the Merit Rated 90 Handicap over (1800m), four more merit handicap races ranging from Merit Rated 50 up to Merit Rated 90 Handicap race.
In addition, two more races that is, the Maiden Juvenile Plate and the Maiden Plate will be held on the day.
Of interest from this group is that juveniles are an unknown quality out to make a name for themselves.
At the same time trainers will be out to show the world which one among themselves has a good hand is grooming talent within the circles of horse racing.
Horse racing terms of the week:
Backstretch: The straight part of the track opposite the finish line or the stable area.
Baby Race: A race for two year old horses, especially early in the season.
Blinkers: Eye equipment that limits a horse’s vision; generally used to help the horse concentrate on running and to reduce distraction.
Break Maiden: When a horse or rider wins for the first time.
Breeze: A term generally used to describe a workout in which a horse is easily running under a hold without encouragement from the rider.
@mandlamoyo
