The Sunday News
Mandla Moyo, Sports Correspondent
THE battle lines for the OK Grand Challenge (Grade 1) 1 800m horse race set for June 4 at Borrowdale racecourse in Harare have been drawn.
Mashonaland Turf Club
This follows the release of the final field by Mashonaland Turf Club last week as part of preparations for the contest, the most followed as well as the richest horse racing competition in the country.
A total of 20 acceptances will battle for the top prize during this 2022 edition which is already the talk of the town.
The winner will cut off the biggest chunk from the US$70 000 declared price money.
Contesting for the crown are some of the most talented runners to emerge from Borrowdale led by What A Dandy highly rated (105).
Basing on ratings this is the horse to beat by the other runners who have been handed over the mandate to fly high stable flags.
Another runner to look out for is the battle hardened Lilly Blue drawn wide in lane (13).
Coming into this event Lilly Blue unleashed by trainer Bridget Stidolph is the second highest rated runner by virtue of merit rating of (99).
Finchatton rated (98) from the stable of Gakhan Terzi is expected to give Lilly a run for her money from lane (6).
Only Him by Stidolph rated (97) is another runner who comes in carrying a decent rating.
There are other equines in the nineties league in terms of merit ratings, are Captain Tortuga (98) Holy Land (96), True Beauty (95), Daffiq (94), Mr Greenlight (94),Wantage (91), Armstrong as well as Bugatti Blue both merit rated (90).
The other side of the coin is dominated by lowly ranked houses who will be out to prove that ratings are nothing but just a number. For that reason, punters cannot ignore these horses as they are also in on merit, hence they also have a story to tell.
Some of the horses are Edward The Seventh (89), Seven Seas (85), Love The View (82),Citrusdal (81), Mind Master (80),Obscure (80),Varnica (79), Tulip Way (77) as well as Tulip.
