Braced for Berlin November extravaganza

The stage is set for the biggest Berlin November the region has ever seen when the annual horse-racing extravaganza kicks into high gear next weekend.

A fantastic day of glitz, glamour, entertainment and some of the finest traditional horse-racing is set to be enjoyed by thousands of fans from all corners of the country.

Adding more excitement to this year’s race is the biggest prize pool seen to date. In the last few years the big winners have been the two final Wafa Wafa champs, walking away with the biggest prize purse on the day and this year the amount has grown once again.

“An additional R100,000 has been added which puts the prize-money at R750,000 this year,” said founder of the Berlin November Luthando Bara.

“We are working around the clock to try and increase the prize-money and we will be announcing a big surprise next week.”

According to the organisers everything is falling into place and it is all systems go for the fifth showing of what has become one of the most eagerly awaited popular event on the yearly calendar.

“We are more than delighted Entries are expected. This will be confirmed by next week to say this event is going to be a massive success, more than any other event that we have already hosted,” said event organiser Mziwethu Sanda.

“We want to grow the event bigger each year, it has been the case over the last few years and it will continue to do so in the future, so this year’s event is bigger than anyone has ever seen.”

It has not all been smooth sailing in the buildup to the event, most recently with the grounds being vandalised, however that was quickly fixed and everything is looking good. “We are very confident, everything is in place and we are ready for the event,” claimed Sanda. “Everything is now looking good, security has been beefed up and it is all systems go for the day.”

Registration for the event officially closes this Friday to afford organisers time to have everything firmly in place on the racing front and so that there is no trouble with registration on the day of the event.

“It means that on the day of the race we won't have any registering on site, all the horseriders will have registered and it will just be racing going on the whole day,” said Sanda.

“All the horse-racing clubs have received the forms, we are in contact with them and everything will be in place, it will be a much smoother day.

“It makes things a lot of things easier because we are able to prepare thoroughly, we will be managing the numbers that we have and we are communicating with those that will be racing.

“Horse-racing people from KwaZulu-Natal, Northern Cape, North West, Lesotho, QwaQwa who have already registered to be part of the event.

“We are expecting close to 200 entries but we can only confirm that by early next week once things have been counted.”

In all a great day is on the cards and it should be another enjoyable Berlin November.