Alcazaba in line for bigger deeds
Hot favourite Alcazaba, owned by Deepthika Jayakody, will be one of the thoroughbreds on line to claim the Selvaratnam Challenge Trophy, Royal Turf Club's (RTC) first race for the April Season, at the Racecourse in Nuwara Eliya today. Alcazaba has had the privilege of claiming success in the recent races conducted by the RTC, which puts the runner in the spotlight among the seven horses lined up for the main race.
The Class 1, 1600metre race has a few known names in the list of seven runners, who will be equally interested in claiming the top prize of Rs. One Million in addition to the Selvaratnam Challenge Trophy. A second place will grant the finisher Rs. 250,000 in cash with the third and fourth finishers set to receive Rs. 150,000 and Rs. 100,000 respectively as cash award.
The race for horses rated 81 and above with the lowest handicap weight of 52kgs, includes two more runners from the stable of Deepthika Jayakody -- Roswald and Silver Streak. Hasanga Jayaratne's Atlantus is one of the challengers that could spoil Alcazaba's chances in continuing its winning streak.
Meheran, owned by Gamini and Chamari Jayaratne is the one of the mysterious runners of the race next to Charlemagne, owned by James Mathew. Chul Bul Pandy owned by Anura Delgoda too has had a good success rate in the recent races it ran and Sunday could be its opportunity to become the upset maker. This race will be run as the fourth event of the day at noon.
Other races lined up for the day are the Class 2 race for the Media Ministry Trophy, Class 3 race for the Blackpool Hotel Cup, Class 4 race for the Daily Mirror Cup, Class 5 race for the HNB Grameen Finance Cup, 1/2 Bred race for the RTC Pony Welfare Raffle Cup and 3/ 4 Bred race for the RTC Nuwara Eliya Festive Cup. Horses owned by Deepthika Jayakody, Hasanga Jayaratne, Gamini and Chamari Jayaratne, Rienzie and Poorni Edwards, Anura Delgoda, James Mathews, Anuka De Soza, R.M.C.K. Rajapaksa, Naveen Madhawa Bandara, M. Sudagar, S. Loganadan, S. V. Mathialagan and Haseeb Mohamed are expected to make the races of the day more challenging and exciting.
The April Horseracing Season of RTC will continue with two more races -- the Magic Million Cup on April 16 and the RTC Governor's Cup on April 29 following today's race. In addition to these three races, RTC will come out with two new features to its setup -- a Pony Welfare Raffle Draw and the much anticipated Equine Ambulance, which is already at the Nuwara Eliya Racecourse.
The Equine Ambulance will be active from today to attend to horses that may come across injuries during races. To assist the process RTC has the services of Dr. Jayachandra Balaji, a renowned veterinarian from India. In addition to the continuous projects to uplift the health and living standards of the horses, the RTC comes out with another plan to see to the welfare of the ponies. The Selvaratnam family, who makes the main contribution for today's race with the main trophy and cash awards, will be present at the awards ceremony which will be graced by the Minister of Media, Gayanatha Karunathilaka as the chief guest.