Horse racing takes a break

THE 2018 horse round up takes a short break from 16 December 2018 and action will resume again for the last half of the round up in January 2019 at Borrowdale Racecourse in Harare.

This horse race extravaganza which began on 1 August 2018 will run up to 31 July, 2019. During the first half of the horse racing round up Bridget Stidolph, the reigning Champion trainer in Zimbabwe for the 2017/18 racing season, hit most of the high notes winning a number of major and minor races along the way at the racecourse.

Horses training under her that took away the prizes are Twilight Trip who won the prestigious ($15 000) HRIB Gold Cup Sprint Grade 3 race. On 21 October trainer Stidolphs’ stable sent out four winners at the racecourse, among them Sygone, easy winner of the ZPCS Goodwill Trust Charity Jacaranda Free Handicap, Wolves Among Sheep. In addition to these winners Simona bagged the OK Grand Challenge race, came out second to Raman Discent, another one by Stidolph in The Castle Tankard race.

In last year’s season, as a result of her achievements Stidolph’s stable won the Champion trainer award, based on stakes won by the yard, after they earned a total of $330 668, from 53 individual runners.

As things stand she could be on her way to winning the award again come end of the racing season.

Other rival trainers like Kirk Swanson, Penny Fisher also had their fair amount of the sunshine but once again Stidolph, a product of Lisa Harris proved to the horse racing industry that she indeed learnt from the best.

On the last race day of the year Kirk Swanson finished the season in style after he sent out a winner during the running of the Zimbabwe Challenge race on 16 December.

Horse racing analyst SheldenedChant was however, worried about the size of the field in some races that were hosted by Mashonaland Turf Club and its partners.

“Small fields have been our major problem in horse racing in Zimbabwe over the last couple of years, the number of horses and owners has gone down,” said Sheldene.

When asked what the chances are of seeing horse racing coming to other parts of the country like Bulawayo, Ascot Race course she explained that chances are next to nothing as of now.

The local horse racing industry takes a break and action will resume on 13 January where horses will clash over for the Hachiman Sprint over 1 100m.