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Mandla Moyo, Sports Reporter
NOMINATIONS for the Zimbabwe 2000 Grade (3) Listed race, the second leg of the Triple Crown set for 7 April at Borrowdale over a demanding distance of 2 000m have been released.
For this competition $8 000 has been declared as stake plus $7 000 for each of the six supporting acts set for the day, making a combined total of $50 000 in prize money.
This race could be taxing to the equines considering that just a few weeks ago they met for another competition of similar distance. From the list submitted to Mashonaland Turf Club the highest number of entries was handed over by trainer Bridget Stidolph who threw into the hat four runners namely Crown Brewed merit rated (41), Rain Spider (55) and Red Pollard (48).
Trainers Kirk Swanson and Penny fisher have put forward a runner each from their yards, that is Three To Tango and Action Jackson respectively. These entries were confirmed by the racing manager Betina Gurajena who explained that the next stage is the acceptance followed by the final fields.
“We have received six nominations for the feature race on 7 April, around next week 4 April will we meet again for the acceptance stage. Once we are done with that stage the next stage is to compile the race card which we expect to push by Wednesday,” said Gurajena.
According to horse racing analyst Sheldene Chant there are a few two-year-old horses coming for training hence at times fields are lean.
“The trouble is that in Zimbabwe these days we have very few two-year-old horses coming into training which has led to having very few three-year-olds for the Classics. It will be interesting to see how many will stand their ground for the Zimbabwe 2000 in addition to that these races are run at set weights that is colts and geldings all carry the same weight and fillies 2,5kgs less. The Triple Crown has to be run within a certain time frame which is why the races take place when they do, it is the ultimate test of stamina and speed and part of racing tradition,” she explained.
The first race was the Guineas (1 600m), then the Zimbabwe 2000 (2 000m) and last the Zimbabwe Derby 2400m — which will be run on 21 April all within a short period starting at the beginning of the year.
Online Reporter