adminAugustine Hwata Sports Reporter
THE five-year-old bare filly Equina (9) asserted her dominance in the top local races after she cantered to a win in the OK Grand Challenge at Borrowdale Racecouurse on Saturday.With regular jockey Karl Zechner holding the straps, the partnership won the big race by 1,25 lengths to give the Amy Bronkhorst yard another major win this season.
It was the same combination which took the prestigious Castle Tankard 2000m in May and on Saturday the filly showed that her win was not a fluke when she beat the good field of 16 other runners that went to the starting stalls.
A total of 18 horses had accepted but King Kahal, with Kevin Derere on board, was scratched late after proving difficult to load for the race with US$40 000 in stakes.
Coming with a draw of 6, Equina had a cracking race once again, to beat Lucky Sam into second place as he completed the Grade Two-rated race in 1 min 07,55s.
Lucky Sam by Lisa Harris powered to a good finish in his toughest race so far.
The three-year-old was found wanting in terms of experience but proved to be a worthy entry with Nkululeko Sibanda riding in for Juan van der Merwe.
Winner of the Bloodstock 2000 in his last start, Lucky Sam had a good draw of 4 as he beat Approval Rating by a head.
Approval Rating went into the race with a big impression as probably the fastest horse race in Zimbabwe at the moment as he holds the course record in the 1 200m.
However, he found the longer distance a bit of challenge although he got third place.
Lance Pagel piloted the runner from the Gorkan Terzi stable while the stayer Captain’s Tiger was fourth, half a length behind Approval Rating.
A total of seven races were on the card for the day and more than 20 000 people came to witness one of the biggest horse race in Zimbabwe.
While Bronkhorst took the big race on Saturday, the Kirk Swanson yard and the Cornie Spies won two events each while Terzi and Harris won one each.
Online Reporter