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Mandla Moyo, Sports Reporter
IT is a tense affair this afternoon at Borrowdale Park Race Course when nine horses battle stride for stride over a sprint distance of 1 200m in the Gold Cup Sprint Grade (3) race.
From the declared prize money of $100 000, the winning connection is set to accumulate $60 000 leaving the first runner-up to arrive home to gather $20 000 as the reward.
There will also be $12 000 prize money for the second runner-up while the next two placed athletes over the finishing line will each get $6 000 as well as $2 000 respectively.
From the list, all eyes will be on highly rated Coachella who has the highest rating at 108, ridden by Keanen Steyn. This runner will jump off the stall gates from lane nine carrying a top weight of 63kg.
Another horse punters need to keep an eye on is Peggson in lane three who comes along carrying the second highest rating of 93.
Followed by Twilight Trip is the third highest rated entry for this competition in lane one ridden by Mathew Thackeray. Collen Storey will collect the reigns of Coastal Torrent rated 83 to complete the list of birds of horse racing flying the stable colours of Bridget Stidolph in their quest for the honours.
However, there are a number of runners that can cause a lot of havoc once the stall gates are swung open.
Some of those outsiders to look out for are Farreq, Three to Tango, Silver Coin, Verdier as well as Dandy.
On their day all these runners have the running ability to leave the book makers with an egg on their face for rating them low.
Along this main act of the day are a number on minor races to spice up the day for the followers of the sport of broken bones and bruises.
This meeting marks the end of horse racing for the year 2019 at the ceremonial home of horse racing, Borrowdale Racecourse.
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Bongani Ndlovu