Horse racing season opener weekend lives up to the billing

The opening of the racing season galloped into its stride without much fuss on October 1 in a euphoric manner, barely missing a beat from last season’s box-office triumph, entertaining a crowd of over a thousand with a balanced showing for most yards after the winter break.

In no uncertain terms, the races are testimony that horse racing is quickly becoming the plat du jour of sport in Kenya, meeting the quintessential balance of competitive racing and audience complicity, the latter coloured by the culture of the latest fashion and music, surrounded by the finest pop-up food and crafts market that Nairobi has to offer on any given Sunday.

Kenya’s youngest trainer in racing, Tony Kuria, was animated about the buoyed beginning.

“It was a great start to the season and the crowd was fantastic," he said. "Big crowds give trainers more psyche and there’s more thrill, and it’s better for everyone.”

The off-season meant that for punters and patrons, there were many great questions about the form of horses and jockeys, but

Sunday’s results confirmed that most of what was true of last season has held court. Last season’s champion jockey, Lesley Sercombe, said: “It was a great day for us, we found that some horses weren’t there and others ran great races. We learnt a lot.”

Whilst the results were fairly evenly spread across most stables, trainer Joe Karari has what he believes to be a covetable start.

“We had a very successful day with five runners, two second places, two third places, and one win giving us a 75 per cent success rate. If you’d offered that to me on Saturday, I’d have taken it because the competition is so tough.”

The six race card got underway with the Frou Frog Maiden, a 1000m sprint that Paul Kiarie won easily by four lengths on Whispers. The second race, the 1600m Hawaiian Music Maiden was perhaps the surprise result of the afternoon with 10/1 outsider Adleoli, ridden by Henry Muya, making a late move to steal honours from the more favoured contenders. The 1800m Cornelius Handicap was the third race of the day with the vastly experienced J Muhindi guiding last seasons ‘form’ runner, Carlisle, to a simple win.

The Eldoret Race Club Cup saw the magic of trainer Kuria and jockey Michael Fundi resurrect their unvanquished concoction with Assured taking honours.

“We work well together and so we have the chemistry, and he understands the horses, even though he’s an apprentice, he’s as good as the professionals,” said Kuria.

The Kenyatta Cup, a 1200m sprint for apprentice jockeys, saw Daytime Girl, ridden by R Wako, make a statement as a sprinter to watch for the season, cruising to a simple laurel. The final race of the day, the Shahlal Handicap, a 1200m sprint, had the punter’s-pick, Beeston, do as expected, hurting to a victory by 4¾ lengths.

The festivities around the racing continue to embody the enduring spirit of carnivals, a raucous and jubilant fete, that the masses enjoy.

Gijs Opbroek, founder of Lekker, and regular vendor at the races said: “It’s a very good start to the season and it’s a great mix of people and a fantastic day for the family. We’re now based at Ngong Racecourse and part of that is our love of horses and our commitment to racing and the great things that are happening.”