New horse racing season gets underway at Ngong Racecourse
It’s back! After a short winter break, which seemed like forever, racing returns to Ngong Racecourse this Sunday for the 2023/24 season.
Few local sporting events are as anticipated as horse racing, with the promise of top-tier competition, food, drink, and entertainment, encapsulating everything that patrons and punters expect and demand from modern sporting events.
The rejuvenated love for the sport by the ever-growing crowds has brought it alive to the people to whom it belongs, Kenyans.
Horse racing is unique amongst professional competition in as far as it has a staunch and inextricable cultural and fashion element that extends beyond the track rivalries, which have defined the evolution both on and off the track.
Kenyans have embraced the traditions and made it uniquely their own, making racing a cosmopolitan fanfare like nowhere else on the African continent.
On the track, the start of a new season after a reasonable lacuna means that nothing is known or guaranteed, less so than if it ever could be with racing, and a great deal is unpredictable.
The break does mean that horses had a chance to rest and recover from any niggles they may have had, but no horse carries form into the new season. It’s also an opportunity for all the horses with great promise that could and should have been, to be, and remedy where they weren’t last season.
Lord Michael Spencer, and Lady Sarah Spencer, the 2022/23 winning owner, said that they are looking forward to the atmosphere and seeing new owners and more horses.
New owner Khayrunnas Bakor was equally upbeat about what lies ahead. “We have a great event with great entertainment. We’re hoping to see the crowds continue to grow. It’s one of the best, if not the best place to be on a Sunday. And we have some very exciting horses and are hoping for success.”
Champion Jockey of the 2022/23 season, Lesley Sercombe, said she’s excited about the opening meeting, but was cautious about what could be. “It’s a new beginning. Nobody knows which horses are 100 per cent. Sunday is a day to watch and learn and see what happens.”
The six-race card gets underway at 12:55 pm with the Frou Frog Maiden, a 1000m sprint which has the unrun Joanna as the favourite. The second race of the day at 1:30 pm is a better stocked and fruitier affair with the 1600m Hawaiian Music Maiden which will be a tricky and punchy race that should be between Eccleston and Jamaican Rum, but any of the other contenders are challengers.
The 2:05 pm 1800m Cornelius Handicap is the third race of the day with Carlisle the “form” runner, but Lesley Sercombe is the master of middle and long-distance racing and cannot be discounted riding Dunleavy. Daisy, Eton Star, and Chipping are all runners looking to make good on the potential they have and the faith held in them.
The Eldoret Race Club Cup race at 2:40 pm is a 1600m middle-distance where jockey Michael Fundi will look to resurrect his magical formula for success on Assured but can expect a good race from Easterly ridden by former champion James Muhindi.
The fifth race is the Kenyatta Cup, a 1200m sprint for apprentice jockeys, and again, Fundi is the one to watch riding Bullet, though Coffee Break, the South African import, is the best bet on paper, based on what has been, but has yet to convert that form in Kenya.
That final race of the day is at 3:55 pm, the Shahlal Handicap, a 1200m sprint where Beeston is the preferred choice, with Wimborne, Russian Wonder, and Ameerah all uniformly placed to trouble the punters’ pick.
To colour the racing, Nairobi’s finest and most popular pop-up market is back, featuring the award-winning 254 Brewing, local favourite Geco Tribe with their magic vibe, the delicious Maurizio’s, the irresistible Fabio’s Pizza, the always fantastic Lekker, as well as an assortment of other food and drink vendors together with arts and crafts promising an event oozing with everything that racing in Kenya has been waiting to be.
