It was a day full of excitement at the Norman Singh Memorial Turf Club on Sunday July 24th as horse racing fans from across the country assembled to witness the first ever Digicel Horse Racing Classic.
Minister of Labour and avid horse racing fan Manzoor Nadir opened the day’s festivities by applauding Digicel for pulling off the most lucrative sponsorship by a corporate entity locally. In excess of $10M in stakes was made available by the company.
Hundreds of race fans turned out to witness the 10 race meet and excitement could be felt from the time one walked into the breezy venue on the bright sunny afternoon.
The feature race of the meet was undoubtedly the most electrifying of all for the packed turf club. The total purse was valued $2.2M with the winner galloping away with $1.2M in prize money.
The race was 1600 meters long and from the time the horses left the stall the crowd erupted in excitement. As they navigated the first turn Champtress’ considered a favorite in betting circles, broke free from the crowd and seemed to be the clear winner. But as the horses approached the 4th turn and into the straightaway King Maker made a move from the crowd to challenge the leader.
With just 50 meters to the finish line King Maker proved her worth and edged out Champtress just in front the grand stand to provide a perfect photo finish. Though many bettors were visibly upset by the result, Tribian Jagdeo; trainer and son of stable owner Chris Jagdeo, was jubilant at the victory. Jagdeo said “I’m very happy about everything. I was confident of a win this afternoon because he was running pretty good with the heavier horses earlier and today 15lbs made the difference.”
King Maker performed well in Trinidad & Tobago by winning 3 impressive races but Sunday’s win was the first on home soil, as such the trainer requested the song “Plane land” by Richie Spice as a fitting tribute.
According to one of the race officials the turnout at the turf club on Sunday was the largest seen in recent memory. If all goes well Digicel will be hoping to make the horse race meeting an annual event.
By – Andrew Ross