RTC successfully conducts Mock Raceday
Horse racing
Jockey L. Dayalan had a perfect field day, winning two out of three races of the Mock Raceday conducted by the Royal Turf Club (RTC) at the Racecourse in Nuwara Eliya. The Mock Raceday was condcuted by the RTC after a lapse of seven months with the pandemic and bad weather preventing events that were lined up for 2021.
Last week’s event was a welcome sign for horseracing as well as all stakeholders involved with the glamorous and presigious sport in Sri Lanka. All races were conducted with a distance of 1400 metres and was the perfect outing anticipated not only by the horses and jockeys, but also the horserace lovers who turned out to witness the three-race events.
Jockey Dayalan would have completed the day with a hat-trick, but he was warded off by Krabi with P. Dinesh up, who made a surprising gallop in the final couple of furlongs to snatch a thrilling win from Zulu Fantasy and Dayalan, who were comfortably leading the pack of five runners from the start. Go Green with jockey S. Sanjay up finished third, but was way behind the top two finishers, approximately by six lengths.
The undisputed chestnut mare owned by Edwards Stables, popularly known as ‘The Queen of Nuwara Eliya’, Alcazaba, showed that she has more power in stock, giving Dayalan’s first win of the day. It was an easy win, as Alcazaba outclassed Carlton ridden by Yogaraj, who was leading from the start. Alcazaba, as she is famously known by her style of running, elevated the speed from the final stretch and took over from Carlton to take the winning post by almost 12 lengths. Spirited Touch ridden by Ravi Kumar, took the third position.
An identical finish as the first race was witnessed in the third and final race, as Starmont, again with Dayalan up, snatched a possible win of Star Scholar, ridden by P. Dinesh. Star Scholar was leading from the moment of take off, and led towards the final
With the success of the Mock Raceday, RTC confirmed that it will hold a raceday on March 19, in honour of Rashid R. Byramji, a legendary trainer from India.