Maurice Kambukwe
Racehorses from the Aminuis Racing Club dominated the Debmarine Summer Derby held at the Cattle Town of Gobabis on Saturday, which saw veteran horses, such as French Leave, Lady Diamond, Chief Black Horse and Honest Illusion, all showing their competitors a clean pair of heels.
French Leave of the Aminuis Racing Club stunned all and sundry when it delivered one of its best performances to win the prestigious Import 2200m Open category after fending off tough competition from equally dangerous and well-experienced contestants, such as Visigoth, Unbroken Promises and Starlile.
Crystal Stream from the Khomas Turf Club finished in second place – just a few nanoseconds behind French Leave, and Starlile from Okahandja Race Club rounded off the podiums places after finishing third. Veteran racehorse Visigoth from the Aminuis Racing Club had to settle for fourth place.
Aminuis Racing Club’s Lady Diamond was unstoppable in the Nambred 2000m Open category, which saw the thoroughbred horse maintaining a strong start to win the race, leaving stablemate Ekuva in second place and Ovitoto Racing Club’s Freedom Fighter in third place.
The Aminuis Racing Club was again back in the thick of things in the Import 2000m D-Division after Honest Illusion destroyed a strong field of competitors to take pole position, followed by Okahandja Race Club’s Nan in second place and Khomas Turf Club’s Time Master in third place.
In the Import 1600m Open category, Able Surprise of W.T Christians took first place and was closely followed by Extreme Pain from Extreme Racing Club, while Livingston of Hiskia Tjimbundu finished third.
Speaking to New Era Sport after the race, jockey Ula Witbooi, who rode winning horse French Leave, said the race was challenging, as all the competing horses brought their top game to the event; he was, however, proud that they managed to win the race.
“I am happy to be the winner today, although the race was a bit hard. I didn’t expect to come first against some of the biggest names in the sport of horse racing, but I remain grateful that we got the job done with my horse. I am proud of how the horse worked today, and I trusted in its abilities from the beginning – and that’s what made us the winners today,” he proudly said.
He added that going forward, he hopes that jockeys will get more financial support to motivate them to work and train even harder.
“I have been racing since 2012, and one thing I would say is that we need more sponsors as jockeys, as the money we have been getting is really less. For us, as jockeys, horseracing is a very dangerous sport, and we need to be given more attention. In that way, the sport will thrive and will motivate us to do our level best.”
– mkambukwe@nepc.com.na