NICO-NORTH - To test their racehorses’ speed and endurance and compete for coveted prize money, farmers around farm Nico-North in the Hardap region held their annual horse racing event last weekend.
Main organiser Cliffit Albertz told New Era Sport that they normally have the annual event during April, September and December. “37 horses competed this year in the beginner, young, big, and half-blood farm horse categories,” he stated.
“Entry fees per horse were N$200, while prizes ranging from N$300 to more than N$15 000 were paid to those owners whose jockeys reached the finishing line from first to fourth place during races”, he added.
The farm horses ran over a distance of 800 metres. The young farm horses competed in 1 000 metres, while the bigger horses competed over a distance of 2 000 metres. “This is the only opportunity our surrounding community members and farmers have to come together, socialise and mingle,” Albertz said.
Len Kooitjie from Boggenfels and Sandwich Harbour 4 x 4 said as the main sponsors, they are putting money into the event for the sake of the community to have some sort of relaxation. “We sponsored the event with an amount of N$20 000 this year, as we did in 2022, and we hereby pledge to do it now on an annual basis,” he noted.
Kooitjie said since the company is based in Lüderitz, they are in the process of identifying unemployed citizens in the harbour town who will be trained as tour guides, given that Boggenfels is a tourist concession.
In his contribution, Bondelswarts Traditional Authority leader Ambrosius Cloete said it is commendable that children as young as 11 years are already groomed as professional horse racing jockeys by being exposed to participating in the event, where most of them were riding horses belonging to their parents or families.
In the main event, Big Farmer Horse won the 2 000-metre race ahead of Bullet in second place, and Wolke in third place.