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 last week.
The Mock Raceday was conducted by the RTC after a lapse of seven months and the event according to officials was a welcome sign for horseracing as well as all stakeholders.
“All races were conducted over 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”, an RTC official said.
Jockey Dayalan would have completed the day with a hat-trick, but he was warded off by Krabi with P. Dinesh whose horse made a surprising gallop in the final couple of furlongs to snatch a thrilling win.
Dayalan and his horse Zulu Fantasy led comfortably leading the pack of five runners from the start. Go Green with jockey S. Sanjay finished third, but was way behind the top two finishers by approximately by six lengths.
The undisputed chestnut mare owned by Edwards Stables, popularly known as the ‘Queen of Nuwara Eliya’ and named 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 two furlongs, before Starmont and Dayalan made an approach from right outside to take a thrilling win by a length and a half.
With the success of the Mock Raceday, RTC confirmed that it will hold a race day on March 19, in honour of Rashid R. Byramji, a legendary trainer from India, who had contributed immensely to the present upgrades and successes of the Nuwara Eliya-based RTC.
He said the main attraction as always will be the RTC Horse Racing Festival, which will include three race days during the month of April. The RTC Magic Million Cup will take place on April 3, followed by the prestigious RTC Governor’s Cup on April 15.