Satranie whips star-studded field to take feature race
-day two of Kennard's race meet
By Clyde Pestano
Stabroek News
December 30, 2003
Satranie underlined why she is thought of as one of the fastest, fittest and strongest horses racing in Guyana last Sunday at the Kennard's Memorial Turf Club race track when she took top honours in the feature event on day two. That race, classified C & Lower and over a distance of one mile, was keenly contested until the final few metres when the eventual winner stormed away from her main rival Showtime to win comfortably by one length. When the race broke Showtime took the lead as the packed field of twelve horses jostled each other for position. Satranie was well-positioned in third, for three quarters of the race as her jockey kept her in range of the leaders Showtime and Top Of The Line. Showtime led the `show' until the third corner which opened up to the homestretch when Satranie made her move, gradually gaining ground in a brilliant ride by her jockey to take the coveted DDL trophy and first prize of $130,000. Showtime held on to take second place while Top Of The Line finished third and What-A-Pleasure occupying fourth place. The mare had also won for herself the other feature race on Boxing Day to cap a powerful performance over the two days.
In the other events race four had its own share of excitement but of a different kind. That race saw a ding-dong battle to the finish line between arch-rivals Cash Run and Rea Pele over a distance of six furlongs. Donna was the front runner but was overtaken by Cash Run and the Rea Pele as the horses rounded the homestretch. It was Rea Pele and Cash Run in a close nail-biting finish with Cash Run winning by a head. However, this result did not go down well with the owner of Rea Pele Compton Elcock who, according to some patrons and a member of the race track, showed his displeasure in the jockey's area. Elcock when contacted by Stabroek Sport did not explain his actions but told this newspaper that in his opinion the jockey had impeded the progress of his horse by being in its lane. According to him when the race started, Cash Run was in lane two but at the end was in lane seven. He added that racing rules state that horses must as much as possible stay in their lanes when in a race. He was very vocal when he said that if the race track could not enforce the rules then they would have to be enforced by him.
Some of the stewards disagreed with Elcock and told this newspaper that they were very disappointed with the actions of Elcock who they claimed went `overboard'. They said that in their opinion Elcock's jockey was to be blamed because he rode a bad race and hence could not have won under the circumstances.
Elcock however had reason to celebrate when Rejoice, another of his horses, won race seven on the programme, which was run off as race five instead. The horse ran a well-paced race and led from the start to the finish to win by two lengths and take the $70,000 first prize.
Star Attraction took second, De General third and Lucky Coin fourth.
Winners Row was indeed in winner's row when he took race two from Red Flame with Miracle Bullet third and On-the-Go fourth.
Royal Madrid was simply royal winning race three by a handsome four lengths from Great Escape in second, Little Bandit third and Gilford fourth.
Race one was taken by De General with Brown Boy second, Flying Free third and Hustling Time fourth.
Mc Gyver took race five which was the final event of day two with De Wrecker second First Lady third and Miss Tourist fourth. When this race started two horses ran off the track and displaced their jockeys. However, they were not seriously hurt but one horse, Felina, suffered bruises on the front knees and under her belly.
President of Kennard's Memorial Cecil Kennard told Stabroek Sport that he was happy because the races were well attended and supported by sponsors and fans alike. He added that he was grateful for all the support the club got throughout the year and was particularly pleased with the number of horses entered at this meeting.
The president said that though there were a few minor incidents he was satisfied with the two days of racing.