Horse stables up preparations ahead of Sunday’s Guyana Cup

By Akeem Greene

The top horse stables in Guyana have raised the level of preparation for their horses for Jumbo Jet’s 10th annual Guyana Cup on Sunday at the Port Mourant Turf Club. This event will see racers from the United States of America, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, Barbados, Jamaica and Guyana taking a crack at the $30 million prize.
Guyana Times Sport spoke to Surinamese Denny Gummels in Berbice on Wednesday to get his thoughts on the preparations for the mega meet.
Gummels explained that,” I know it’s a stiff one, we really don’t mind that, we just want to have a clean run, a good run, so we can come back often; everybody wants to win, for us winning is second, finishing is first”.
He added that, ““In Suriname, the racing pool is small so we can come here to show the Suriname population that we can promote the

sport; I brought four horses, we have sand tracks so when it rains here, it keeps us a bit back”.
Therbhuwan Jagdeo, owner of champion horse “Jus call me bas” revealed that rain has been hampering his horses’ preparation but still expects his horses to go at full throttle.
“The rain has been falling a lot, preparation has t been hindered percent but were trying because this is the biggest race meet of the year and the fans expect excitement”, Jagdeo said.
Quizzed if he thinks other stables will come out aggressive against his horses he responded saying, “there are a few good horses right now and the competition has been heating up, but I think we have good chances with “Jus call me bas” once the rains stay away and we get a good track”.
Mahendra Persaud, commonly known as Nand Persaud is making his way back into the races with his imports from Canada and believes he will excel, stating, “We should do well, “Golden Beaco” did well in January ,so we should do well, we have been exercising them but it has not been the best because of the weather but we are still hopeful”.
Nine exciting races are on the cards for when riders from across the Caribbean battle for $30 million in cash and prizes.
For the first time, the first prize will be $4 million as well as $500,000 bonus for the winning horse of the feature event and $200,000 for the winning jockey.
Jumbo Jet has extended thanks to Banks DIH Ltd for their years of contribution and partnership in making this the biggest meet in the Caribbean.
The A class and lower, three-year-old West Indian bread, two-year-old Guyana bread, E1 and lower, G1 and lower, H3 and lower for Guyana bread horses; J and K event, L class event and the H1 and lower opened to West Indian haven’t started since August 30, 2015.

Admission is $2000 for adults and $1000 for children.