Kennard Memorial Horse Meet: Jagdeo Racing Stables dominate, as Wild Texas Tom clinches victory

Story and Photos by Brandon Corlette

The Kennard Memorial Turf Club at Bush Lot Farm, Corentyne, Berbice held its horse race meet on a very sunny Sunday, August 28, 2022, and there was a record entry of horses to contest the feature event of the meet, run over 1600 metres.
When that race was finally run, Wild Texas Tom of the Jagdeo Racing Stables clinched victory over
Golden Blue Echo, Early Bird, and Vera’s Finally in that order to capture the (late) Justice Cecil Kennard Trophy and the Gy$1.5 million that went with the win.
Piloted by Trinidadian jockey Dillon Khelawan, Wild Texas Tom showed pure class in running from the outside to take a comfortable win in this event, stakes for which were donated by Banks DIH, Nasrudeen Mohamed, KP Jagdeo, Anil Sawh, and Fazal Habibullah.
In the K Class Non-Earners & L Open race, the first event to be contested, Prince D took the top place, Catholic Boy rode in second, and Charandass and Bank Note followed. Prince D thus claimed the $281,250 cash prize and trophy donated by the Kennard Family.

Skittles stormed to victory in the second race on the card. This horse from the Jagdeo Racing Stables claimed the Ganesh Family (in memory of Khublall Ganesh) trophy, and was followed by Cyclone, War Time, and Perfect Rose in that order.
Race three saw Cash Return cruising to victory in the first-time starters and L Non-Earners division 2 race. Judge Not, Yellow Man and Billy BG Aged were the other top finishers.
In a field of 12 horses, GT Boss, piloted by champion Jockey Colin Ross, recorded a close win in the race for two-year-old Guyana-bred animals. Ross used his experience to pip Legacy, Sky Rocket and Hardcore in that thrilling fourth race of the day.
The G Class & Lower race was arguably the event in which the top four horses had the closest finish. Memories clinched the $400,000 purse, while Marconi came second, followed by Nuclear Fire and It’s My Choice in that order.
Race six saw Red Star, piloted by Ross, convincingly winning the J& Lower race. Trump came in second despite putting up a fight, and Not This Time and Catholic Boy followed in that order.
The British High Commissioner to Guyana, Her Excellency Jane Miller, was present at this meet.The next race meet to be held in Guyana is the President’s Cup, set for September 18 at the Rising Sun Turf Club.
Another race will be held on October 23 at the Kennard Memorial Turf Club, and on December 26, the traditional Boxing Day race will be held at the same venue in Bush Lot Farm.
The sponsors of this event are Banks DIH; Jumbo Jet; KP Jagdeo General Contractors; Anil Sawh Contractors; AJM Enterprises; Anirud Rancharitar General Contractors; Mohammed Enterprises of GT; Balkarran Family; Peter Parsotoon and family; J. Jagmohan; Fazal Habibullah; Ann (House of Beauty); Satrohan Ramdeen; Kascon Engineering; Aramco Contracting; Seenath Rampersaud; Nand Persaud Group of Companies; Sase Dai (Horseshoe Racing Service), the Kennard family, and the Dookie family.