Santa Cruz Lady wins feature event at Port Mourant Turf Club

By Brandon Corlette at Port Mourant

After a two-year absence of horse racing owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of horse-racing enthusiasts, including Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh and Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha graced the Port Mourant Turf Club with their presence to witness Santa Cruz Lady beat Goodwill Boy and Golden Dancer in the feature event.

Under sweltering sunshine, the feature event, which was the G Class and Lower, saw Santa Cruz Lady of Jagdeo Racing Stables winning the battle to clinch the $300,000 cash prize and trophy that was donated by Banks DIH and presented by Minister Singh. The pre-race favourite, Golden Dancer of Karibee Racing Stables ran out of gas as Goodwill Boy, another horse from Jagdeo Racing Stables, finished ahead.

Earlier, the first race of the day, which was the L Class and Lower category, saw Red Star walking away with the first prize of $120,000 that was donated by Kascon Engineering and the trophy from Sunil Pet Shop. In that opening race, Awesome Banner came second, followed by Perfect Drift.
In the second race of the day, the Class non-Starter saw the pre-race favourite, Charandass living up to expectations, with a crushing win against Skittles, Big A, and Cat Eye in that order. Charandass picked up the $120,000 first-place prize that was donated by Anil Sawh and the trophy from Brian Ramsaywack and Family of Number 56 Village.

In race three, which was the three-year-old Guyana Bred horses event, Maximus walked away with the $160,000 cash price and trophy that was donated by Habibulla Farm and Butchery. Glamorous Star and Blazing Royalty were the other finishers in the top three.
Meanwhile, in race four, which was the four-year-old Guyana Bred horses event, Trump finished first and was awarded the GuySuCo trophy and $160,000 from AJM Enterprise and Jumbo Jet. Candy Boy came second in that race, while He’s a Prince came third.

Before the feature event, two exhibition races took place to set the crowd alive for the fireworks that followed in the feature event which had three horses.

The Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) and businessman Fazal Habibulla, Banks DIH, Kascon Engineering, A Sawh Mechanic Shop, Sandeep Poultry Farm, Sunil Poultry Supply, Jumbo Jet Auto Sales, AJM, K Jagdeo Contractors, and Sunil Pet Shop were the sponsors of the event. The race saw the Guyana Police Force having an all-hands-on-deck approach at the packed event.