Sports
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bustling Nuwara Eliya holiday season comes alive this week with
horse races, motor races and the Radella and Mahagastota hill climbs.... Though not celebrated in a big way like the Royal Ascot or the Epsom Derby in England, it is one of the main events in the horseracing calendar during the festival season. With the facilities at the track now refurbished with a new starter gate and many more alterations done in the recent past, the events that are held now, attract foreign participation specially from neighboring country India. This year the crowd attending to witness the Governor’s Cup are sure to enjoy with the participation of former owners who have won the event vying to lift the prestigious cup again offered by Sri Lankan Airlines who are the main sponsors. The Sunday Times spoke to some of the owners whose horses succeeded in winning the Governor's Cup and their chances of winning the title this year. But all of them were optimistic and did not want to come into conclusion. Of course the owners Nigel Austin, Anurath Abeyratne and Gamini Jayaratne who are fielding top class horses will go all out to win, each of them fielding two horses. Of these three owners Nigel Austin has had the honor of clinching the trophy twice with Boomerang in 1998 and Ancient Warrior in 2002. Austin will be fielding two horses Stormy Warrior who incidentally is owned by Dr. S.M. Noohu who has now called it a day, and Hi Georgeuos who will be the pacemaker. His main bet is the former as the latter who won an event on April 3, which was a five-furlong event; will for the first time run in the nine furlong Governors Cup event. Austin will have only one other horse His Excellency among the other five events scheduled to be held on that day. He was of the view that no one can predict a horse winning, as the horses entered for the race are no second to each other. Another owner to win the Governor's Cup is Anurath Abeyratne whose horse Court of Appeal took the event in 2003. This year he has entered two of his horses with his main entrant being Final Authority ridden by Indian jockey Rahul Shinde and Court of Appeal with local jockey A. Mathialagan in the saddle.
Radella Hill Climb to usher SLARDAR championship The first championship event of the SLARDAR motor racing calendar which was due to be held in February at the Katunayake racing track was postponed due to the tsunami disaster that devastated the Asian region and as a respect for the victims, no motor races were conducted for a period of three months. The cream of the riders in the motor racing fraternity in the likes of last year’s record breaker Shane Gunawaradena, Gayan Sandaruwan, the SLARDAR motor cycle champion for the last two years, Maduranga Caldera, Indika Gurusinghe, Shafraz Junaid and veteran Rohana Jayaratne. Nalin Perera who has not participated for the last two years is also expected to make a come back in the motorcycle events. In the motor car category last year’s record breakers Sheran Fernando, Darin Weerasinghe who incidentally broke Sheran's record, Dinesh Jayawardena along with other notable drivers like Rizvi Farook winner of two races last year, Dhammika Peiris, Aravinda Premadasa, Zakie Ismail, Rohan de Silva and a host of others will be seen in action. It will be a hectic race for most of the drivers and riders who are participating at the Radella Hill Climb as they will be coming straight after having taken part in the Mahagastota Hill Climb the previous day. The prevailing weather will play a big part in the conducting of this event. With rains usually being experienced during this period, last year the organizers were compelled to conduct only one timing race in most of the events. Scheduled
Events: Motor Cars - 1. Group N - Ford Laser/Mazda upto 1500cc. 2. Group N Cars - 10 to 12kg/hp. 3. Group N Cars - 8 to 10kg/hp. 4. Group N Cars - 6 to 8kg/hp. 5. Group N Cars over 12kg/hp. 6. Group F Cars - Ford Formula 1600cc. 7. Group A Cars - 1050cc upto 1400cc. 8. Group A Cars - 1400cc upto 1600cc. 9. Group A Cars upto 3500cc. 10.. Group F Cars - Modified Formula upto 2080c. |
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