Café Coffee, the Class I thoroughbred horse owned by the Jayaratne Stables will definitely be hoping to complete a hat-trick at the Sunhill August Summer Holiday Races on Sunday (18) from 10.30am at the Race Course in Nuwara Eliya.
But Café Coffee’s celebrations could be at stake with the mystery horse, Spark of Gold being drafted to the main race, all the way from India.
The new horse has a good reputation in the Bangalore racing circuit in India for creating sparks and today’s race will be its debut in Sri Lanka after being bought by Anura Delgoda.
Interestingly both Café Coffee and Spark of Gold are being trained by Sridher Selvaratnam but both horses will highly rely on the jockeys who will pilot the Class I thoroughbreds.
All in all the event which includes six races will see over 10 thoroughbred Indian horses brought down just for the big event which takes place after a lull period.
The Indian horses and jockeys are considered as star attractions of today’s event.
The main race which will be held for the Sunhill Cup will have six Thoroughbred Class I horses.
Apart from the two favourites, the I. Dassanayake stables will feature Mr. Majestic and Third World who are ridden by Ashok Kumar and Dinesh Kumar respectively.
The remaining two horses from the Jayaratne stables are Red Key Point and Enchantment ridden by M.D. Shoaib and G. Pugulendran.
The remaining five races of the day will are sponsored by SLTA and one of the key races will be the Thoroughbred Class II race which will have four competitors.
I. Dassanayake’s Stome Ahead ridden by Ashok Kumar and Eulexite ridden by Dinesh Kumar will steal the spotlight of the race.
But Anura Delgoda’s High & Mighty, ridden by N. Ashok Kumar and Exquisite Delight owned by the Jayaratne’s and ridden by Mohan Raj are also two seasoned campaigners.
The Thoroughbred Class III race will include four horses and two of them are owned by I. Dassanayake which are Shyam Sunder ridden by Ashok Kumar and Viking Victor ridden by Yogaraj.
Joanna owned by Anura Delgoda and ridden by T. Suren will be trying to prove its class while C.R. Rajapaksha’s Vayuputhra ridden by M.D. Shoaib has all the possibility to create an upset.
The Thoroughbred Class IV will have three horses but the contention will be between two stables.
The Jayaratne’s will feature Pancho Pete ridden by M.D. Shoaib and Breed Apart ridden by S. Srikanth while I. Dassanayake’s Black Cat ridden by Ashok Kumar will hope to outclass them both.
Again in the Thoroughbred Class V race I. Dassanayake will have a bigger prospect of winning the event with his two chargers Solar Sprint ridden by Ashok Kumar and Fair Gain ridden by Yogaraj.
The Jayaratne’s will enter Ametrine ridden by Mohan Raj to contention while Manusha Weeraratne will have jockey G. Pugulendran to steer Killer Foot towards win.
The final race of the day will feature Sri Lankan five half-bred horses that will run for the SLTC trophy.
The horses lined up for the race are Re Birth ridden by Sumith Kumara, Johney ridden by Dinesh Kumara, Red Rock ridden by P. Dhusiyanthan, Lapistha ridden by L. Logendran and Harry ridden by S. Pradeep.
After Sunday’s meet, the SLTC will conduct two more horse race events during September and the Christmas Races in December.
