26 Feb 2023

Call me Tonight left large field runners trailing in her dust after pulling an impressive performance in a spectacular grand finale thoroughbred horse race dubbed Kokotsha Summer Cup on Saturday.

Call me Tonight, under the command of experienced jockey Kelapile Letlatlawe alias Zumawas, was pitted against 10 thoroughbred horse powers from Maun, Ghanzi, Kokotsha, Draihoek, Takatokwane and Motokwe.

Other horses that were contending in the 2400 meters race included Eage of Winter, Spectry Boy, Perfectly Put, Air Force 1, Winterton, Kings Cove, King Dups, Compressor, Mambo Jet, and Bave Worrier and Call Me Tonight from Team Take 2 Takatokwane stable drew.

Jockey Arthur Ferris in the back of Perfectly Put belonging to Bakang Babeile of Draihoek came second while Kitso Sesipi riding Kings Cove also from Team Take 2 Takatokwane stable came third.

“Indeed it was a tough race. We assigned one of our strong horses to raise the pace to burn out the fastest horses in the competition. Eage of Winter from Maun and Spectry boy from Ghanzi are some of the toughest horses in the country so we came up with a strategy to cut them. We knew that these are tough horses which should not be given chance to run upfront. If they were left there they speed off making sure that no horse comes near them. So we picked our strongest horse Winterton to burn them out so that Call Me Tonight and Kings Cove could have a chance to press forward,” said horse owner Oteng Vissage

He did not hide the fact that Perfectly Put was the favourite to win the race as it boasted of a good track record registering stellar successes from South Africa.

The event was organized by Kokotsha Community Horse Racing Association chairperson after donating a house to the needy in Kokotsha on the same day.

The association chairperson, Kabo Medupi ,said Kokotsha Summer Cup was the horse racing season opener that served to prepare horses for the big, high stakes competitions such as the upcoming Mascom Derby.

He said it was critical to have more horse racing competitions to improve the  sport in the country.

Medupi appreciated that the racing landscape had generally improved as more and more races were mushrooming, something which he said would enhance the game adding to the grand Mascom Derby.

Medupe said horse racing was an expensive sport as owners incurred more costs to run horse stables, adding 'a bag of horse feed costs P408 and to transport it to Kokotsha, it costs P100 so on average a horse needs about seven bags, so it is very expensive to keep horses.” he said.

About 40 horses battled it out in various categories where Jungle belonging to Morries Dejee of Kokotsha emerged victorious in both Tswana Breed 800m and 1000m respectively. Desert Cruise also belonging to Dejee scooped thoughbred 800m.

Meanwhile, Barbie Girl belonging to Bakang Babeile in Draihoek scooped position one in thoroughbred 1000m and 1200m categories.

Perfectly Put which came second in the 2400m grand race proved that it was a force to reckon with snatching the thoroughbred 1400m tittle, while Montana Sky belonging to Mr Ivan Dekork of Tsabong won the thoroughbred 1600m race.

All Tswana bred categories prize monies were sponsored by Motor Vehicle Accident Fund while Leshego Insurance, Haskins, and Agrifeed supported the event. ends