Equina , Sin Latigo dominate horse shows

IN horse racing, rarely one finds sister or brother horses dominating a course in the manner in which Equina and Sin Latigo, daughters of Silvingo of German have done at Borrowdale Park race course this year. The two sisters who are separated by a year were relatively unknown at the start of the season but have now become darlings of the punters with their commanding wins that have left them jostling to place their bets on them.

Equina which is trained by Amy Bronkhorst has taken over from A King Is Born as the most dominant force in Zimbabwe’s longer racing after winning the most followed races at Borrowdale Park -the Castle Tankard, and the OK Grand Challenge as well as finishing second in the Republic Cup. By doing so, the four year old has made history by becoming the first filly ever in racing history to win both the Castle Tankard and the OK Grand Challenge in the same year.

She is also the fifth horse in history after a King’s Threat in 1989, Gold Flame in 2002, Winter’s Night in 2010 and Grisham in 2012 to achieve that feat. Equina has given her owner Peter Moor, trainer Amy Bronkhorst, jockey Karl Zechner and groomer Lawrence Tsurudzo a total of US$66 500 in stake money to share in four races.

For winning the Castle Tankard, Equina won US$30 000, and from the OK Grand Challenge she went home with US$24 000 while in the Republic Cup she realised US$8 000 and US$4 500 was wrapped up upon winning the Champion Fillies Stakes. “She does everything you ask her to do round the turn. She has a good turn of speed in races up the straight,” says Zechner.

Her last major race which came in the form of the Republic Cup saw Equina’s record move to eight wins, and six placings in 20 races at Borrowdale Park.  This means she has not been placed in only six races in her Borrowdale Park runs this season. Had she won the 1 900 metre Republic Cup, Equina would have won all the major races at Borrowdale Park, and would have become the first horse ever to achieve that feat.

The Republic Cup and the OK Grand Challenge which both offer a total stake money of US$40 000 fall in the same category of Grade Two races while the Castle Tankard which offers US$50 000 is a notch higher and is the only Grade One race in Zimbabwean horse racing. But whatever happens now and before the end of the season in September, there is no doubt that Equina has done more than enough to win the Zimbabwe Horse of the Year Award when the awards are presented in October.

Equina’s sister, the three year old Sin Latigo, won the 1 600 Maiden Plate on the same day Equina took the OK Challenge and also boasts of four placings so far.  Owned by Favour Stud, Sin Latigo has promised much and punters have already fallen in love with her.
Both Equina and Sin Latigo who hail from South Africa are campaigning at Borrowdale Park for the first time this season and so far they have shown that they will be the horses to beat with Equina in the longer races and Sin Latigo in the shorter of the events.

Equina has been campaigning in races between 1 600 to 2 000 metres while Sin Latigo has been more suited to events between 1 000 to 1 300 metres.  Unfortunately, the two sisters are campaigning from different yards with Equina belonging to Bronkhorst while Sin Latigo is coming from the Cornie Spies stable. More importantly they have different owners with Peter Moor for Equina and the Flavour Stud for Sin Latigo.

The chances of them meeting this year are minimal but when Sin Latigo turns four next season, it will be the time for the sisters to take each other head on just as Serena and Venus Williams have done in tennis.  The only problem, though, is that both Equina and Sin Latigo are not Zimbabwean horses.  Many would have wanted them to have been Zimbabwean considering that Zimbabwean horses have not been doing well against foreign opposition in Grade One and Grade Two races. The best a Zimbabwean horse has done so far, was Captain’s Tiger’s fourth finish in the OK Grand Challenge.  Not a good record. – Michael Kariati