Horse track for Palapye

Boniface Keakabetse | Thursday March 31, 2016 10:41

 

Speaking here during the 10th Mascom International Horse Derby, Olopeng said a piece of land has been allocated for the horse track. He said the track will be used for staging national horse racing competitions.

He explained that regional horse competitions will be held and winners will go to Palapye for the nationals. The minister said this is part of growing horse racing in Botswana. Olopeng said the government's intention is to develop horse racing in Botswana to a professional setup.

Olopeng, however, dismissed reports that they want to move the Mascom derby from Maun to Palapye.

'I have received concerns from people in this area that we intend to relocate this event to Palapye. I want to take this opportunity to allay these fears,' Olopeng said.

He praised Mascom for its contribution to sports development by sponsoring football, volleyball and horse racing. For her part, Mascom chief marketing officer, Dzene Makhwade-Seboni said through their sponsorship the event has grown tremendously and now features horses from Botswana, Namibia and Lesotho.

Makhwade-Seboni said this year's event got a shot in the arm, when it welcomed the sports ministry as the core sponsor of the event.  She expressed hope that more sponsors will keep coming on board.

Meanwhile, the Namibian horse, ’You Touch My Heart' won the grand 2,400 race and scooped P15,000.  In second position came 'John Douglas' from Charles Hill, which was last year's grand race winner. 

Also in the podium in third place was Brass Verdick from Jwaneng. A total of 130 horses from Botswana, Namibia and Lesotho took part in the race. There were four Tswana breed races and seven throughbreed races in total.