RTC kicks off April season with Selvaratnam Challenge Trophy

The Royal Turf Club (RTC) will set off their April Season calendar with the Selvaratnam Challenge Trophy at the Racecourse in Nuwara Eliya on Sunday.

The day promises an eventful card of seven races with the Selvaratnam Challenge Trophy taking the spotlight as the main race.

The Selvaratnam Challenge Trophy, a Class 1 1,600 metre race has a lineup of seven competitive thoroughbreds and it is centred on the three runners from Deepthika Jayakody Stables and the two from the Jayaratne Stables.

Top favourite Alcazaba will be the cynosure of the race after emerging victorious at recent races that has taken Jayakody’s image to the next level as a successful owner. The stable features two good runners in Roswald and Silver Streak. Hasanga Jayaratne’s Atlantus is one of the hot contenders that could spoil Jayakody’s chances in continuing her winning streak.

Meheran, owned by Gamini and Chamari Jayaratne is the dark horse of the race that promises a cash award of Rs. 1 million for the winner. Chul Bul Pandy owned by Anura Delgoda has had a good success rate in its recent races and could be another upset maker. Charlemagne owned by James Mathew is another runner that can be termed mysterious. This race is set to run as the fourth event of the day at noon.

The remaining races of the day are the Class 2 Media Ministry Trophy, Class 3 Blackpool Hotel Cup, Class 4 Daily Mirror Cup, Class 5 HNB Grameen Finance Cup, 1/2 Bred RTC Pony Welfare Raffle Cup and 3/4 Bred RTC Nuwara Eliya Festive Cup. Horses owned by Deepthika Jayakody, Gamini Jayaratne, Hasanga Jayaratne, Chamari Jayaratne, Rienzie Edwards, Poorni Edwards, Anura Delgoda, James Mathews, Anuka De Soza, R.M.C.K. Rajapaksa, Naveen Madhawa Bandara, M. Sudagar, S. Loganadan, S.V. Mathialagan and Haseeb Mohamed are set to make the races of the day more glamorous.

The April Horseracing Season of RTC will include two more races -- the Magic Million Cup on 16 April and the RTC Governor’s Cup on April 29following this Sunday’s race. In addition to these three races, RTC will come out with two new features to its setup – a Pony Welfare Raffle Draw and the much anticipated Equine Ambulance, which has already reached the Nuwara Eliya Racecourse.

The Equine Ambulance will be active from 2 April to attend to horses that may come across injuries during races. To assist the process RTC has the services of Dr. Jayachandra Balaji, a renowned veterinarian from India. In addition to the continuous projects to uplift the health and living standards of the horses, the RTC comes out with another plan to see to the welfare of the ponies.