Zimbabwe’s leading owner, Gengis Goksel, surged forward on Sunday owning, or sharing in, six of the seven winners on the Borrowdale Park card.

Holy Land, with Kabelo Matsunyane in the irons, came with an impressive late run to snatch victory from his stable companion, Armstrong, in the 1450m Zimbabwe Challenge. Bred by Wilgerbosdrift & Mauritzfontein, the six-year-old Ideal World (USA) gelding was completing a hat-trick and has now won seven races. Holy Land is owned by Messrs G Goksel, G Carter, DT Machingaidze, and Mesdames P J Lewis, CM de Jong and S Ziel, and is trained by Vanessa Birketoft of V Racing.

Earlier in the afternoon, V Racing added to the Goksel tally, winning the 1200m Maiden Plate with Wallaa (*Shumba), and the 1200m Jacaranda Free Progress Plate with Call The Wind (Calvin Habib).

Gokhan Terzi also saddled three winners on Sunday. He set the ball rolling with Oden (Messrs F Vahab and G Goksel) in the 1100m MR 65 Handicap. Diego de Gouveia was up and he scored again for Goksel and Terzi with Karvani in the 1800m Novice Plate.
Ryan Munger was aboard Wild Heritage when the Count Dubois (GB) gelding won the 1700m MR 70 Handicap for the Goksel/Terzi combination.

Include many placed horses during Sunday’s meeting and it all added up to an excellent day at the office.

The Swanson yard bucked the trend when scoring with long shot Varnica (Takawira) in the 1260m MR 85 Handicap. The five-year-old Var (USA) mare is owned by Messrs PD Gorringe, SP Gorringe, V Patel, DK Ward and G. Carter.

The Borrowdale Quartets paid well – the best being that of Varnica, Mind Master, Powder Puff and Mr Hugo, which brought in $7846.30.

Congratulations to all Sunday’s winning connections, and thanks to all those who turned out to ensure good racing.

Photograph by Gavin Macleod: Holy Land beats Armstrong in the Zimbabwe Challenge. Then came Edward The Seventh and Yarraman. Winning margin 0.50, 2.00, 0.75 Lengths.