Zimbabwe | Topics: Zimbabwe | Thoroughbred Racing Commentary

In the fourth instalment of a series looking at small racing nations, James Burn profiles Zimbabwe.

---

One might be hard pushed to say racing in Zimbabwe is alive and kicking, but – from where it has been – the scenes at Borrowdale Park recently will have been welcomed by many.

“It was an excellent day,” says CJ Smith, an owner and steward who was at the track on 9^th May for the 66th running of the Castle Tankard, the nation’s most prestigious race that was worth around 1.28m ZWG.

“About 40,000 people were there and we had six good races,” he says, “while the course looked great. The atmosphere was very good, and it was probably one of the best Castle Tankard days we’ve had for many years. The sponsors, the Delta Corporation, have indicated that they’d like to sponsor again next year, which is brilliant news.”

Ideal View, whom Smith part-owns, was unable to read the script as he finished behind Pocket Watch in the big one, but the Brit, whose 50-year involvement in Zimbabwe stems from his consultancy firm Foal Park Limited, isn’t complaining – and nor should he, given how the racing industry there could easily have been doomed.

The land distribution programme in Zimbabwe at the turn of the century led to all of the stud farms closing, a major decrease in the horse population and the collapse of the tote, which meant a bleak outlook for the sport and its regulator, the Mashonaland Turf Club (MTC).

Established in 1892, the organisation first staged racing at Belvedere, but action was relocated to Harare’s Borrowdale Park in 1958 (Ascot, a course in Bulawayo, is long gone).

The industry was said to be in its pomp from the 1970s, with 600 mares at stud, 400 horses in training, yearling sales and healthy revenue streams for racing.

The domestic-bred Ipi Tombe became a poster girl by winning what was the Dubai Duty Free at the now-defunct Nad Al Sheba in 2003.

All that nearly disappeared, though.

“Eight years ago, we were on the edge of oblivion,” Smith explains. “All the elements of racing fell in a big heap, but a group of guys got together and put some money in the kitty because they wanted to rejuvenate the industry. The essence of that was to unlock the value of the land at Borrowdale Park, which is on 130 hectares – and you don’t need 130 hectares to run 20 race meetings a year.”

A retail park was soon built on the site, raising valuable funds from rent that filter back into racing, and more development is planned with apartment blocks, offices and anything else that will help make it a destination venue.

“It’s proving to be popular with investors,” Smith continues. “As a consequence, we’re receiving some good prices for land that we’re selling and it’s against this backdrop that the sentiment of racing has changed dramatically. Prize money has been tripled and we’re planning to increase it further.”

Locals can bet on the races, but there’s a desire to broadcast the action and thus attract gambling turnover from overseas.

In time, it’s hoped Borrowdale can stand side by side against the best tracks in neighbouring South Africa.

That country is where the MTC sources its jockeys, while five trainers are licensed to care for a small number of horses (fewer than 100), although that is a “rock-bottom” figure that will increase “substantially” once the financial returns come through.

Those horses too are sourced from South Africa, whose racing regulator helps administer and officiate things.

They’re housed in stables adjacent to Borrowdale Park, a turf circuit whose 20 annual meetings are mainly on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, with six or seven runners in each of a typical card’s six races.

Partnerships and syndicates play a part in the ownership landscape and optimism exists that, should a horse win a race, it would cover its training fees for the year.

That, Smith believes, could attract runners from South Africa and boost the MTC’s ability to stage more meetings, possibly once a fortnight or every ten days.

Bigger fields would also help catch the eye of international betting operators, meaning more income could be earned.

Cricket in Zimbabwe has undergone a resurgence in recent years and football remains a popular pastime, but racing, it seems, is well placed to thrive.

“It’s a national treasure here,” Smith says. “It has been like starting again and came out of necessity. How many courses have built a retail park or sold land to invest back into the sport? Not many I suppose, but we needed to secure its long-term future and hopefully we’ve done that.”

JA McGrath delivered a dispatch from Hong Kong

Katherine Ford examined the history of Parisian jumps track Auteuil

Sarah Sands told the heartwarming story of Loaded, locked into a second career

 

View the latest Global Rankings for horses, owners, breeders, trainers and jockeys