Rain cancels Boxing Day horse race meet

Heavy overnight and early morning rainfall left the Kennard Memorial Turf Club (KMTC) at Bush Lot, Corentyne in an unfit condition for racing forcing the cancellation of the annual Boxing Day meet on Friday.

President of the club and retired Chancellor of the Judiciary, Cecil Kennard, told Stabroek Sport that the executives were looking at staging the meeting this morning, but were forced to cancel same due to another early morning shower yesterday.

“We did not want to disappoint the jockeys or the horse owners, so we were looking at running off the event on Sunday morning (this morning) but heavy early morning rain this morning (Saturday), forced the cancellation of same, as the weather has not improved.

“At the moment, the track is in an unfit condition for the horses as it is in a heavy, soggy condition which is not conducive for racing.
However, we are looking at a date in January whether early or late for even if the rains hold off now, we still have to give the track adequate time to dry,” said Kennard.

As a reminder to racing fans, Kennard noted that the annual Phagwah Day meeting is still on the cards and will be held in March.

In last year’s meet, Showing Up, ridden by jockey Daniel Floris, surprised the field by winning the feature event which was sponsored by Demerara Distillers Limited, under its El Dorado brand rum.