The Charity Turf Challenge competition was concluded on “Super Saturday” at Greyville Racecourse, featuring the final bonus race of the competition the Gr1 Gold Cup and supporting feature races the Gr1 Champions Cup, Gr2 Gold Bracelet, Listed Darley Arabian and Listed Umgeni Handicap. With a total of 126 points on offer for the above features, it was a grandstand finish to the 2013 competition!
In the Gr1 Gold Cup, Seal and Blake were the two notable disappointments for a few of the frontrunners in the competition and Jeppe’s Reef (Jallad) scored the maximum points, 25 points for first place plus an added 5 points (30 points) for paying over R15 on SAFTote (R30.80). There were a number of entries that were hoping to move up the leader board with Run For It, Whiteline Fever, Jet Explorer and Espumanti in the Gr1 Champions Cup however it was Jackson (Dynasty) that bounced back to his best scoring 20 points. In the Gr2 Gold Bracelet all of Thunder Dance, Happy Archer and Jet Belle failed to score and it was Razzle Dazzle Rose (Jet Master) who capitalised scoring 14 points. Sirshan Reddy aka “Sir’s Crackers” is this year’s Charity Turf Challenge Champion!
Going into the final day of the competition, “Sir’s Crackers” was on 194 points, 4 points behind the leader “FUZZY 1” and was hoping for a rough result in the Gr1 Gold Cup to stake a claim on the R100 000 first prize as his entry had no Gold Cup horse.
On paper, his entry looked weak as he also had no horse represented in the Gr2 Gold Bracelet and relied solely on Jackson to score for him in the Gr1 Champions Cup. It was the perfect result for him in the Gold Cup and with Jackson winning the Champions Cup, he took the lead and only Thunder Dance stood in his way of winning the competition. On 192 points was Rikesh 5 (12th) and Bloodshot 2 (13th) was on 191 points, both these entries had a realistic chance of finishing first and second respectively if Thunder Dance won the Gold Bracelet but it was not to be and “Sir’s Crackers” was crowned CHAMPION of the 2013 Champions Season Charity Turf Challenge sponsored by Gold Circle, CONGRATULATIONS to Sirshan Reddy and the TOP 10 finishers! The entire leader board can be viewed on CTC website, visit www.racingsouthafrica.co.za
The African Horse Sickness Trust (Reg. No. IT 2043/2005/PMB) was the 2013 Champions Season Charity Turf Challenge beneficiary and collected R13 800 towards the fight against the disease. The entire list can be viewed on CTC website, visit www.racingsouthafrica.co.za
The final spot prize draw took place on Saturday, 27 July (Greyville) on Tellytrack. This is a computer generated, random draw from all entrants and not dependent on points earned. The four winners of a R500 telephone betting deposits (each) kindly sponsored by TAB GOLD “The Intelligent Bet” are:
• Linus
• Russelldewee 2
• MM Three
• Devaraj Pillay 1
CONGRATULATIONS to all four winners!
The Charity Turf Challenge Team would like to THANK the following:
• Title sponsor GOLD CIRCLE.
• TABGOLD who sponsored all the spot prize telephone betting deposits.
• AFRICAN BETTING CLAN for forum listing the competition (over 8300 views).
• THE SPORTING POST for weekly updates and advertising.
• Websites: Betting World, Formgrids, Gold Circle and African Betting Clan for advertising the competition.
• TELLYTRACK for advertising.
• COMPUTAFORM for advertising.
• WINNING WAYS for interview.
• HOLLYWOOD for promotion.
• Gravity Design.
• Xpressions Advertising.
• Participating TAB outlets in Gold Circle and Phumelela regions.
• Staff at Racing South Africa
• ALL RACING FANS that entered the 2013 CTC competition, without your support there will be NO competition!
Peter Gibson, CEO of Racing South Africa, said: “We were delighted with this year’s response and believe that there is still scope to grow the prize fund significantly. Until next year, take care and all the best for the racing season ahead!”
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