April season:

Nuwara Eliya comes alive!

Celebrating the 122nd year of the Governor's Cup

by Rosanne Koelmeyer Anderson

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It would probably have been the all round sportsman John Baker's love for horses and his undying passion for horse riding that would have spurred him to import English thoroughbreds for racing and breeding purposes way back in the 1840's and even cut out a small circular training course round a hill close to his house in Nuwara Eliya to train his horses and even ride them himself at the Colombo and Kandy races until he left Ceylon in 1856.

And since then, the 'Sport of Kings' has sustained the interest of horse racing in Nuwara Eliya during the month of April, grown in popularity and drawn thousands of spectators from all walks of life to the landmark event of the season becoming one of Asia's finest legacies, an immortal glory spanning many generations.

With the forthcoming season around the corner; Year 2008 will showcase the 'Hilton's Governor's Cup as the Colombo Hilton as part of its 21 years of celebrations will support this age old tradition of colonial Ceylon: the 122nd year of the Governor's Cup at the Nuwara Eliya Race Course on April 13 commencing 10.30 a.m. For horse racing enthusiasts, men and women, young and old and the onlooker, the spectacular event is one of a kind: life of the Empire days re-lived as it were.

The fashionable Victorian trends, the beautifully turned out hats with net and satin bows, gloves, and gorgeous apparel contribute to the pomp and glory of the event; fine exposure and endless hours of capturing photos of elegant beauties; the lovely ladies and the thoroughbred horses.

This year, over 25 thoroughbred, horses, from across the region will compete over a distance of nine furlongs; a 1,800 meters in their respective categories: the equal weights race being the most popular is anticipated to draw an audience of approximately 15,000 and a stake of Rs 100,000 while the trophies given out at the Governor's Cup races sponsored by the Colombo Hilton; each race being named after a person who has contributed immensely towards the advancement of the hotel, a particular association, an outlet or the name of team members of the hotel as in the 'Gables Trophy' for Thoroughbred Horses Class IV, 'Echelon Classic' for Sri Lankan Horses 3/4 bred, 'Lady Hilton Classic' running Sri Lankan Horses 1/2 bred , 'Hilton Pioneer's Trophy' for Thoroughbred Horses Class III, 'The Gamini Fernando Memorial Plaque' for the Thoroughbred Horses Class II and the 'Hilton Colombo Governor's Cup' for Thoroughbred Horses Class I. William Costley, General Manager, Hilton Colombo said he was happy to be associated with the event as his father too was a horse racing enthusiast.

Meanwhile, 1866 appears to be the first year when the Ceylon Turf Club began to keep records and no times were kept or recorded until 1874, the fields were rather large at that time where all the gentlemen and ladies went to the races. Long tail coats and tall white hats were worn by every gentlemen and coach and they drove to the Race Course.

Chairman of the Board of Stewards of the Sri Lanka Turf Club, Rajan Sellamuttu said the Governor's Cup was started after 1991 and today there is a dearth of riders especially low weight riders since most have gone over to the Middle East.

'If we don't have enough riders for the event the Club will get down riders from India', he said.

Entries close an April 7 by 10 a.m. Handicaps will be out on April 9 and the declaration will be on April 10 by 10 a.m. with all races being run as per rules of racing of the Sri Lanka Turf Club, Chairman Board of Stewards, Rajan Sellamuttu said.

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Facts about Horse Racing

Magnificent, delicate yet powerful adolescent animals forced to endure on-going and developing injuries at any given time - a perpetual assault to their physiology. In the Melbourne Cup this year, 1998, "Three Crowns" did not make the finish line, instead he collapsed after breaking his left leg and desperately attempting to stand on the flailing, snapped limb.

And as was so accurately described in a letter to the paper... " after the race, they threw out the disposable champagne flutes, the plastic plates and the horse that didn't make the grade". Three Crowns was shot dead at the track. Just before the 1997 Melbourne Cup, Three Crowns broke down and could not race. But they pushed him to the very end. Now the crack into the dark, miserable world of the horse racing industry is widening and the indictment of this brutal "sport" is apparent.

Here are just a few basic facts about horse racing which even the industry would not deny:

1. Many horses are rigorously trained and raced at the age of two when they are just very young adolescents. They are emotionally immature and would, as herd animals, much prefer to be playing and enjoying the companionship of their own. Many develop acute lameness and break a leg in the race.

2. 90 per cent have lung bleeds due to the excessive exertion demanded of them in the rigorous training and the race.

If they bleed as far as the nostrils more than once, they are sent to the knackery or, if worth the sale, sent to the USA to endure more races.

3. Even though horses are herd animals with strong social behavioural needs, they have little actual contact with fellow horses but, apart from the minimal exercise in the morning and the race, are kept in dark, dingy stables, stalled separate from each other. Weaving - constant, repetitive "weaving" of the head.

4. During the race there is the use of the whip. This, along with the jockeys' screaming and yelling, particularly when approaching the finish, sends the horse into a state of fright and frenzy. And the operators will tell you "they love the race".

5. The unwanted, rejected and "failed" horses: Most, and we are referring to millions, are sent to the knackery for glue, pet food and fertiliser. .(Web)