The Scottsville Racecourse in Pietermaritzburg will become a hive
of charitable activity on December 5 when the Golden Horse Weekend
Witness Charity Challenge is staged.
The meeting will host the three finals of the new KwaZulu-Natal
Chapter Challenge series.
The new round of the popular series gets under way at Greyville
in Durban this week and offers the average handicapper a chance
to race for the high stake of R150 000 in the finals over 1 200m,
1 600m and 2 000m.
For the finals on December 5, the Scottsville Racecourse will be
transformed into a Marquee Village providing free accommodation
for charities in the Pietermaritzburg region.
The Golden Horse Casino will be providing the marquees with tables
and chairs free of charge to the various charities. The charities
will decorate them and provide the catering for companies and private
individuals to celebrate an early Christmas or just enjoy a day
at the races and will benefit from the profits they make from the
catering. For more information on the marquees please contact Sharon
Vilela on 033 395 8014 at the Golden Horse Casino.
The KwaZulu-Natal Chapter Challenge series has become very popular
with owners, trainers and the public and has provided some of the
closest racing seen in the province.
All handicap races in KwaZulu-Natal untill December 5, excluding
feature events, will count as qualifying races to earn points provided
that the merit rating of a horse, after the weight-for-age allowance,
does not exceed 90 in the race in which it participates.
The runners will earn points in races relative to their finishing
positions down to sixth place with points ranging from seven for
the winner to one for sixth position.
The points earned by runners in the qualifying races, irrespective
of distance, will count towards any final.
An incentive bonus scheme for trainers is also in operation but
will only be paid to trainers who have pre-nominated their runners
and whose runners finish in the top three of the log on November
21. The R35 000 bonus will be paid on a R20 000, R10 000 and R5
000 basis to the trainers whose runners fill the first three places
on the log.