Dante wins Homowo race

Four-year-old Dante, ridden by Joseph Lamptey, last Saturday won the Maidens Division of the 2016 Ga Homowo Race Meeting held at the Accra Turf Club at Ashaley Botwe in Accra.

The event, which was Dante’s first competitive assignment, saw it beating the competition from six other new horses — Amora (Jockey E. A. Adjetey), Lady Secret (E. A. Dery), Nine Eleven (I. Adjei), Mariama (N. Pardie), Abokyi (A. Ampah) and Good Name (M. Anum) to finish within an average time of 1.05 minutes over a distance of 1,000 metres.

Speaking after the victory, the trainer of Dante, Sam B. Botchwey, said “the horse has done very well because this is her first competition since she was born four years ago and I’m proud to be her trainer”.

In the Division 4B/4C event, Bonanza, owned by Doreen A. A. Brown, won by a length away from contenders Alvaro (Clifford Armah), Rule of Law (Charles Ampah) and Young Man ( Ebenezer Ampah) to add to her previous victories this season.

The Division 3B/4A race was won by General Salute after overpowering favourite Mr K (J. Lamptey), Who Is Free ( Nuru Pardie), Copter (C. Armah) and Fresh Boy (J. Mensah).

Mr K,  tipped for the ultimate, started the race about 20 yards behind his contenders due to his form and stamina. However, it came from behind to overtake them drawing loud cheers from the large crowd but their joy was shortlived after Mr K lost steam with about a furlong to finish.

General Salute (S.T. Madu), owned by Mr Godwin Corquaye and trained by Mr Roger Lutterodt, stole the show, as well as the bragging rights, after beating Mr K and Who Is Free to finish in a time of 1.45 minutes over a distance of 1,200 metres.