Mandla Moyo
MERHABA shrugged off a tight race from seven horses on his way to winning the 2015 edition of the Zimbabwe Derby Grade (3) race, the third leg of the Triple Crown at Borrowdale race course on Sunday.

The horse romped to victory in a time of 2 minutes 33.47 seconds, beating the second placed runner Mica Point by 0.10 lengths in a tightly contested race.

River Walts was third to cross the line, followed by Second Light.

For winning the final leg, jockey Wesley Marwing and his running mate Merhaba delivered a $4,320 winner’s cheque to the stable much to the delight of trainer Gokhan Terzi.

Mica Point, River Waltz and Second Light for their efforts returned to their yards with something in their saddle bags after they also collected $ 1,440 and $900 and $540 according to their order of merit.

At exactly 3:35PM the gates opened, setting free a field of eight long distance runners who quickly set off at a cracking pace post wards.

Like all stayers races, the pilots on board were cautious at the early stages of the gruelling encounter preferring to stay a nose behind and let others take the lead while they pondered on their next move.

However, as the winning post got nearer with each stride, things intensified and positions changed hands.

The battle for the tactics soon raged on, every post was turned into a winning post with Merhaba, Tallie Two, Mica Point, Second Light all at the thick of things.

As the winning post drew nearer other runners ran out of steam. The race then turned out to be a two horse duel between Merhaba and Mica Point.

More drama unfolded after Marwing and his running mate Merhaba manoeuvred their way to the apex from the outside.

With just under 100m to go Marwing pushed his horse a gear up and broke free from Mica Point and never looked back until over the line.

At the end of the race most trainers were happy as they were using the race as warm up competition for the Castle Tankard race set for May 16 at the same venue.

 

Weekend Results

Race 1: Soccer GG Maiden Plate (1,000M)

7 Ebony Silver, 12 Go Galaxy, 5 Promising, 9 Believe Can Fly,

Race 2: Mega Pick Six Maiden Juvenile Plate (1,200M)

2 Call Me Earl,4 Equino, Al Salaam, 12 Seond Guessing

Race 3: Soccer 1 Merit Rated 55 Handicap (1,200M)

3 Road To Dubai,11 Pente’s Daughter, 16 Lake Nakuru, 13 Delta Special

Race 4: Soccer 4 Merit Rated 75 Handicap (1 400M) ,

10 Prince Fireball, 6 Wee Doch’N Dorris, 4 Casey’s Dance, 8 Briar Rose

Race 5: Soccer 6 Maiden Plate (1,600M)

1 Goose Green, 2 Neptune’s Rock, 6 Playing With Fire , 10 Suede sensation

Race 6: Soccer 10 Merit Rated 50 Handicap (1,800M)

1 Nugget, 4 Sword Of Truth, 8 Stirling Road, 10 Captain Grant

Race 7: ZIM Telebet Merit Rated 75 Handicap (1,800M)

10 Say So Tiger, 9 Iron Lady, 8 Heron Boy, 1 Killa Man

Race 8: Zimbabwe Derby (Grade 3) (2,400M)

1 Merhaba, 2 Mica Point, 3River Waltz, 8 Second Light

Race 9: Jackpot Quick Mix Graduation Plate (1,200M)

2 Amas Amat, 6 Wat’s Ups Sarge, 1 Supa Challenge, 5 Changa

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