08 Sep 2014

Serowe Spring Horseracing has potential to be a tourist attraction event that could feature in the diaries of many.

The horse racing event, which was held in Serowe on September 6, also showed growth in terms of sponsorship but also in the number of participating horses in their various breeds.

In a post event interview with Letshego Financial Services regional business development officer (central region), Ezekiel Sebina, the marketing of the event was not satisfactory.

Subsequently, Mr Sebina said, they had realised that there was need for them to assist the show committee in that regard. “I talked to kgosi and riders from all the stables that we are sitting on a diamond,” said Mr Sebina whose overall assessment of the event was satisfactory and promised a much bigger event next year.

Mr Sebina, whose company had sponsored the Serowe Spring Horserace to the tune of P65 000, found that there wwas room for improvement, emphasising the need for the community to benefit from the event. 

Letshego Financial Services started sponsoring the event in 2011 for P15 000 and has been steadily increasing the sponsorship money with time. 

In 2012 they upped the money to P20 000 and further increased it in 2013 to P50 000 as part of the company’s corporate social responsibility in the area of their operation. 

When welcoming the riders and spectators at the event, Kgosi Mokhutshwane Sekgoma complained about poor attendance and the need for serious publicity to attract more revelers to the event.

Kgosi Sekgoma also complained about the poor state of the track opining that it could harm the competing horses as well as the riders as a consequence of tripping. 

The traditional leader appealed to the various stables to care for their horses as he noted with apparent grief that some of them were in poor health state. 

As part of marketing and publicising the event, Kgosi Sekgoma challenged the show committee to devise ways of attracting various age categories to the event by introducing other activities in which some may act as curtain-raisers to the main event.

He observed that competing at the Serowe Spring Horserace was not only about winning the race but also marketing the horses and stables to the populace and potential buyers. 

The kgosi also encouraged growth of the horseracing industry in the country and also challenged the corporate world to partake in the envisaged growth. 

At the event, Golden Horses Riding Club’s five year old Discipline won the grand race which set the tongues wagging in its first race locally. 

For the club, Discipline was using the Serowe race as a precursor to the Charles Hill and Maun races. 

Chairperson of the club Mr Tumagole Tumagole, who was ecstatic at the win, expressed the need for the race to grow. 

He found that the revelers were impressed about the riders’ showing and concluded that the people needed to see more of the race in the coming years. ENDS