27 Jul 2025

 Sufficient funding is required to grow the horse racing sport in Botswana as maintaining the horses and jockeys is taxing.

To witness the yearned development there is need for more sponsors to come on board and support with monetary prizes, as the current prizes were discouraging. Lebogang Mogopa  from Alone stables said this in an interview after Ghanzi Show horse race on Saturday.

 Botswana Horse Race Association, Public Relations Officer, Tico Otukile said their mandate was to grow the horse racing sport in the country. Therefore, he said their affiliation to Botswana National Sports Commission was a welcome development as it would provide guidance on how to promote the sporting code accordingly.

He said since their affiliation, they were experiencing growth in terms of administration, an increase in numbers of horses unlike in the past when they used to operate in isolation. Otukile added that, through the affiliation, they were considering having prize monies for jockeys which had not been the case in the past.

He emphasised that the move would motivate the jockeys to utilise their natural riding skills to earn a living. On other issues, he said they were in talks with insurance companies concerning the safety of jockeys since horse racing was deemed to be risky. 

For his part, Botswana Tourism Organisation Executive Manager Procurement Oversight, Oteng Ndlovu said the organisation had sponsored the horse race with cash amounting to P268,900. He said they were committed to grow tourism through various activities such as the Ghanzi horse race, that he said had proven to have the potential to boost the local economy of the district.  Ndlovu therefore, called for collaboration from other stakeholders so as to grow the sporting code in Ghanzi and other supporting tourism economic activities in the region and beyond.

The unstoppable Silver Sky owned by Takatokwane native, Gotlhophemang Alone, won the 51^st Ghanzi Show horse race, scooping a P20,000 monetary prize on Saturday. Silver Sky raced under the reigns of one jockey, Gosego Sekgele who won the 2,400m Thorough breed category followed by Salvano from the host district  bagging P15,000 while Highway star scooped position three and won P10,000.

Silver Sky left many spectators in awe after it had earlier shown another thrilling performance in the 1,600m race taking position one and won P9,000.  Salvano took position two with P6,000 gain and Tommy Blom from Khawa stables bagged P5,000 in position three.

Under the 1,400m Thorough breed, Salamin from Dutlwe scooped position one with a prize money of P6,000, followed by Red Summit from Lerolwane taking home P5 500 while Chief from Namibia came third and won P4,800. In the 1,200m Thorough breed category, Weeling scooped position one and pocketed P4,500, followed by Salamina with P3,500, and Kiss my Dust from Motokwe came third and grabbed P3,200.

In 1,200m Tswana breed, Top Notch from Dutlwe snatched the first position, followed by Samarino and Vetmeic from Metsimantsho. In the 800m Tswana breed Top notch won P2,000 after scooping position one followed by Samarino with a prize of P1,900 and Naughty Boy from Metlobo got P1,500 in third place. ENDS