Sercombe stable shines in Cup events
It was a double dose of joy for the Patsy Sercombe stable Sunday as they clinched two cup races held at the Ngong Race Course.
The Derby Oaks Challenge Bowl and Conference Cup, both 2400m long, were the highlight races of the busy afternoon that had seven meets in total.
The four-year-old derby that was run in a time of 2.37.40, saw veteran Leslie Sercombe come through the finish line atop South African breed Comic Star with a solid gap of four and a half lengths ahead of James Muhindi’s Duke Hour which was 13/2 favorite on the bet slip.
The Oaks Challenge Bowl saw just the fittest manage good times on the clock given the length of the track and the damp ground with Quasar jockeyed by visiting rider John Sampson coming third, off by seven and a half lengths gap from the winning fillie.
As for the Conference Cup which was timed at 2.39.10, anotherSercombe stable runner Fast Five won albeit in tight fashion as Richard Kibet was tactful in his running.
The one gap difference over Clothes Horse from the same stable jockeyed by Leslie Sercombe was enough to close out the front row with Harbour Bay of Josephat Kultiang closing in at thirds two and a quarter lengths behind.
This race saw three heavyweight trainers in the frame of Onesmus Mutua, Patsy Sercombe and Joe Muya parading top runners but ultimately the calculations and tactics won it for the Sercombe stable in the open handicap for three-year-old fillies.
In the other interesting meet, 1000m Mt.Elgon Handicap was clinched by a Sercombe once again in a time of 1.02.05.The battling pair of Sercombe and Muhindi were once again hard at it with the latter jockeying Risqué only falling short by two and half lengths.
