Major races this Sunday

THE NICOSIA Race Club is the venue for the biggest day on the Cyprus horse racing calendar on Sunday, with the running of the Cyprus Derby and the Cyprus Oaks Cup.

Thousands of racing fans as well as prominent government officials are expected for the annual flat races, featuring local horses and jockeys, which have a combined prize fund of £66,000.

The Derby will be contested by three-year-old thoroughbred colts and geldings over a distance of 2,250 metres. The winner will pick up a cheque for £19,500. The £40,000 race is the richest on the Cyprus calendar.

The Oaks Cup is for three-year-old thoroughbred fillies and will also cover a distance of 2,250 metres.

Both races will be broadcast live on Alfa.

Marketing Manager of the Nicosia Race Club, George Hadjiminas, said the roots of the Derby can be traced back to 1912 when it was known as the Commissioner’s Cup, featuring both male and female horses.

“In 1925, it was renamed the Jubilee Cup and the format remained unchanged until 1960 when it split into the two races we have today.”

The Nicosia Race Club is the only organisation in Cyprus authorised to organise races and accept pari-mutuel bets on them.

Races take place on Sundays and most Wednesdays in Winter and Spring and on Wednesday’s and most Saturday’s in the Summer and Autumn. They are also organised on most major holidays.

Horse racing was revived in Cyprus from the end of the 19th century. However, the tradition of the sport on the island, as evidenced by archaeological findings existing in the Cyprus Museum, is lost in the depth of the Hellenistic period, where we come across horse racing descriptions by Homer and other ancient authors.

Horse racing in those days was actually a real sport of the kings, who participated in them. When the kings of ancient Salamis of Cyprus died, their horses were buried with them.
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The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.