The Horse Racing Division (HRD) published the fixtures for the first three meetings on Friday February 24 with the season to kick-off three weeks later. The trainers will have now only three weeks to get theirs horses ready for the first meeting which is scheduled for March 18.
The fixtures for the first three Meetings of the 2023 Season, which have been allocated to People’s Turf Plc, and which have been worked out after consultations with the Trainers’ representatives on the Fixtures Committee. The HRD states that shall there be any changes, you will be informed accordingly in due time.
The main race of the first meeting will be a 1365m for horses of Merit Rating B56. We will have to wait for the third meeting to have a race with some of the best horses of Merit Rating 50 and above.
Trainers will be working in new conditions as we usually have fixtures for at least 8 to 10 meetings so that they can have a plan for their horses.
If the HRD came up with the fixtures, the stakeholders and racegoers are still waiting for a full season calendar to be announced. It is the first time since many decades that there is no calendar three week before the start of the season.
This is since only the People’s Turf PLC Ltd (PTP) has it’s Horse Racing Organiser (HRO) licence and the bail to use the Champ-de-mars racecourse.
The MTC Sports and Leisure Ltd (MTCSL) is still waiting for the cost-sharing proposal from the PTP for the maintenance of the racetrack. The Mauritius Turf Club (MTC), only shareholder of the MTCSL, will hold a Special General Assembly on Friday March 3 to decide whether the MTCSL will go ahead in organising races this year or not.
