Pocket Watch is the 2026 Castle Tankard king after Malesela Katjedi yesterday steered him to victory in the 2000 metre event at Borrowdale Park Racecourse — the home of Zimbabwe horse racing.
The five-year old was a clear winner as Malesela galloped him to the tap ahead of September Flower and Last One Standing to take the winners cheque of US$25 000 for his combinations to share.
The winning combinations include the owners, trainer, jockey, and of course the groomer, Aunele Eyitime.
This was Pocket Watch's second win in his last five races and took his career record to five wins and 12 placings.
For trainer Thomas Mason it was his 12th win of the season from 70 runs while jockey Malesela raised his season's statistics to one win from two runs.
September Flower received US$12 000 for coming second, while third placed Last One Standing took home US$7 000 and River Power had his share of US$4 500 for completing the quartet.
Sadly, Ideal View, the 2025 champion was nowhere to be seen among the placings and lost out heavily on record.
The son of Golden View (USA) and Idaho (USA) was hoping to become only the third horse in history after Taranaki in 1978 and 1979 and Fashion Maker in 1997 and 1999 to win two Castle Tankard titles.
- Pocket Watch is the 2026 Castle Tankard king
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The course record for the 2000 metre Castle Tankard of 118.8 seconds is held by Grisham set in 2011 and the class record of 110. 47 is by Equina in 2014.
Sadly, we could not confirm yesterday's times but they could have been immediately revealed had they been better than the course record.
Sadly, there won't be the OK Grand Challenge this year and it's not confirmed yet whether the third of the Big Three — The Republic Cup — will take place.
