ZAKHELE Mkhabela, who rode the horse Mpendulo that won last year’s Dundee July Traditional Rural Horseracing, in Dundee, is coming back with another horse in this year’s race which will be held on Saturday.
The bird is set for the dew of this famous horse race, where 340 horses will compete in 12 races with a stake of R2.5 million on Saturday, at the Ndumeni Horse Track, Dundee.
This year the stake has increased since last year it was R1.9 million
Last year Mkhabela was riding Mpendulo which is a horse from Mgundeni, Utrecht, owned by Zakhele Mntambo. This horse won the bronze in Dundee July, and took home the sum of R400 000.
The second place was taken by Moses, a horse from the Mpumalanga province and received R100 000. The third was Amazondo which is another horse from Majuba, which received R70 000.
However, in this year’s race Mkhabela will ride the Durban horse Alpha and Omega.
Alpha and Omega when he won the Dundee July in 2023, was ridden by Lindani Dube from Mpumalanga, who was shot dead in July of that year, in the Eastern Cape.
“In this year’s race, I am returning with Alpha and Omega, which is a Durban horse. Mpendulo will be ridden by Siyabonga Mabaso,” said Mkhabela.
“Our preparations for Dundee July are going very well. So I can say without a doubt that we are ready for the race and I am confident that we will be able to feed the horses that we will be competing with on race day on Saturday.”
Alpha and Omega placed third in the Nkandla May race, and placed sixth in the Nquthu June Horse Racing race.
Apart from Alpha and Omega and Pendulo, other horses considered in this race include Barcelona, Nxakanxaka, Mbayimbayi and Khalelani. Horses from Lesotho, Swat, and Gauteng province are also expected.