British Airways pilot Captain Loraine Raincock (third right); General Manager of Sandy Lane Hotel, Robert Logan (holding cup) and Senator Haynesley Benn, acting Tourism Minister, pose with the Gold Cup after its arrival yesterday aboard BA 2155 at the Grantley Adams International Airport. Also in the photo are (from right) Shontelle Cave of Sandy Lane, BA District Manager Nigel Blackett and Rose Hategekimana also of Sandy Lane.
Gold Cup is here!
2/20/2010
By Petra Harvey
The most coveted trophy in local horse racing arrived at the Grantley Adams International Airport yesterday, signalling the countdown towards the most prestigious thoroughbred horse race in the southern Caribbean – the Sandy Lane Barbados Gold Cup.
Piloted by Loraine Raincock, the Boeing 777 touched down around 3:50 p.m., bringing with it the solid gold trophy for the Sandy Lane Barbados Gold Cup. Raincock is the first female to have made the trip with the Gold Cup, continuing a tradition that began in 1984.
Back then the cup was transported aboard a Boeing 747, and from 1985 until 2000 aboard the Concorde. Raincock noted BA was proud to continue the tradition of bringing the Gold Cup home for yet another year.
“We are also pleased to be a part of a great and wonderful partnership with the Sandy Lane Hotel. We fully recognise the significance of the Gold Cup event to Barbados and to your visitors, some of whom would have flown with us today.
“Our association has strengthened over the years and journeys. I felt particularly privilieged to be at the controls as we touched down at the Grantley Adams International Airport with this prized first class passenger today,” said Raincock.
Raincock has been with BA since 1987 and this is the first time she has brought in the cup.
Acting Minister of Tourism, Senator Haynesley Benn, was also on hand for the arrival of the Gold Cup and noted he has always been a lover of horse racing. He praised the Barbados Turf Club (BTC) for keeping Barbados at the forefront of horse racing in the Caribbean.
“This Cup has become synonymous with excellence in horse racing and I wish to congratulate Sandy Lane for their ongoing support for this event, which is to my mind as much a tourism event as a sporting event in Barbados,” said Benn.
Senator Benn added that the Sandy Lane Gold Cup is very much a part of the Barbadian sports calendar and it will allow local jockeys a chance for fame and fortune.
“This year, the Barbados Turf Club, in collaboration with the Sandy Lane Hotel and the Barbados Tourism Authority, has arranged yet another marvellous cup filled with colour and ceremony, and I am convinced that the return of the street parade – and this is very key – the parade brought the cup closer to Barbadians and visitors and that will provide some impetus into this outstanding sporting event,” said Benn.
Director of the BTC, Pamela Marshall, was also at the airport for the cup’s arrival and remarked,
“The Sandy Lane Gold Cup is like no other race in the Caribbean, and it is the best that it can be and we put a great deal of effort into it.”
This year marks 29 years that the race has been run and 14 years since Sandy Lane took over sponsorship from Cockspur. It is contested over a turf course at a distance of 1800m and is open to horses three years of age or older.
Blast of Storm set the speed record of 1:48.60 in 2001 and this was equalled by Thady Quill in 2003. Sandford Prince and Blast of Storm have each won the race three times, while BTC president Sir David Seale at five wins, holds the record for most wins by an owner.
