It was drama, excitement and climax probably Dick Francis the great fiction writer on horse races would have described in his own characteristic style. Crowning star the son of Razeen owned by Gamini Jayaratne and piloted in exemplary fashion by Jockey Sharat Kumar came up with a devastating run to snatch the verdict from Stormy Warrior close home. In the 2004 edition of the SriLankan Airlines Governors Cup for Thorough Bred Horses in Class I over 9 furlongs.

A record and a colourful crowd dressed in their best attire congregated at the race course in Nuwara Eliya in this biggest extragavanza which saw media heads from Europe and Far East as guests of SriLankan Airlines.

For the owner Mr. Gamini Jayaratne it was a dream come true. Gamini has made huge investment in procuring some of the best horses in his yard, the victory couldn’t have come at a better time. As Administrator and Steward of the Sri Lanka Turf Club Gamini takes his racing very seriously and has put in substantial efforts to improve the overall quality of horse racing in Sri Lanka and truly deserved this win . Gamini described in his thanks giving speech at the winning podium as very momentous.

For Jockey Sharat Kumar it was a fairy tale ending to his career as a jockey. He hung his boots in glory after a fruitful and successful career as a jockey spanning over 20 years in India.

Peter Hill CEO SriLankan Airlines while giving away the trophy to the Jayaratne’s lauded the efforts of Rajan Sellamuttu in shaping the contours of Sri Lankan racing and was over joyed to see the improvements in the Sri Lanka Turf Club ably led by its energetic President Dhammika Attygalle and its Hony Secretary Rajah Sinnathuray and his Team and Chairman Rajan Sellamuttu and Board of Stewards. Peter Hill CEO SriLankan Airlines and Chandana de Silva head of Corporate Communications have put in pioneering efforts in many philanthropic projects which is taken by the SriLankan Airlines to bring in a qualitative change in the empowerment of the underprivileged children in a project called SriLankan Care. This is certainly a great step in the right direction.

The Abeyratane’s had a field day completing a fine hat-trick - Jockey Rahul Shinde excelled in the saddle, the most heartening feature was the introduction of use of starting stalls for the first time in Sri Lanka. The crowd went into raptures when the horses charged out of the gates.