THE Navosa Horse Race may be a far cry from the famous annual Melbourne Horse Race in Australia but its impact has rebuilt lives in rural settings, improved standard of living and most importantly united the people from all walks of life.
The locals branded the event as the Melbourne Cup — Navosa version mainly because of its uniqueness.
Despite the lack of proper racing facilities, the event never fails to provide the much needed excitement enjoyed by the participants, horse owners, spectators, farmers and villagers alike.
The race track used is a feeder road that lies adjacent to the Sigatoka River close to Sautabu Village.
Times Sport was invited to be part of this inaugural event and experienced first-hand the joy and the excitement that made this event a special one.
As we approached Sautabu Village — the venue of the horse race, we encountered villagers, horse owners, farmers and spectators making their way to the race track.
It was surprising to see the many number of horses being escorted by their respective owners to the race site.
Some of the horses were guided by the owners crossing the nearby Sigatoka River to the race area.
The race track is only 600m and only two horses can compete at one time but plans are in the pipeline to widen the race track to accommodate at least eight horses.
Dressed in a patched Lee-brand three quarter pants and a long sleeved shirt, the tournament Master of Ceremony welcomed the participants in Navosa and Hindi dialects.
Temporary sheds were erected near the race course for spectators together for the foods and farm produce to be sold.
It’s more like killing two birds with a stone because apart from the race itself, farmers also took the opportunity to sell their farm produce and foods while many enjoyed the flow of the traditional kava.
But the funny thing that caught our attention was the name of the horses being called out by the MC.
Some of these horses that I could vividly recall their names were Please Forgive Me, Playboy, SODELPA, Mission Babasiga, Pepsi, Air Force, Rambo, Khwadjo, Vodafone, Grace, Bullet, Tamil Tiger, John Cena and John Cena Jr. John Cena Jr is a female horse while Grace is a male horse.
During the race itself, spectators cheered on their favourite horses making the event exciting.
According to the horse race co-ordinator Marika Nagata, the event started in the early 80s and was used as a major tool to eradicate marijuana cultivation in the area.
He said a village in Navosa managed to buy its fibreglass boat for cash from the proceedings gained at the race.
Nagata said the organisers were building a bus stop at Olosara through the horse race entry fees.
The entry fee ranges from $5 to $50 which goes direct to the organisers and more than 80 horses participated in a day.
“This horse race is compared to the Melbourne Cup in Australia but this is our Navosa version,” said Nagata.
“If two horses compete in a race they agree to pay certain amount of money each and the winner to take all. In some cases horse owners agree to pay $1000 each and the winner to take $2000.
“Imagine some of these farmers and villagers returned home in the afternoon with more than $2000 in their pockets.
“It helped them to improve their standard of living and at the same time encouraged them to take part in the next event thus promoting the sport. The sport has also enabled us to assist with many community works in Nadroga Navosa.”
He said almost all youths in Sautabu and surrounding villagers had their own horses.
Former Fiji 7s star forward and France-based Semi Kunatani usually took part at the event before pursuing his rugby career.
“Semi Kunatani also participated and won many prizes. The name of his horse is Qere which is named after his mataqali.”
Nagata said the event was an opportune time for the people of Navosa to socialise and unite.
“This is the only time of the year we meet our relatives from nearly every parts of Navosa, Nadroga and Nadi.”
Nagata said horse owners looked after their horses because they had benefited from this race.
He said the plan was to widen the race track to accommodate more participants and to also construct a pavilion for the spectators.
“We want to build new six race tracks and to accommodate our spectators in a good pavilion.”
“The plan is to raise the standard of the competition and the best way to do that is to improve the facility. We are planning to visit the Prime Minister for his assistance with the new facilities as the event has gained popularity in our area.”
While people from Fiji and around the world anticipate to witness the annual Melbourne Cup race, the people of Navosa don’t really bother to watch because they have their own Melbourne Cup version right on their doorsteps.
And who knows if given the much needed funding and the support, this event could become the biggest horse racing event in the South Pacific.
