Kaduna hosts West African horse racing derby finale, Tinubu backs revival
Darrasalam won the opening race in Kaduna as HRFN used the 2025/2026 derby finale to push West African horse racing toward a wider national circuit.
Kaduna turned Murtala Muhammed Square into the centre of West African horse racing as the Renewed Hope 2nd Edition derby closed out the 2025/2026 season from July 8 to July 11, 2026. The opening race, a 10-horse contest, went to Darrasalam, with Laila second and Azan third, as riders and horses came in from across Nigeria and neighbouring West African countries.
The first day was largely ceremonial, and attendance was modest at the start, but the late-week schedule was built to draw larger crowds and high-level guests. President Bola Tinubu’s goodwill message, read in Kaduna, linked the revival of horse racing to jobs, tourism, livestock production, skills development and private-sector investment, and tied the sport to his Renewed Hope Agenda and wider sports commercialization reforms.
Tinubu apologized for missing the finale because of pressing national engagements, but made clear that Abuja sees value in the meet beyond the track. He said, “We are fully committed to general sports development in the country,” while also pointing to Kaduna’s reconstruction of Ahmadu Bello Stadium and the planned revitalization of the Zaria Horse Racing and Polo Club as part of a broader reset for Nigerian sport. He also cited Sir Ahmadu Bello as the figure who established the Northern States Horse Club Authority in 1962.
National coordinator Abubakar Mustapha-Bida said the federation wants horse racing to move beyond its historical Northern stronghold and build a genuinely national footprint, with next season due to begin in November and include at least one state in the South-East and one in the South-West. He also said the federation is working with the NDLEA, the National Sports Commission and the proposed Sports Anti-Doping Agency to confront horse abuse, doping and other unethical practices.
The Etsu Nupe, Yahaya Abubakar, backed the push for a wider circuit and said the federation, founded in 2019, was created to organize, host and regulate horse racing in Nigeria. He described the sport as cultural heritage and as a complete industry linking culture, agriculture, tourism, entertainment, hospitality and commerce. The federation framed a Grade-One derby as the next target.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
Did this article answer your question?
