All paired up and ready to race for this year’s Peermont Emperors Palace Charity Mile

All eyes were on the celebrity draw for this year’s Peermont Emperors Palace Charity Mile, held at The Palace of Dreams on Wednesday afternoon, 25 October.

As is customary for this unique event, one of the key fixtures during the Highveld horseracing season (Summer In The City) where celebrities, charities and racing personalities alike join together to find out how the final field will line up at Turffontein Racecourse on 4 November.

With Neil Andrews, a regular at this event and tasked with the role of MC it was all systems go as the celebs in attendance, charity representatives and some of the media partners involved, picked their horses by randomly choosing from a selection of 16 oversized casino chips. Each chip correlates to the number of a runner in the race.

And while Andrews, a renowned sports broadcaster and friend of racing, had some inkling as to which horses he was hoping to be paired with, it was his advice to his fellow celebrities that determined their reaction when drawing.

Television presenter, Kim Jayde Robinson was obviously delighted to have drawn the defending champion in this race, New Predator with the horse back for another winning attempt. He will once again be partnered by jockey Gavin Lerena.

Last year the jockey ended up enjoying an extra special day given that his relative, the professional boxer Kevin Lerena, was the celebrity assigned.

This year however, the world champion pugilist, Lerena has been paired with the exciting import Hat Puntano from the stable of Mike and Adam Azzie. In attendance to witness the draw were champion trainers Sean Tarry and Mike de Kock.

While the racing action will be fierce, the beneficiaries can rest assured that they will each walk away with a share of the R1-million up for grabs. The funds will be allocated based on the finishing positions of the horses in the race.

Tickets to the Peermont Emperors Palace Charity Mile are available from Webtickets from just R30 which includes a R30 betting voucher for adults and R20 for children which includes a goodie bag. There are also a host of hospitality options available and bookings can be made by calling 011 681 1508.

With the horses and their various partners now confirmed there’s only one more thing to do and that’s to find the right outfit for race day on 4 November.

Emperors Palace is a Peermont resort. For more information visit www.emperorspalace.com.  Connect with us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter @emperorspalace and use #CharityMile.

Peermont proudly supports the National Responsible Gambling Programme. Problem Gambling Counselling Toll-Free Helpline 0800 006 008. Players must be 18 years or older. Winners know when to stop.