The victory was the second in two weeks after emerging champions in the same division last week under controversial circumstances.

Running over a distance of 1,000 metres (five furlongs), African Queen, born and bred at Korle Gonno in the Greater Accra Region, settled towards the centre of the course with a couple of furlongs to go and quickly made its way to the fore, overtaking Baby Jet (Sulley Ismaila) to finish in a thrilling fashion in 1:42 minutes.

“I won this same division last week where my contenders and their supporters argued that I was not the winner so I trained hard with my horse and we have proved them wrong today,” said Dennis Ahinakwah in a post-race interview.

The competition, which attracted a sizable crowd, saw Die Hard, ridden by Ebenezer Nartey beat competition from Shasha (Sulley Ismaila) and Simply Great (Romeo Nettey), who were first and second respectively in the Maidens event in a time of 2:10 minutes over a distance of 1,400 metres.

In the Division 3B/4B race, Yaayi, ridden by Jonathan Mensah and owned by Mamoud Babbar Sankare, finished tops in 2:05 minutes over a distance of 1,600 metres, while Nine Eleven (E A Dery) and Sweet Morinus (Ebenezer Nartey) took the second and third positions respectively.

The competition continues tomorrow at the same venue.