Winner of 93^rd Gazi Derby is
THE LAST ROMANCE

Ahmet Çelik made history by winning the Gazi Derby 5 years in a row.

Gazi Derby, named after Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and held annually since 1927 uninterruptedly, was held on Sunday, 30 June 2019, at Veliefendi Racecourse in Istanbul. 20 thoroughbreds, 2 fillies and 18 colts, competed against each other in front of 30 thousand racing fans to win the trophy.

THE LAST ROMANCE (Tizway - Cumulus / Kingmambo) became the winner of the Derby with Ahmet Çelik, the champion jockey of 2019. The finish time for the 3yo bay thoroughbred, owned by Melis Kurtel Emin and trained by  Orkun Özelcanat was 2.27.73. Ahmet Çelik, the winning jockey of 93^rd Gazi Derby previously won the Derby with RENK in 2015, Graystorm in 2016, Piano Sonata in 2017 and Hep Beraber in 2018.

Please click here to see the stud book details of this year’s champion THE LAST ROMANCE .

 KUZEY KAFKASYALI (Luxor - Uba / River Special) finished the race on turf on 2400 meters as second with Özcan Yıldırım, and followed by HÜRAT (Torok - Esmerbal / Okawango) with Erhan Yavuz and SCOUTLEO (Victory Gallop - Sopran Gath / Galileo) with Gökhan Gökçe. The margins of the race on 2400 meters on turf  with 1.650.000 TL  first prize was 2 L - 1,5 L - 2,5 L.

A big crowd accompanied to the ceremony on the Winner Circle. Ali Yerlikaya, Governor of Istanbul and Mustafa Aksu, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Forestry and Chairman of Board of High Stewards together presented the trophy to the winning owner Melis Kurtel Emin.

Mehmet Hadi Tunç, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Forestry presented a plate to the winning trainer Orkun Özelcanat.

Ekrem İmamoğlu, Mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, presented a plate to Ahmet Çelik, the winning jockey.