Time has flown by and it’s been thirty years since the first issue of the Sporting Post hit the shelves in October 1994.
The first racemeeting covered was the Arlington card on Friday 21 October.
Besides the birth of the Sporting Post, 1994 was a momentous year in our history, with the first fully multiracial elections on 27 April a pinnacle day in all of our lives.
The late Nelson Mandela was sworn in as the first democratically elected president of the Republic of South Africa the following month.
By comparison the launch of South Africa’s first independent racing newspaper in October was a relatively quiet affair.
Bruce Springsteen sang one of the biggest hits of 1994.
And racing was also very different then.
There were no racemeetings on Sundays.
There were three meetings on our first Saturday, from the now Hollywoodbets Greyville, and the now long-forgotten Gosforth Park and Milnerton courses.
Andrew Bon and Neil Andrews did duty at IGN, the broadcaster of racing to the nation at the time.
The first issue of Sporting Post featured race previews by the late Matthew Lips and Karel Miedema. Those names appeared in the familiar tipping box as well, together with Adrian Coetzer.
Ratings for all runners is what set Sporting Post apart. They are the equivalent of Merit Ratings, which won’t make their appearance in South Africa for another five years. In October 1994 the diet consistedof Maiden, Novice and Graduation Plates.
And Racefigure handicaps, disguised as A, B and C-division races – the more races you’ve won, the more weight you get to carry.
Popular Girl (F. Anthony) bursts from the field to win the 1994 Southern Cross Stakes over 1000m Milnerton
The feature Victress Stakes at Milnerton that first weekend had ten runners carded, competing for a stake of R38 000 (R24 000 to the winner).
Contenders were from the stables of Peter Kannemeyer, James Lightheart, Mark Watters, Chris Snaith, Mike Bass, Greg Ennion and Daryl Hodgson.
Peter Kannemeyer – late legend of the era
Their jockeys included Freddie Macaskill, Garth Puller, Gavin Howes, Eric Chelin, and a 2,5kg claimer named Alec Forbes, who sadly passed away suddenly in August 2017.
The backpage featured race reviews.
A youthful Piere Strydom is pictured all smiles after winning the R200 000 Gr1 Fillies & Mares Stakes at Gosforth Park on As Ever, a daughter of stallion Russian Fox who died only a few weeks earlier.
Piere Strydom – 30 years ago
The Milnerton meeting of the previous week featured 3yo colt Counter Action, easily winning a C-division mile, and predicted to be on his way to bigger things in the Cape season about to start.
Special Preview wins 1994 Gr1 Smirnoff Futurity Sprint
There he faced the previous season’s champion Special Preview, who also featured in the first issue of ‘SP’: on page 29, in Karel Miedema’s pedigree evaluation headed Breeder’s World. It seems kin-breeding explains his success in quite a straightforward manner.
Fast forward through the decades, and we rocked the boat and had our boat rocked.
A banning of Sporting Post sales on course and in their outlets by a now long-gone racing operator showed that we were possibly doing something right in getting the news to Joe Public.
As the years rolled by, the advent of covid-19 was the catalyst for the Sporting Post to move from what was a very popular weekend print edition, to the digital age. We all have to adapt!
Today in a world where South African racing is reinventing itself, we try hard to do our bit to add to the positive momentum, while maintaining our foundation goal of being a source of balanced information.
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And to you our loyal readers, it’s your passion, interest and die-hard commitment to this wonderful sport that keeps the lights on.
We may all bump heads on our comments platform. Because, while our policy encourages engagement and debate and a varied opinion, you can always think what you like, but you can’t always say what you like. That applies most everywhere in life, and and it’s often how you say something, more than what you are saying. Keep the bullets, the brickbats and the bouquets coming! It could win you a nice betting voucher over the next few days.
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