Western Cape horseracing is in great shape! One could be forgiven for thinking so after a fantastic day of high-quality horseracing and downright superb entertainment on Saturday. The l’Ormarins Queen’s Plate raceday was a living tribute to professionalism, commitment and great organisation and just shows what can be done with a winning core product and the right people calling the shots.What price we had some mouthwatering lips and calculators buzzing up North again on Saturday evening?
By all accounts, the Western Cape is the tug-of-love orphan in South African horseracing at the moment and Saturday would have exemplified exactly why there are a few foster parents eagerly queuing to cradle this little jewel in the jaded crown of a tired and battered sport. Glorious weather, beautiful people, fast horses and a touch of international flavour in the scenic surrounds of one of our greatest racecourses makes for a simple winning recipe. Throw in the foresight of Gaynor Rupert and L’Ormarins wines and the terrific team of organisers from the energetic Jono Snaith to the innovative Galia Kerbel and her Greather -Than gang, and the rest of the unheralded backroom heroes of a wonderful social and sporting event, and we have a day that royally rocks and blows the socks. With golfing legend Gary Player announcing the imminent arrival of international racing at Kenilworth on the winner’s podium immediately after the Queen’s Plate, there really is plenty of reason to smile and be optimistic about the future and one hopes that an apolitical leader steps into the driving seat and takes control. This could be something big – very big.
RUSH HER WITH LOVE
I don’t really give two hoots whether the Phumelela Power Players, manic Martians or a consortium of Russian tycoons take over horseracing in the Western Cape, but the enormity of the Cape raceday experience’s gradual fall from grace of the past few years was brought to bear again on Saturday in no uncertain terms. The horrifying chasm between the routine and dismal race meetings of the past few months and this glorious highlight could really only be appreciated by those of us who know both sides of the coin and who have leant against those rails on an arbitrary Wednesday afternoon in recent history. For the rest of the oblivious sun-drenched partygoers decked in some unbelievable blue and white finery , horseracing is fun and one helluva party. Many of them will pitch up at Kenilworth for the J&B Met on 29 January and then most will be lost to the game for the next eleven months. The mere fact however that the day was an aggressive and bold advertisement for the very best that horseracing has to offer is a positive growth platform and there is really nothing wrong with employing external experts to organise, drive and hype the day. The pre and post-race coverage in our mainstream press was also impressive. The service in the Stud Club lounge was superb as it was last year and the comfortable facility had ample friendly tote tellers, plenty of waiters and was visibly supervised and managed by officials of both the organisers and Gold Circle.
GENUINE ENNION
The horseracing was also world-class. Besides the Mike de Kock mean machine with the big man in absentia grabbing the cherry on the day for the umpteenth time, the training honours were fairly evenly spread with all of Yogas Govender, Justin Snaith and Greg Ennion pulling off doubles. De Kock rewrote the ending of the fairytale in the Queen’s Plate, and while it was not the closing chapter that the Bass or Snaith teams may have chosen, few will deny that the best horse won this prestigious race on the day and Ebony Flyer will still have many big days to come. For Pocket Power, the end of the road sadly seems nigh and Racegoer journalist Michael Clower suggested during midweek that a statue should be erected in his honour were he to win his fifth Queen’s Plate. I think he has already earned that statue and let’s hope with all the positivity flying around that the finances improve to the extent where Rodney Dunn can commission the statue and change the name of Kenilworth to Pocket Power Park. Milnerton-based trainer Greg Ennion’s double feat was a superb effort as he has a small string and doesn’t spend big money on his purchases. He is known as one of the shrewdest judges around and he was all smiles after grabbing the ninth race exacta with Mystic Moon and Nysean Bolt – both who look destined for the Cape Derby.
MORE KISSES
On the breeding front, no stallion dominated proceedings although Windrush and Captain Al should take the joint first prize as they produced the two Grade 1 winners. Elliodor was the day’s most successful dam-sire with two winners in the Varsfontein-bred Kiss Again and Hassen Adams’ Mystic Moon. Veronica Foulke’s Normandy Stud bred two winners and shared top breeder prize along with Klawervlei and the Plattner’s La Plaissance Stud. The owner statistics of the day do not make for startling or surprising reading in any way, although it is patently obvious again that the true power in racehorse ownership lies in the hands of a powerful few. One only needs to look at the folk who graced the winner’s enclosure, to realise this . The high-riding Sabine Plattner operation had two winners which position she shared with business tycoon Hassen Adams, who also had a nice double, which included the second race exacta, in what is probably regarded as a relatively quiet day for him! Internationally recognised Fieldspring Racing had a smart winner in the ill-fated July winner Eyeofthetiger’s half-brother Jack Bauer for Dean Kannemeyer in the third race, while the day’s major sponsor Drakenstein Stud had the consistent Croc Valley win the fourth under a seemingly youthfully revitalised Karl ‘Salusa 45’ Neisius, who was at the top of his game on the afternoon as he brought home two winners . Then the familiar silks of Mary Slack’s , Wilgerbosdrift grabbed the big one while longstanding owner Lady Lilford’s Kiss Again won the seventh race on what was her late husband’s birthday. Former Gold Circle Chairman Ken Truter had plenty to smile about after a quiet period when his longshot daughter of Captain Al, Emerald Cove, cruised home in the Grade 1 Paddock Stakes. In so doing answering the queries posed by the expert tipsters on Stan Elley’s Going To Post show during midweek on Tellytrack – questioning why Felix Coetzee opted to ride the one of the three Snaith horses in the race who ‘didn’t stay…’. But stay every inch of the way, she certainly did, and showed again that horses make fools of many of us a lot of the time. Besides Karl Neisius’ and Bernard Fayd’Herbe’s individual doubles, Richard Fourie grabbed the overall riding honours with a treble that would have offered odds of around 6000-1!
BEACH CLUB
So a great day and I would only tweak a few items. Firstly, build a path from the parking area, as arriving on course in sparkling clean twinkle toes and high-heels and having to trudge through dry grass and powdery sand from the parking area is no fun. Life’s really a beach, sometimes, I suppose and I felt for the girls who started their day with grubby feet. Then the on-course communications technical management leaves a lot to be desired. The endless stream of technical hitches during Neil Andrews’ previews, was irritating and unnecessary – but did someone say Tellytrack? They have had a shocking week and really need to pull finger. Listening to music and watching the tipster’s lips move in a mime show is probably the preferred route of finding winners and the crowd of mostly celebs in the Stud Club lounge only watched the actual races – not once did I see anyone of them listening to a preview or interview of any sort. Neil Andrews is a polished MC but his one-liners didn’t all go down as smoothly as the fantastic Anthonij Rupert wines he was handing out. One or two of his quips were over the head like some of the gaudy hats on show – and cracking a joke to Gaynor Rupert about Sabine Plattner ‘being a good cause’ after the Drakenstein Stud horse had been beaten in the first race by a Plattner horse , was probably quite funny and not offensive – but then not really that appropriate either, in hindsight. He did handle the lengthy Queen’s Plate post-race presentation really well with three hundred and forty people on the podium and even the dignitary speeches were well-presented short , sweet and to the point. How Lita Futeran remained so remarkably composed and still emerged with credit in the Paddock Stakes presentation as she re- started her speech three times as the technical gremlins played havoc, is a wonder!
Well done to all involved and to the Western Cape Board and Management of Gold Circle for buying into a winner. I even have a souvenir race-card as a momento – and how we miss those. One feels for Brandhouse – the J&B Met has a helluva hard to act follow in a few weeks.
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A LEGEND WRITES ON LEGENDS
For the sentimentalists, traditionalists and true horseracing lovers, a legend of the South African racing media, Charl Pretorius, will shortly release an absolute must read collectable covering legends of yesteryear and yesterday. The 100 page book is a product of Charl’s seven years of writing profiles on The Citizen and this labour of true love is edited and revised and covers ten personalities, including Stanley Amos, Herman Brown and Jean Heming, plus a bonus chapter on Michael Roberts.
Much has been written and said about the colourful and charismatic Boereseun but nobody could ever question Pretorius’ unbridled passion for thoroughbred horseracing . This coupled on the tote with his extraordinary writing ability has led to some top quality productions, the latest of which is Legends Of The Turf: Rare Profiles From South African Racing History.
When taxed on what drives an author to produce a work that requires years of research and demands infinite attention to detail, Charl said that he derived deep personal satisfaction rather than financial reward from the project: “ The industry has made small steps towards recognising our legends, like the TBA Museum as an example. But we need to do far more and I want to make my own small contribution through this first of several volumes to come. The industry is sadly driven more by money than the interests of preservation of our history and tradition. We need the real racing people to stand up – the people who love racehorses – not the money magnates who care little about this majestic athlete and worry only about using them as playthings and boosting their own ego’s while enforcing the illness of greed on the population and getting praised for it, “ he said with his customary honesty.
Early signed orders of this wonderful book are available at R140 a piece while the list price is R160. They will be available via amazon.com and selected Exclusive Book outlets from the end of January only. Find out more on racingweb.co.za or email Charl on [email protected]
