Good Friday is the most holiest day on the calendar for Christians worldwide but horseracing on this day appears to have been accepted as the norm in South Africa. That is after a few years of resistance, which included a boycott by various jockeys in the Eastern Cape a few years ago. Judging purely on the fervent exotic bet pool support by punters on the Arlington meeting on Friday, the moral questions appear to have been answered in no uncertain terms. And jockeys Felix Coetzee and Karis Teetan are two gentlemen who won’t be whinging about having to work on the day – Coetzee rode four winners while the young Mauritian-born Teetan picked up a scintillating treble on the day.
As South Africans we tend to enjoy looking at international comparisons to determine the right and wrong of things at times, although in the case of Good Friday gambling, we are something of a ‘world leader’. There is no racing in the United Kingdom on Good Fridays even though their betting shops are open and the likes of the Church Of England have rather feebly called for the outlets to donate a portion of their profits towards anti-gambling charities. But should anybody really be moralising as to how folk spend their leisure time on a day where one can go to a movie, buy alcohol and shop for any household item?
Our local market has certainly spoken loudly – the Pick 6, Jackpot and Place Accumulator pools at Arlington matched those of Kenilworth on the Tekkie Town Group 3 feature Saturday almost rand for rand – and it really probably just ultimately remains a personal choice to gamble or not. I have learnt reliably that Grandwest Casino near Cape Town did a roaring trade and the parking area was packed at the start of a long weekend where most folk would have dangerously received their paychecks a few days earlier than the norm – if ever there was a danger of too much month being left at the end of the money, then May 2011 is a favourite to scoop that title.
So how do the better jocks motivate themselves to fly to Port Elizabeth on a Good Friday? Good jockeys earn a good wage and great jockeys like Felix Coetzee must be worth a fortune. One can only wonder how the 52 year old who has achieved the pinnacle of success in his profession works up the energy to fly back and forth all over this beautiful country. He, of Silent Witness and Hong Kong fame. has a daughter at college but it definitely isn’t the money that drives him – especially at a relative backwater on a holy day! He stepped into the boots of the injured youngster MJ Byleveld late in January as first choice jockey to the powerful Alan Greeff yard and things have not exactly been going swimmingly in Port Elizabeth – he has more seconds to his credit than a pawn shop in recent weeks but he turned it all around on Friday. He rode three winners for Greeff and one for his Cape Town boss, Justin Snaith, the latter training the well tried and game Cyber Case, who has attemptied everything in his career, and who picked up the day’s ‘feature’ – the Arlington Flying Five over 1000m.
Teetan , on the other hand, is easier to fathom out. The young Mauritian is hungry and motivated and only starting out in his professional life. His family is a world away on the Indian Ocean Island paradise and he would probably be relatively bored on a quiet public holiday. And the Windy City has become a happy hunting ground for him as he receives wonderful support from one of our top female conditioners. – the always smiling Yvette Bremner has supported the young jockey after trying out various combinations and the pair are a force to be reckoned with in those parts. He and Felix grabbed seven of the nine winners on the day and absolutely dominated proceedings.
So Good Friday racing is here to stay – now we have just got to start working on Christmas Day.
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Off Track – Again
We keep hearing murmurings of new management at Tellytrack but what has changed in 2011?
What is it about this outfit that they cannot get anything right consistently for longer than a few weeks? Take Saturday’s fifth race at Kenilworth. The talented son of Fort Wood, Wooden Count made most of the running and then had the two Paddy Kruyer horses Gianduja and Prince Of Troy all over him in the final 25 meters. The finish was extremely close in the end with two heads separating the first three. This race just also happened to be the first leg of the Jackpot and the second leg of the Pick 6. Two major exotics – so what?
The race was off at 14h50 and assuming it took say two minutes to run, then it was all over at about 14h53. It was an absolute cliffhanger and besides a quick rerun of the finish once or twice immediately after the race, punters on the couch at home were subjected to a wait without any update until 15h15 – when the result went clear on the little under-screen belt..
In that time we were shown horses milling at the start of a Sandown race and also the suggested PA perm for Sandown. We then were also shown the Sandown race and also given a Turffontein result in between some other inconsequential nonsense. It is patently obvious that whoever presses the buttons either is clueless and has no idea or doesn’t care about the man-on-the-couch waiting with bated breath for that result. Why not a news-flash on screen during the Sandown race or even a quick dimming of the commentary to keep us updated? Interestingly Shaheen Shaw – who came on duty after the Kenilworth bungle – quipped at around five pm that it was ‘great to have Bingler and the A Team on’… I can only assume that there was a shift change sometime in the afternoon then. I have no idea whether the Presenter or the Producer controls what we see, but one does get the distinct impression that the show lifts a few levels when Mr Shaw takes the seat. We need a few more red bulls in a china shop like him to wake up the living dead.
Overall though, it is just not bloody good enough. If somebody at Rivonia is peed off with Gold Circle or individuals in the Western Cape, then they need to drop the tired personal agendas fast and stop treating the viewer and consumer like monkeys. And if this is supposed to be entertainment and the industry is trying to attract and retain punters, then unprofessional nonsense like this is definitely not the way to go.
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Shop Window
I popped off down to our local tote on Saturday to place my PA and was nothing short of disgusted by the sight that greeted me.
Bergies welcomed me as they sat eating casually out of brown paper bags in front of the shop. The pavement was littered with rubbish and cigarette stompies, and urine stains lined the walls and the ground – with its’ distinctive associated reek everywhere. For a brief moment I thought I had been Shucksed or was on a candid camera set.
I fully realise that this sort of occurrence has become common – place in public places with the social ills prevalent in the new South Africa, but it should surely be managed as it cannot be good for business? I raised the issue with the always friendly tote tellers inside, but it is hardly their function to maintain a minimum standard in respect of the external image of the business. Once again, we know how to chase customers away and do our public image the world of no good.
