The international jockey team to compete in this weekend’s double header against the Springboks will be soaking up the glorious Mauritius sunshine, blissfully unaware of the frantic behind-the-scenes activity to rescue the showpiece. Against the background of hype and excitement, it all seems rather bizarre and ironic that a cash carrot has to be dangled by the racing operator to ensure that minimum field sizes are met.
It feels like a repeat of the same old story, doesn’t it? The imbalances in this funny old game have surely got to be the root of all our ills? Here we see it once again. The owners carrying the can and paying the spiralling bills to feed their horses and keep their equally stressed trainers in business, while the glamour boys sun themselves on the powder white beaches, contemplating their ‘well-earned break’, as the Saftote website terms it . Oh, and let’s not forget that next drink order under that blazing Mauritian sun –shaken, not stirred – and all with not too much of a blooming care in the world. Who said life was unfair? It’s a beach really, preferably one in Mauritius.
We probably shouldn’t be taking this administrative planning glitch out on the jockeys though. Co-sponsor Air Mauritius’ flight schedules apparently ‘forced’ the short island holiday on these unwilling tourists, so it is not their fault. But somebody somewhere made the foolish, if not ridiculous, assumption that the Kenilworth Sunday fields would be well subscribed. So it happened that Gold Circle announced on Monday that they had extended final acceptances for the second leg of the Citizen International Jockey Test on 13 November and were offering trainers a R1000 incentive per runner to support the designated international races, as the minimum field size of twelve runners had not been reached in four of the five races.
This initiative and intervention on the part of the racing operator should really be lauded and is commendable in isolation, as it was obviously an emergency measure designed to save face for both the sport of horseracing and the sponsors. One can just imagine the red faces all round and the potential international damage as word spreads that the host country was unable to put a supposedly much anticipated racemeeting together. But it is the nature and pitch of the cash incentive that probably deserves a rethink.
Firstly, why should the trainer be paid? While he is in most cases the programmer and decision maker, it is surely the owner that should be rewarded? Then the question begs – why would a trainer have originally decided to give the particular race a miss and then suddenly found a thousand good reasons somewhere to run his horse? It doesn’t make sense – unless he felt in the first place that a race at the next meeting or two was a better option but made the right decision to support the Jockey Test. But that means that there will be potentially 40 horses or so that won’t be running in the next racemeeting or two, as they are now running on Sunday. I am trying to fathom out the change-of-heart logic against the background of the sudden incentive.
Then the Phumelela owners must also surely be paid the R1000 incentive? That is only fair as without their support the series would also have fallen apart. And what about our local jockeys who ride work and earn their livelihood week in and week out of the game in a troubled region? The Cape winter is a long one – and the racemeetings are few and far between in the low months. Now the locals must step back and watch the big earning overseas visitors enjoy the five-star accommodation and take the few rands on offer. Julius Malema would have a thing or two to say about that state of affairs.
Losing the Cape Town leg would undoubtedly have been a real disaster as that is the main reason most of the international jockeys are coming here anyway. The superb service and luxury of the Table Bay Hotel against the magnificent backdrop of Cape Town. It doesn’t get too much better than that in our summer and let’s face it – have you ever heard of anybody visiting South Africa to spend a few days in Johannesburg? If you believe that then you haven’t been to downtown Egoli recently – or to the dubious environs of Turffontein –especially on a Friday night.
While apathy and horseracing go hand in hand, the lack of support by the Cape trainers may well be a very simple matter. The issue may lie in the fact that local trainers are not excited by the novelty and the perceived glamour value of using a jockey who doesn’t know the horse, or the race-track for that matter. The corresponding meeting last year produced some strange results and there were apparently a couple of trainers that were not thrilled by the rides dished out by the international luminaries. The team last year was as strong as the 2011 vintage. I see that Italian Umberto Rispoli, who won last year on the Bass’s Pisces Star at 20-1, has not cracked the nod this time round. Neither has the Turk Halis Karatas-not that anybody has ever heard about him on the international stage ever since.
Conversely William Buick has gone from strength to strength in the past year and he would have added a lot of interest. Then Ryan Moore is injured and so is the lovely Hayley Turner. Christophe Soumillon also won’t be coming – he is focusing on the French championship as he apparently needs the money.
But the International team this year is a solid one. We have Irishman Richard Hughes, best known for his exploits aboard Canford Cliffs and recent tabloid staple over the hotly debated whip rules. Jimmy Fortune was here in 2009 and will draw some home team support for having partnered JJ The Jet Plane on his international campaign. Then there is the Frenchman Olivier Peslier, who most of us know best for partnering the incomparable Goldikova. Also included is Irishman Tom Queally, best known as the pilot of the mighty Frankel. And Jamie Spencer is widely regarded as one of the most talented young riders in the UK . The booking of Andrasch Starke is also well timed as he won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on Danedream this year. The legendary Andrew Fortune is the only noteworthy absentee from the Springbok side for me.
There is no question that Gold Circle’s action to save the event and avoid embarrassment is well intended and will probably not cost them anything more than R70 000 in direct expense. That is the stake of a middle of the road handicap race. The question and debate should centre around whether the sport in this country really needs an extravagant jaunt that benefits so few, in reality. It has been argued that this is little more than an all-expenses paid holiday for the participants and the usual connected freeloaders and that the sponsorship could have been well utilized rather towards supporting a local interprovincial championship.
If we look at the absence of any mainstream advertising and exposure around the event, then it is patently obvious that we are going to have our usual captive market on course. And if anybody can explain how the sport at large benefits once the sun sets on Cape Town on Sunday evening and the international jockeys’ jet-plane is a distant speck on the horizon, then please drop us a line and explain it.
