Futura – Made Different
Is it loyalty? Is it friendship? Is it love for a special horse? Or are some heroes just simply ‘made different’?
3rd February 2015
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Sporting Post columnists share their opinions and insights into horse racing from South Africa and around the world. They are experts who have a deep understanding of the sport of kings, enjoy their thoughtful and fresh articles.
Is it loyalty? Is it friendship? Is it love for a special horse? Or are some heroes just simply ‘made different’?
Met Day is a challenge between the 88 place accumulator runners carded and myself – and, bar a few mishaps, I am feeling quite invincible
in order for anybody to want to get involved in the challenge of becoming a racehorse owner, the sport must be worthy enough of the owners’ support. Few prospects for racehorse ownership want to be involved in a sport that is perceived by the public to have cooties.
In 2005 Alastor won for Sean Tarry – to quote a household name in Jockey Garth Puller: “When the bookies saw the age of the horse, they priced him 25-1.When they saw the age of the jockey,they doubled it to 50-1!”
We are now dealing with proper breeding stock, sired by proper sires, which makes it that much more difficult to choose and also that much more expensive, says Joey Ramsden
A champion sire, leading sire of sires and champion broodmare sire, Fort Wood’s influence should be felt in the South African stud book for generations to come.
I confess I was not entirely convinced by the big brash sale to begin with, but it seems air-conditioning and a decent plate of sushi do work at horse sales after all!
Justice had been served since, after winning the Gold Cup in 1962, Speciality had run close seconds in the July, the Queen’s Plate and the Met in which he ran 5th 2 ½ lengths behind The Giant in 1964. It was as one paper put it, “Third Time Lucky”.
There are critics who feel the Mr Prospector male line has not been effective in South Africa but is this true? Sarah Whitelaw investigates.
These are GREAT stories. They are funny and tragic and inspiring and dramatic. These are our stories and this is our heritage and perhaps what makes it all the more special is that it is our people, and our horses, bringing them back to life for a whole new audience to enjoy.
It will be good news for South African racing fans that, despite a number of offers from abroad, Gerald and Karen Kalil’s multiple champion Quid Pro Quo will continue her 3yo season on African soil
Former SA Champion jockey Andrew Fortune’s six month quest to be relicenced to ride again reaches something of a watershed
The Ridgemont’s Kieswetter and Drakenstein’s Rupert families are major players in our horseracing and the Monmouth Park feature thus held more than a passing interest for many of us
