The curtain comes down this weekend on the Cape’s Sizzling Summer Season with the running of the Grade 3 Chairman’s Cup at Kenilworth. It has been a weirdly wonderful period of horseracing in the Mother City. Some shocking lowpoints courtesy of mortally excusable blunders and the usual verbal toy-toying by the political players, through to some wonderful highlights thanks to top-class horses and great horsemen. Thank heavens, I suppose, that we are likely to remember the scintillating performances of Past Master, What A Winter, Covenant and Ebony Flyer long after the other nonsense – which is surely, all that really matters.
The Sizzling Summer Season has been a real winner in many respects, but what’s changed on the ground? The folk at the helm of horseracing still pay scant attention to the whims and comforts of the bread and butter punter at the grassroots of the game.
The state of the totes, the attitude to the people at the coalface and a general apathy – just consider the ticket pricing debacle at Kenilworth during the two big Group 1 races there. It is, after all, the R1-20 odd take-out from every six bucks wagered from the hard-earned weekly pay of Joe Nobody that goes into the coffers that largely allows the operator to pay stakes of R11 million that attracts the good horses and loyal owners to support a festival like the Sizzling Summer Season. Without Joe’s money the glitz and glamour of this season would cease to be.
The champagne and crowds and beautiful people on a sunny Kenilworth afternoon and the fancy suits… Well it’s all a figment of a poetic imagination without the poor folk’s bread. That’s not to say that the fortunate few fiscally radically well endowed wouldn’t find some other venture into which to channel their passion and cash. But that is besides the point, isn’t it?
HOT STUFF
But I am not going to be negative. The Sizzling Summer Season was a shining success. It is a great racing festival that, in the right hands, should be able to rival anything the world has to offer. We witnessed the arrival of some fantastic horses. What A Winter, Past Master, Ebony Flyer and Covenant. We bid farewell to a legend in Pocket Power.
We had the glamour and professional perfection of the l’Ormarins Queen’s Plate, an event that is a decadent raging success and showing exponential growth of the like not seen in horseracing in this country.
The J&B Met was also a huge success. The 50 000 visitors on course witnessed a victory for a small trainer, an owner of colour and a stallion that has changed the face of horseracing in South Africa.
That’s the stuff of media dreams. Did the industry milk the positivity and the ra-ra aspect? Probably not. We tried rather to denigrate the quality of the Met field. We tried to see spooks in Past Master’s miserable effort in the l’Ormarins Queen’s Plate. We labeled the pace a ‘joke.’ We found fault with Anton Marcus’ half-baked ride on the favourite Mother Russia.
Let’s rather salute Gerrit Schlechter, Hassen Adams and Darryl Hodgson, once more. Gerrit has been around since prior to the rinderpest and while we love to bandy the adjective ‘hardworking’ around in this industry, he qualifies. Goldilocks bloody well deserved the Cape’s ultimate prize. His was a winning performance. Never mind the pace or Anton’s judgement. Race riding is cunning, it’s brute strength and a measure of chess – oh, and of course, the right horse. Hassen Adams is the one racing leader in South Africa who has put his money where his mouth is. He has invested heavily and he is reaping the rewards. He also had the foresight to support the chain-smoking camera shy Darryl Hodgson when others frowned and spewed forth their usual character assassination drivel. Today the experienced Darryl is at the top of his game and cocking a snoot at his detractors.
The lesson? Stop judging. Stop talking. Good will find good and the universe has a unique way of righting the wrongs.
BASS BOMBS
The season scorecard, for the record, shows a remarkable imbalance and yet a fair spread of power amongst the giants and mortals. Mike Bass doesn’t train Guineas winners but hell, he seems to find everything else. The wily Milnerton-based horseman grabbed the training honours winning six of the 22 feature races on offer. His tally included two Grade 1’s and four Grade 2’s.
The young pretender Justin Snaith was close behind. He won more Grade 1’s than Mike – three, to be precise and won two Grade 2’s.
Darryl Hodgson was next in line with the big prize of the Met and a Group 2.
Stephen Page kept the flag flying for the non-Milnerton small yards, with a Grade 2 and a Grade 3 win.
Riaan Van Reenen kept the geographics balanced with another prize for Phillipi, while Joey Ramsden, Greg Ennion, Vaughan Marshall and Yogas Govender grabbed a feature apiece. The Mayor of Meydan, Mike de Kock, was, not unexpectedly, the only visitor to even smell a bit of the heat – he picked up the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate Grade 1 prize with the sensational Mother Russia.
In the saddle, the rejuvenated war veteran Karl Neisius rode his younger colleagues to sleep – with two Grade 1’s and four Grade 2 wins. Heavyweight Bernard Fayd’Herbe wasn’t far behind with two Grade 1’s and two Grade 2’s. Gerrit Schlechter, as mentioned, rode the Met winner and also won the Grade 2 Diadem on Past Master. Recently returned from Mauritius, Richard Fourie rode two Grade 2 winners – both for Stephen Page. Glen Hatt rode a Grade 2 and a Grade 3 winner, while Felix Coetzee and Aldo Domeyer picked up a Grade 1 and Grade 3 respectively. Of the upcountry based jockeys. Anton Marcus and Marthinus Mienie picked up a Grade 1 each, while Anthony Delpech won a Grade 2 race.
REMEDY
Reflecting back, there are a few issues that need attention to make next season’s Sizzler even hotter. The general publicity around the season was good and Andrew Harrison’s Racegoer team deserve particular credit here. The David Thiselton Met build-up coverage was top drawer and Michael Clower’s interesting pieces kept us informed.
The marketing of the festival could be better, though. There was no pre-hype and the publicity blurb declares the season runs from November to January. Did somebody forget about February and the Grade 3 Riverworld Prix Du Cap and this weekend’s Chairman’s Cup?
The Met gallops were reintroduced and this was another positive step. In a fortnight saturated with entertainment, we will hopefully see a comprehensive buy in by all trainers in 2012. Then the general technical production in respect of the sound and some of the camerawork at Kenilworth is not up to scratch. Compare the production quality with KwaZulu-Natal and the Cape runs a dirty third. Stan Elley on his own is top-class but he alone cannot turn the mediocrity of the raceday and preview programmes. This should be easily rectified.
The J&B Met day Supersport broadcast was a damp squib. Stop patronizing outsiders and give the locals who know the game here intimately a break. Use the SABC to get to the masses on the ground rather than an elitist pay channel. A horse ran in the J&B Met with his hood on. That is just not acceptable. But didn’t the starter lean on the ‘go’ button last year? Accidents do happen and big day nerves are a reality – to err is human, I suppose. I’ll second that.
All told, the winds of change are blowing at gale force. I hear that Kenilworth will soon bid farewell to caterer Salvatore Bassi. He and his lovely daughter Micaela are an institution in Cape racing and have been part of the furniture for over 30 years, if memory serves me correctly. Whether you loved their food or not, they will be missed. And does this signal that 2011 will be the year of change? Who knows?
