Seemingly always on the back foot, but not quite scoring the boundaries. That’s the battered child of horseracing in any average week. The latest issue of Finweek magazine calls it the Sport Of Rogues, while Gold Circle Racing Director Graeme Hawkins has acknowledged that pleasing all of the people all of the time is ‘impossible.’
Always in a cold sweat and on the run with a fire-hose in one hand and a jar of honey and a slab of butter in the other. Those are the essential protective tools of the trade of our much maligned horseracing leaders who somehow can do little right in their quest to appease and satisfy the varied interest groups in this sport – or game or industry – whichever label suits. I have probably done my own little bit at times to add to their stresses, so it certainly means something when men like Graeme Hawkins are prepared to rise above petty personal egos and politics and talk to the independent media and offer clarity. It’s a tough job being a leader in racing – as when not kissing ugly political rear-ends, they are smearing honey on media mouths, buttering up the fiscal fatcats and putting out the sporadic fires amongst their supporters.
In these pages last week I questioned the desirability and benefits of the Citizen International Jockeys’ Test held this past weekend. I will say it again – it was, in my personal opinion, an overall inappropriate waste of resources and focus in a trying climate and where so many other needs exist. According to Phumelela, and as quoted in the Finweek article ‘Cashing In On The Sport of Rogues’ of 10 November, this industry sustains 16000 jobs. I will suggest that 30 % of that very work-force live in relative poverty. And if that doesn’t make you think, then chew and swallow on the alarming statistic that a human being dies of hunger every 3, 6 seconds somewhere on Mother Earth.
I must concede though that as an entertainment spectacle the International Jockey Test was an undoubted success. I swung from a personal decision to boycott it, to ending up watching it and actually enjoying and admiring the style and talent of the likes of Jamie Spencer and Jimmy Fortune. Judging purely from the Tellytrack picture, the public crowd around the perimeter of the parade-ring at Kenilworth was also seemingly larger than the connected crowd within the hallowed paddock. The blaze of colour of the international silks and flags, the emotional melodic strains of the various anthems and the presence of some of the world’s top jockeys added spice and interest, in spite of some curved ball riding tactics on fancied runners which compounded punter woes.
So that was quite a turnaround after the negative publicity generated by the initial lack of support by the Western Cape trainers for the second leg race-meeting. The dearth of runners was overcome by Gold Circle introducing an incentive and reopening acceptances for the race-meeting. And their crisis call certainly worked! But what actually happened in that build-up period?
I approached both the WPOTA and Gold Circle for a response. While WPOTA reacted with an uncharacteristically terse ‘No Comment’, Gold Circle Racing Director, Graeme Hawkins was most transparently obliging and forthcoming:” The challenge that Gold Circle faced after the initial disappointing declarations for the International races on 13 November, was to make every effort to rescue the situation and ensure a competitive day’s racing, following which a full debrief could be held to evaluate future direction. This we did by introducing certain added benefits and also by adding an extra race at the eleventh hour and I am pleased that the day went off as well as it did. Our last-minute mission was to cater for the Competition’s needs and to provide the Springboks and the Internationals with full fields, without at that late stage trying to analyse what went wrong or where the resistance, if any, was originating. I was certainly not aware that trainers were opposed to the concept of the Jockey’s International but I do understand that the racing programme on the day (i.e. higher merit rated handicaps) was perhaps not conducive to attracting big fields, notwithstanding that there were more than enough entries for each. The fact of the matter is that following on from last year’s event, the International riders requested that the programme cater for a better class of horse rather than the lower MR Handicaps which we know are likely to deliver bigger fields.”
When taxed on the merits of holding an event of this magnitude and cost, Hawkins was equally direct: “I guess there will always be differing points of view regarding the merits or otherwise of going to the expense of staging of what has now become the annual Jockeys International during the course of November each year and just how the event impacts on other stake-holders. There can be no doubting though that South Africa has become very much a part of the World Racing Community and that in many areas (horses; jockeys; trainers; officials etc) South Africa has much to be proud of. For reasons well known to us all, we are precluded from staging races designed to attract international competition as far as the horses themselves are concerned. Thankfully many owners purchase yearlings from International Sales around the world and this affords us the opportunity of seeing SA Bred horses competing against some of the best bred imported horses on a regular basis, which does add a lot of spice and variety to our racing here in South Africa.This also provides us with a valuable yardstick by which to measure our bloodstock.”
Hawkins went on to say that given, the fact we cannot stage International “horse” Races, it made sense for us to celebrate our involvement on the world stage by inviting the best riders from around the world to compete against the best of our own. He added that there was no doubt in his mind that the Bull Brand International Race Meeting staged at Scottsville Race Course many years ago captured the imagination of the racing public. “Obviously way back then we did not get to see these top jockeys in action on a regular basis as we do now via our television screens. We are, I guess, to some extent spoilt by the fact that nowadays Tellytrack covers all the major Racing Festivals and we consistently get to share in the excitement of seeing Messrs Dettori; Moore; Peslier; Soumillon; Hughes; Spencer et al do battle for the major prizes around the world.”
He closed by asking the question whether those who fail to support the Jockeys International in South Africa, are not indicative of a case of “familiarity breeds contempt” and not fully appreciate of these top sportsmens’ ‘live’ presence in South Africa?
Fair comment.
Thank-you Graeme.
Finweek Article
Rather dramatically entitled ‘Cashing In On The Sport Of Rogues’ and written by journalist Marc Ashton, the 10 November Finweek article adds impetus to the lobby and notion that horseracing in South Africa needs to put on a unified front these trying times. The sport is currently under the spotlight on an almost weekly basis and now is the time for Phumelela and Gold Circle to jointly employ a PR professional and an image consultant. Let’ face it newspapers and magazines sell on sensation, and as it is every second person we meet views this as a corrupt, crooked sport run by a bunch of delinquents.
The article in question doesn’t tell us anything new but opens by suggesting that ‘One will never argue that the business of sinning can be incredibly profitable.’ It touches on an industry shake-up and the recent Parliamentary hearings and also on the much debated rejection of the Purple Capital offer by Gold Circle. Phumelela CEO Rian Du Plessis also calls for the Totalisator to be regulated on a national rather than provincial basis.
Time is running out. The reactionary arrogance of the past few decades needs to be replaced by a refreshing proactive open door. Having the media on side actually means more than dishing out a few selective lunch vouchers.
Next Time, A Taxi?
Well-known racehorse owner and breeder Alec Hogg and his wife Jet have some revised sobering views of air travel in South Africa. The couple were flying from OR Tambo to Pietermaritzburg on an Airlink Flight on Thursday, when the pilot was forced to return to OR Tambo and executed a frightening crash-landing that included real smoke, burning rubber and all the sound effects. This was after circling the airport for what felt like an eternity.
The 50 year old Hogg is well known in journalism circles in SA as a writer, editor, broadcaster, columnist and publisher. An award-winning journalist, Hogg is the youngest ever winner of the country’s Financial Reporter of the Year Award way back in 1983. He also founded and published the country’s first weekly horseracing magazine, Racing Digest, which was eventually absorbed into the CTP publishing group. Hogg is the Chief Executive of the JSE listed media company Moneyweb and is the regular host of South Africa’s premier business radio programme, Classic Business, which is broadcast in prime-time every weekday evening.
Read all about his frightening experience with some fascinating video footage on www.alechogg.com.
