20 Years Ago: Sands Of Time – October 1992

SEPTEMBER 28 – OCTOBER 4

 

Doug Whyte rides five winners on the card at Scottsville, including four legs of the Pick Six. On the same day the maiden Charlotte Corday is backed from 10/1 to 15/10 on her return from a seven month lay-off. She wins by 4 lengths.

Mordaunt Milner Stud stages a complete dispersal sale. The stud boasts a rich history as the birthplace of Man of Property, Serina, Avila, Windjammer, King Charles, Off The Hook. Top price is R18.000 paid for Crowned Roller, a yearling colt by Roland Gardens out of SA Fillies sprint winner Marsh Harrier. Crowned Roller is a National Sale entry and might make for a quick profit.

The studfarm will remain in business purely as a boarding establishment.

 

At Arlington an unusual incident takes place, which is described in the Stipes report: “At app. the 700m mark Spanish Filly struck the rail, forcing it inwards. The rail subsequently bounced back and in doing so hampered Electric Supreme, causing him to become unbalanced”.

Computaform describes the incident as follows: “Electric Supreme – hampered by rail”.

 

Transvaal trainer Alec Laird scores a fairy-tale double in the OK Silver and Gold Bowl. Laird-trained Argyle Arms wins the Silver Bowl at Newmarket, followed two days later by his stable companion Proud Pilgrim, who leaves no doubts in the R750.000 Gr1 OK Gold Bowl, run over 3200m at Turffontein. Race favourite Commanche Run finishes tailed off.

Quips OK’s Gordon Hood at the Gold Bowl presentation: “When you play the Pick Six with Eric Gallo, you ask ‘How many times did we win it?’ – and then in the same breath you ask ‘How much did we lose?'”.

Despite such lighthearted banter, rumour has it that OK will not be renewing its sponsorship of the race in 1993.

 

The R100.000 Fillies and Mares Stakes is won by Lemon And Lime, on disqualification of winner Spanish Brook, who ends up in fourth.

User Friendly fails by a head to win the $1.5 million Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe run at Longchamp, and loses her unbeaten tag after six victories. The race is won by French filly Subotica.

On the same afternoon Arazi scores a six length win in the Gr2 Prix du Rond-Point.

 

 

OCTOBER 5 – 11

 

Chris Smith Bloodstock’s Ready-to-Run Sale takes place at Gosforth Park, in blistering heat. Two-year-old colt Northern Tamer, half brother to Sizzling Sun, sets the top price of R75.000. Average price for the 150 lots sold is R12.000.

 

Bill Clinton and Al Gore take part in a make-or-break debate on American tv. They are dressed in jeans and do not wear ties. That would be enough at any South African racecourse to be refused entry to anything but the commonest enclosure.

If you’d ever wondered why people don’t come to the races anymore, try objections to casual dress as a symptomatic reason!

 

An official Jockey Club inquiry is opened into charges of betting by senior turfclub officials in the Transvaal (raceclub stewards are allowed to bet, but the people who work for the raceclubs are not).

There are rumours that the cause of recent drop in turnover on the Rand is that those senior officials have now stopped betting …

 

Dam Yankee wins the R100.000 Natal Breeders Championship over 1800m at Scottsville. The horse had finished fourth in the two previous legs of what is regarded as the Natal Breeders Triple Crown.

 

Averof’s Loot increases his earnings to over R300.000 when winning the R150.000 Gr2 Keith Hepburn Stakes over 1400m at Turffontein. The Payne-trained gelding has an interesting pedigree, as his sire’s sire Sing Sing and his dam’s sire Contraband are closely related. Sing Sing is by a great-grandson of Hyperion out of the mare Agin the Law, while Contraband is by a grandson of Hyperion out of Agin the Law.

 

Little escapes the notice of the Stipes in the Transvaal. Their report on the ninth event at Turffontein notes “Quick Relief pulling hard in the early stages, difficult to restrain”.

 

Clairwood Turf Club announces reductions in stakes for over half of its feature races for 1993. Biggest reduction is for the Derby, which sees its stake cut from R1 million to R750.000.

 

In Australia, the Victoria Racing Club suffered a loss in its most recent financial year. The Club’s major source of income, derived from off course betting, fell $2 million to just over $9 million. The Victoria Racing Club, together with the Australian Jockey Club which regulates racing in New South Wales, is the most important and powerful club in Australia. The Victoria Club is the home of the Melbourne Cup.

A worry to racing officials is that Victoria state now has “gambling machines” in opposition to racing and within the next two years will have legal casinos. When casinos were introduced in Perth (W-Australia) and Adelaide (S-Australia) three years ago, there was a 33% (short term) downfall across the board for all racing revenue in those states.

 

Former Zimbabwean trainer Robin Smith settles in Natal at the Natal Training Centre (formerly Nottingham Stud). The centre can cater for 50 horses, has a 1400m sand track and access to a 2100m grass and sand track.

 

OCTOBER 12 – 18

 

Jockeys Gary Waterston and Freddie Macaskill fall foul of the Mauritian racing authorities. Both are fined and suspended for a period of three months, after being found guilty for not giving their mounts full opportunity to achieve the best possible placing.

The penalties are enforcable in South Africa.

 

British sales company Tattersall reaches agreement with British government on VAT. It looked at one stage as if the sales company had been forced to abandon its yearly sales at Newmarket in favour of an Irish venue, because of very large discrepancies in VAT on horses between Ireland and the UK.

Michael Watt, Tattersall chairman since 1982, is set to retire soon when he turn 60. He will be succeeded by Edmond Mahony, 32, currently joint MD of the Newmarket based sales company.

 

Natal filly Please Be True holds off Grey Angel in the R300.000 Gr1 Fillies & Mares Challenge run over a mile at Gosforth Park.

 

OCTOBER 19 – 25

 

The “Mick & Vic” show hits Newmarket, UK, when Mick Goss and Vic Schafer lead a South African delegation to sell “owning a racehorse in South Africa”.

The message is clear: for a fifth of what the cost is at home, British owners can own and keep a horse in South Africa. And prize money is better, too.

There’s Arab interest, too, and one of their managers will visit SA on a recce in January.

 

Michael Roberts becomes only the fifth rider in British history to ride 200 winners in a season. The former SA champion joins Fred Archer, Tommy Loates, Gordon Richards and Pat Eddery. Roberts is set take the British jockey title from Eddery this season.

 

“See how they run”, a new TV magazine on racing sees the light of day, broadcasting every Thursday, Friday and Saturday on the TSS channel. Initially the channel gets it times mixed up, and viewers are left in the lurch. But teething problems are overcome, and the new service should be a significant contribution in the promotion of racing if handled properly.

 

Dust clouds, originating from nearby mine dumps, make it impossible for the course commentator to call the first two races at Gosforth Park, as it impossible to see the runners in the early stages of the races.

The dust settles somewhat for the running of the feature event, which is won in impressive fashion by Gale Rising, who wins his fifth start in a row. The colt will now be aimed at several Cape features, including the Guineas.

 

 

OCTOBER 26 – NOVEMBER 1

 

In Britain former jockey and trainer Dermot Browne is banned for 10 years on being found guilty of selling information to a bookmaker. In 1990 (!) Brown had passed information on 3 horses to bookie David Aarons. All three were beaten.

Browne’s license was withdrawn two years ago because he had insufficient horses in his yard. Browne was since declared bankrupt.

For the bookmaker, of course, it’s business as usual.

 

Tony Barnes (49) takes up the appointment of Chief Executive of the Jockey Club. Current GM George Morrison will stay on as a consultant until 1994. Barnes is quoted as saying that while he has no previous association with horses or racing, he and his wife particularly enjoyed the occasions when they attended race-meetings as guests.

 

The British entry for the Breeders Cup comes close to being eliminated when the DC8 carrying 18 horses hits a severe tropical storm. On board are 30 staff and the equine elite of British racing, including Derby winner Dr Devious and Rodrigo de Triano. All are thrown as the plane plummets 120m, before sharply rising again on hot air. Most horses escape with minor cuts and bruises, but on arrival at the Gulfstream Park track are said to be subdued and off their food.

 

The Melbourne Cup, worth AUS$2 million, is won by four-year-old grey Subzero (4/1) who scores a convincing win in the 3200m race. He beats 9/4 favourite Vandercross (NZ) by almost 2 lengths in very wet conditions. Subzero’s trainer Leo Freedman completes a tremendous treble, as he had earlier won the AUS$1 million Caulfield Cup and AUS$1.75 million WS Cox Plate during Melbourne’s Spring Festival. All three races in the trainer’s treble were Gr1 events.

Subzero, who answers to the name of “submarine” in his stable because of his preference for muddy conditions, has a chronic back problem which has to be worked on each morning to get him mobile. Subzero also has a hole over his left eye and races in one-eyed, black blinkers that make him look like a pirate. Until he joined the stable of Freedman, Subzero was a rogue with a will of his own who just refused to fit into the equine society. Freedman sought out jockey Greg Hall (locally known as “the enforcer”) to help him straighten out the horse.

Subzero’s time in the Cup was the slowest since 1976.

 

Still at Flemington, the stallion Nassipour (Blushing Groom – Alama by Aureole, and a half brother to stallion Nishapour, locally the sire of Mr Eats) has his fifth Gr1 winner from his first two crops when Redding wins the Gr1 Victoria Derby in the mud. Redding is a maiden when he wins the classic.

 

In the Gr2 Computaform Stakes, run at WFA over a mile at Kenilworth, 10/1 shot Flying Catch comes with a late run to catch his stable companion The Decorator (2/1) and wins going away.

At Gosforth Park the filly Blushing Star runs the 1000m of the R100.000 Gosforth Park Sprint handicap in 55.6 seconds, which makes her the fastest filly in the land.

Winners of the English Derby, the Arc, and the apparently revived wonder horse Arazi lead the strongest ever European challenge to US supremacy at the Breeders Cup. For the first time since the Breeders Cup inception in 1984 European horses take part in all seven Cup races, which carry combined prizemoney of $10 million.

Major event on the card, the $3 million Breeders Cup Classic, is won by AP Indy, whose dam is a half sister to SA stallion Al Mufti.

There’s real drama when Lester Piggot’s horse breaks a leg in the Sprint and throws the champion jockey. Piggot fractures a collarbone and several ribs and is kept in intensive care for several days.

None of the European runners manages to win a race for only the second time in nine years. And Arazi, favourite for the Breeders Cup Mile flops again and finishes 11th.

An amount of $76 million is wagered on the 1992 Breeders Cup, up $9 million on the previous record, and an increase of 13% on last year. $10 million of the amount comes from 45.000 on-track punters at Gulfstream Park.