Gold Circle and Hollywoodbets have announced that in an exciting change, beginning 1 December 2019 and on a trial basis for 3 months, the carded horse number will reflect the barrier draw of the horse for all races in KwaZulu-Natal.
In a change from the traditional top-weight-down, or alphabetical order, horses will now be carded according to barrier positions, regardless of the allocated weights.
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Whilst this breaks with the traditional system used to allocate card numbers in South African racing, it will serve the purpose of making it easier for newcomers and racing fans in general to follow their selections from the saddle cloth number and standardised saddle cloth colour, through to the starting stalls where the number and colour will be clearly displayed.
Reserve runners will no longer be allocated a barrier draw, but should there be a scratching, the reserve will automatically take up the barrier of the scratched horse that it replaces.
“This move aligns our racing with international standards currently used in the USA and South America, and will make our KZN product more attractive to international racing punters, which in turn will increase turnovers in commingled pools”, said Raf Sheik, Racing Executive of Gold Circle.
Brand and Communications Manager for Hollywoodbets, Devin Heffer, added: “As partners with Gold Circle, this is another joint initiative to differentiate KZN Racing, to generate interest and provide something new to our current racegoers, and make racing brighter, easier to follow and more appealing to newcomers to our wonderful sport. This trial period will run in conjunction with the Hollywoodbets Sizzling Summer Challenge, details of which will be released soon.”
- Press release by Gold Circle on 21 November 2019
