After the wonderful highlight of a Graded race feast on Saturday afternoon at Scottsville, we were subjected on Sunday to a frustrating technical error-riddled broadcast from Kenilworth and the extraordinarily amateurish circus that is Ngong. How on earth anybody allows this drivel to be broadcast week after week defies logic and reason and surely somebody with some backbone needs to set minimum standards for the East African country, who by the looks of it should be sticking to producing tea and coffee rather than organising race meetings.
Preposterous. That is how Shaheen Shaw aptly described the twenty odd minutes lull that it took to load the six or seven runners for the Ngong sixth race on Sunday . There was little explanation forthcoming or apparent visible reason why they just took their bloody time. When they eventually jumped the commentator said very little about the delay but chose rather to make some corny comment about a horse called Immaculate. The picture quality is also shocking and the general average jockey’s seat on their mounts looks like something out of Racing Stripes or a Carry On movie. To add insult to injury, the rider of the favourite in the race that I watched lost his stirrup irons halfway down the straight and swerved all over the track before running third. I know that South Africa supports Ngong for humanitarian and developmental reasons but why they are not subjected to certain minimum standards in terms of basics like adherence to off-times and camerawork to mention just two items is extremely disturbing and worrying. It really cannot do the image of the sport any good and is a sub-standard addition to our afternoon menu.
On the flip-side of the coin, the Saturday afternoon Sprint Festival at Scottsville was top-class fare of the highest order and the overall impression from the quality of the racing to the broadcast product was in a different league. Val De Ra was sensational and I saw a beaming Pippa Mickleburgh leading in her darling after an embarrassingly easy win in a race that left a few dented reputations and broken hearts in her wake. Maybe America next ? The thought boggles the mind and she could show the Yanks a thing or two yet! It was a great weekend for Pippa and the Avontuur gang as they also had a brace of Var winners and bred the winner of Sunday’s Grade 3 Winter Classic. Chesalon looks right on track for the J&B Met at this stage and is a fast improving three year old The Mike Bass-trained Chesalon is on the upgrade and must be the most improved horse in training. He looks on track for a tilt at the J&B Met at this early stage.
As suggested last week in these pages, Glen Kotzen pulled a Grade 1 rabbit out of the bag – as he usually does – with the obviously talented Princess Victoria who slammed her illustrious rivals in the Allan Roberston Fillies Championship – in a faster time than her undefeated male contemporary Delago Deluxe in the colts event, the Tsogo Sun Maverick Medallion, which followed. Andrew Fortune, who just two weeks earlier nastily called a Kotzen horse he had just piloted to victory, a cockroach, was generous in his praise of Princess Victoria , who he called ‘all power’ and said that she was the best two year old filly he had ever sat on. This is quite a statement and she looks brilliant with plenty of scope to stay a mile in time to come. The race was a triumph for the ill-fated Victory Moon who also sired the third horse and for Maine Chance who bred the first and third horses.
Sunday’s sponsored day at Kenilworth was spoilt by broken pictures and a punctuated broadcast that was both frustrating for the couch potato brigade, tote punters and I am sure the sponsors- who really made a great effort with their shoe vouchers giveaway. I would have had more luck hooking up with Shakira than Kenilworth did with the Rivonia studios and it is high time these technical issues were resolved at the Southern Suburbs venue. Watching races from behind is an absolute bummer and hardly adds to the enjoyments. But back to the sponsors – their lovely representative Juanita was a great sport and it could not have been easy spending a cold winter’s day kissing trainers and jockeys . Her rapport and interaction with on-course presenter Grant Knowles was entertaining and fun too. Just a pity the sponsors got a rough deal on the exposure front and hopefully Gold Circle will make it up to them in some manner or means.
Bravo Jim
Well done Jimmy! It was refreshing to hear a Tellytrack presenter putting himself on the line at the Vaal last Tuesday. Following the canter down for the fifth race of the afternoon, Jimmy Lithgow cautioned punters that the 4-10 favourite Soul Master had not impressed a ‘person who should know’ who indicated that ‘ he had looked a little uncomfortable behind.’ Speaking like that on the hand of a popular best bet on the card ridden by a top jockey and from one of Gauteng’s top stables, took more courage than people may realise. This particularly in an environment where we are so used to smoke blowing and nonsensical syrupy gush spewed forth by the presenters in currying favour from all and sundry. Good on you Jim.
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Legal Eagle Lilley
Assistant Trainer and former heavyweight jockey David Lilley says that, in spite of his forty years commitment to horseracing and his own love of the game, that he ‘would never encourage my children to follow the same path that I did…’ David and his wife of twenty four years, Glendyr , proudly attended the University Of South Africa graduation ceremony on Saturday where their 23 year old son Brandyn received his LLB Cum Laude . He will practise Law and has already been allocated to do his articles at a leading national law firm.
A proud David, described by his boss Dean Kannemeyer as the best assistant trainer in the country, is a nephew of the well-known former trainer and bloodstock man Colin Palm, and has been General Manager in the Kannemeyer yard for over thirty years. He said on Monday that he was ‘extremely chuffed and pleased’ with his only child’s achievement and laughingly acknowledged that Brandon obviously took after his mother’s side of the family. He said his son, a first team hockey star at school, had ‘no interest’ in horses and had probably been to the Kannemeyer yard once in three decades – and that was to help his Dad with a flat tyre. David’s wife Glendyr (nee Leyde) is a talented horsewoman herself having won many of the Ladies Races run in the seventies and eighties and also worked for Eric Sands and Piet Steyn.
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Dog- Gone!
Quip of the week from Tellytrack presenter Shaheen Shaw as he sat down to commence his shift last Wednesday afternoon after the formless Monsieur Jay had won the first leg of the Durbanville Pick 6 at 80-1: “ I was watching that race at home and was stunned by that result. I got up and went outside and fed my Computaform to my dog…”. Well said Shaheen!
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Getting Me Started
The issue of horses and problems at the start has to be addressed by the operators and the NHRA before we have a riot. Last Tuesday night’s Greyville meeting was an example. In the first race the well named Rockokoko broke through the gates, turned around and then jumped the tape as the handlers looked feebly on. Not only are the punters affected but think of the owner who pays his keep, books a dinner table and gets excited. It is just not good enough. Then the well-backed favourite Buragh in the seventh race burst through and was restrained by his rider – only to reload and never show. Cold blood – not good enough and these are just a few examples this past week.
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Real Winner
Paul Lafferty and James Goodman’s Winning Ways show is streets ahead of anything on Tellytrack and they and Raymond Rogers deserve a pat on the back for top class entertainment. The recipe just works so well – knowledgeable, down to earth racing guys speaking our language. Give them another slot please Tellytrack!
