Phumelela’s Patrick Davis
A dispute over occupation of stables at Phumelela Gaming & Leisure’s Randjesfontein Training Centre has been resolved by a court order.
In terms of the order, Trainer Kumaran Naidoo has agreed to vacate stables he has been using at the centre by 15 November 2013. He has also agreed to withdraw all allegations of racial impropriety made against Phumelela during a wrangle over use of the stables in the past few weeks.
For its part, Phumelela has agreed to not block Naidoo from nominating and running horses in its area of jurisdiction.
The order, made on August 20 by Judge Victor in the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg, states that if Naidoo fails to vacate the premises at Randjesfontein by 15 November the sheriff of the court is authorised to eject him from the property.
The dispute arose after Naidoo was found to be unlawfully sub-letting stables from another trainer at the centre. When Phumelela requested Naidoo to vacate the stables he failed to do so. Phumelela then refused to accept Naidoo’s nominations of horses for races, as he was not complying with its racing and training centre regulations.
Naidoo applied to the High Court to have this block on nominations lifted. He and the respondent, Phumelela, then settled the matter with the agreed court order.
Patrick Davis, Phumelela’s Racing Executive, said the racing operator was pleased the matter had been settled by agreement and that all allegations of racial impropriety had been unconditionally withdrawn.
“We have a long waiting list of trainers for boxes at our training centres and cannot effectively have someone jumping the queue,” he added.
The Randjesfontein Training Centre was in the news earlier this week, when a fire reportedly engulfed the Clubhouse early on Tuesday morning.
