Teething problems and other entertainment distractions aside, the 2013 J&B Met day has received the general thumbs up from stakeholders. With twelve races and two place accumulators on the programme for the first time ever, betting turnovers were satisfactorily up year on year.
Despite sentiment in many quarters that the day was generally quieter and attendance was down rather than up, and more subdued than usual, the yardstick of betting turnover growth gave it a first class pass.
Phumelela’s first Met also came across as a slicker more organised show, with little touches here and there making all the difference. That in spite of the classic comic relief provided by veteran commentator Jehan ‘Travolta’ Malherbe in the final event which was run as the sun started its daily slumber.
Calling the Gr2 J&B Jet Stayers over the round the course route of an arduous 2800m of energy sapping turf, Malherbe quipped dryly: “ I have been commentating for 34 years, and now I am competing with a discotheque!”, in a reference to an upbeat party drone in the background from those obviously unconcerned with matters betting.
Phumelela Sales and On Course Marketing Executive Clyde Basel said that he was thrilled with the day as a whole: “ The numbers provided for attendance was up 15% on last year to 35000 despite competing with other options.”
These alternative options included the Up the Creek music festival, the SA Idols audition at Grand West, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers playing in Johannesburg to a sold out stadium on the same day and the Rugby Tens tournament in Cape Town.
“Add to this the Cape Town Premier Yearling Sale taking place a week earlier, then things look promising and If we can incorporate most of the above into the plan then 2014 looks good!” he said.
The Sunday Times devoted a three quarter page spread to the fashion, but used some poetic licence when suggesting that ‘more than 50 000 people sipped bubbly and cheered on their favourite horses at Kenilworth.’ Sure can’t believe everything one reads in the papers!
Betting turnover on the day was up 10% on the local participation and 15% overall on Saftote, taking international participation into account. Kenilworth on course betting turnover was up 8% from the previous year. But there were 20 percent more races, were there not?
Phumelela Betting Executive Vee Moodley said that he was ‘very happy’ with the net 2nd PA pool of just over R625 000. “The two Quickmix Jackpots on the day included three races from the Met card, which worked well. We can be well pleased with the record breaking turnovers all round,” he said.
There is room for improvement, as always. On the flipside of the coin, the second Place Accumulator, as a groundbreaking event was not communicated to supporting racecard publishers at all.
Many exotic bet punters were also oblivious to the innovation. Such a pity when one considers we do our bit to promote the game. 1500 complimentary Sporting Posts were handed out in the arrivals hall at Cape Town International Airport on Friday, together with our sister publications. And then to top it all, who could possibly have fancied Martial Eagle?
Editor’s note: We regret the inconvenience to Sporting Post readers, who were denied access to last Sunday’s Vaal meeting due to a Computer system problem out of our control at the National Racing Bureau on Tuesday last week. The issue was published with a note on the cover and the fields were posted as usual with free access on our website.
