Saturday’s L’Ormarins King’s Plate jockey engagements have been impacted upon by three unfortunate independent fall incidents at the Vaal on Tuesday 31 December 2024.
The final SA racemeeting of the year was probably doomed to controversy from the get go, with the no show of the contracted ambulance and paramedics leading to a delay of the first race from the scheduled 12h50 to 14h15.
Besides the frustration and aggravation for local stakeholders, this obviously does nothing for the image of SA racing on the global stage and perceptions of bungling, whether accurate or not, are formed quickly. A variety of Sporting Post readers have expressed their disillusionment on this platform.
The ambulance aggravation aside, three jockeys were involved in independent falls, with at least two of them losing out on a prized L’Ormarins King’s Plate ride on Saturday.
Calvin Habib sadly lost his chance to partner Betway Summer Cup winner Atticus Finch when his mount Paisley Park stumbled, fell and dislodged him in the pull-up of the third race. Habib suffered a fractured clavicle and will undergo surgery on Thursday morning. This could mean that he is likely to be out for six weeks.
Raymond Danielson gets the chance to register his first success and will ride Alec Laird’s 5yo.
In the pull-up area of the very next race, Elembee stumbled badly and dislodged Craig Zackey.
Zackey was attended to on course by the paramedics and transported to the medical centre for observation. The national log-leading jockey is carded to ride Gimme A Prince for Dean Kannemeyer in the King’s Plate, and he is likely to fulfill the engagement.
It hardly came as a surprise that after the second horse stumbled and dislodged its Jockey in the pull-up area in a short space of time, concerns were raised with regards to this area of the track, which resulted in a track inspection by Officials, Jockeys, Veterinary Surgeons and the Course Manager. A unanimous decision was taken to continue racing.
Shortly after the start of the fifth race, Mary Read stumbled badly and dislodged Piere Strydom, who was attended to on course by the paramedics and transported to the medical centre for further observation. He was subsequently transported to hospital for further examination.
Piere Strydom – disappointed and a great pity (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
A disappointed Striker told the Sporting Post on Wednesday that he had suffered bruising and received stitches, and was very stiff and sore all over his body.
He indicated that he will not be riding See It Again in the L’Ormarins King’s Plate, a race he last won in 2012 on Gimmethegreenlight.
This could well see the very capable Rachel Venniker being called up to partner the son of Twice Over, although this was not confirmed at time of writing.
After the running of the Vaal fifth on Tuesday, following the occurrence of a third horse stumbling and dislodging a rider, albeit on different parts of the course, the jockeys expressed an unwillingness to continue racing, citing the length of the grass as their main concern.
It followed that races 6 and 7 were abandoned, but 4Racing officials confirmed that the grass length in the pull-up area (105mm) was consistent with the rest of the track, which was prepared in accordance with standard operating procedures.
A 4Racing statement said that they remained confident that the track was in a raceable and good condition.
