Farewell To The Iron Lady
One of South Africa’s great lady trainers of the 20th century, the no-nonsense champion Jean Barnard Heming passed away at her home in England on Friday evening
One of South Africa’s great lady trainers of the 20th century, the no-nonsense champion Jean Barnard Heming passed away at her home in England on Friday evening
The racing world I knew and wrote about is no longer there. Racing is turning into a brand new thing. It’s becoming a niche industry geared to the big breeders, the big owners and the big trainers.
1993 blows out with Volume 4 of the Racing Record, a new chairman for Durban Turf Club and a proposal to merge Milnerton and Kenilworth approved unopposed. A Little Ballerina wins the Cape Guineas, Marla causes an upset in the Sceptre Stakes and Jean Heming is shot in a vicious attack. TAB Transvaal introduces the Superfecta and Take A Walk wins the Queen’s Plate for David Payne, pushing him R1 million ahead of his nearest rival on the trainers’ log.
Abroad, absent-minded jockey Desormeaux costs Kotashaan the Japan Cup, Basil Marcus extends his lead on the Hong Kong jockey table by winning the first leg of the Hong Kong Triple Crown aboard River Verdon, while Robbie Fradd is crowned Mauritius champion jockey. Coolmore announce that Sadler’s Wells stud fee has increased to IR100.000 guineas. The British Jockey Association launches the first Jockey Championship and Wolverhampton stages the first race meeting under lights.
Get the full story as told by those who watched every stride, as well as Richard Fourie’s personal insights of the season in his own words
The seven-time Hong Kong Champion Jockey reached the 1814-win milestone with a double at the city circuit to edge past the long-standing mark of 1813 wins set by the legendary Douglas Whyte
A dual Grade 1 winner and South Africa’s highest rated racehorse, the Vaughan Marshall trained One Stripe will campaign in a partnership of Hollywood Racing and Rikesh Sewgoolam
A seasoned racing fan writes that in the zone between 15 and 3 minutes before the official race time, nobody is interested in listening to the personal fancies and various constructions of the presenters’ exotic permutations