Well, I’ve had quite an interesting weekend!
I popped out early on Saturday morning to prep a horse for a show and was perched on a bucket with a mouth full of plaiting elastics when my phone rang. I received some unexpected airtime on Tellytrack’s Under Starters Orders programme hosted by Shaheen Shaw. Mr Larry Wainstein was the studio guest invited to discuss the forthcoming Jockey Challenge.
For those who missed the live version, the footage is also available on Youtube (Larry Weinstein on Under Starters Orders regarding International Jockey’s Challenge).
If you’ll allow me a quick horse psychology analogy – horses are flight animals and will usually seek to avoid conflict at all costs. However, when they feel their options are exhausted, they will retaliate in order to defend themselves. As Mr Wainstein alludes in his interview, I have been involved in this matter for some time now. However, I’ve refrained from saying anything in my column or anywhere else that might affect the challenge while discussions have been on-going. However, as Mr Wainstein has seen fit to make some fairly bold statements on national television no less, I have decided that Mr Wainstein warrants a public response.
Obviously there are several sides to every story and it seems a few readers feel that my column is one-sided and biased. In order to prevent this, I am merely going to state facts, sketch a timeline of events from my notes, and present some of the correspondence relating to the matter that I have kept and allow you to decide for yourselves.
11 September
Following the 11 September press release on the TAB website stating that teams for the Fifth International Jockey Challenge were being finalised, I was contacted by Adv Maselle with correspondence confirming that no racing bodies were members of the SA Equestrian Federation at that time. Please note, that while I have corresponded and exchanged information with Adv Maselle, we ran separate and quite different lines of enquiry into the matter.
I also need to digress quickly and explain that racing (as with any equestrian body) cannot simply apply for South African colours for any given individual. All equestrian bodies who are interested in obtaining / awarding South African colours, need to be members of the SA Equestrian Federation and the SAEF makes the necessary applications to SASCOC.
But if we weren’t getting colours via the SAEF (and I had written proof from the SAEF president that we could not as we weren’t members), I figured that perhaps we’d obtain them directly through SASCOC via our Racing Trust connections. So I figured I’d drop SASCOC a line to enquire and duly emailed Mr Tubby Reddy on 12 September, and as there was no response, did so again on 24 September.
2 October
Having not had any luck via email, I rang SASCOC on 2 October and chatted to the clerk in charge of awarding colours who confirmed that they had no knowledge of any racing body or jockey challenge applying for colours. Somewhat bemused, I penned another email to Tubby Reddy laying out the above and copying in Larry Wainstein and Merle Parker of the Racing Association .
Larry was good enough to ring me fairly promptly and we discussed the matter at length. He explained the selection process (top 4 riders on the jockey log and 2 wild cards selected by a panel consisting of himself, Vee Moodley and Patrick Davis). He was particularly pleased at the inclusion of Jeff Lloyd as he felt this would add a lot of excitement. I explained that I had been told (and had it confirmed directly by SASCOC) that they were unaware of any Jockey International and were not in the process of awarding any colours. Larry informed me that individuals who had been awarded colours in the past still counted as Proteas and did not need to re-apply and it was only the new team members who needed to apply (I should probably point out at this juncture that this is not true. SA colours, I have discovered, are awarded very strictly and for specific events / tournaments / etc only so as an example, if I were to be awarded SA colours, I would only be allowed to wear them and call myself a Protea for a designated competition – I would not become a Protea for perpetuity and would need to reapply for colours for every event I wanted to represent my country at. There are some additional rules and regulations regarding obtaining permission from local municipalities, etc. but that’s the essence of it). Anyway, Larry explained that structural changes within the SAEF were the reason no racing bodies were currently members, but said that racing did not need the SAEF and could apply for colours directly via SASCOC. However, he said that they had been in touch with the SAEF and would be lodging the relevant paperwork shortly.
On 3 October I received a phone call from Neil Smith of Ten Thousand Stallions and we also discussed the matter. Neil expressed his concern that I might ‘deflate’ the event and I assured him (as I had Larry) that I had no intention of causing trouble, but merely wanted to make sure that things were being done by the book.
17 October
I got a little distracted with the Competitions Commission until 17 October, when a press release was issued listing the SA Team and stating that “The local team, who will again be awarded their Protea colours for their participation following negotiations between the South African Jockeys Association’s Tex Lerena and the South African Equestrian Association “.
A little puzzled, I contacted Mr Rault at the SAEF who confirmed (again) that as of 17 October 2012, the SA Jockeys Association was not a member of the SAEF and also that the awarding of national colours had to be done by SASCOC on the recommendation of a National Federation. So I made a few more phone calls, asked a few more questions and generally pondered what to do. My dilemma was this – I like the Jockey Challenge and have supported it faithfully over the past two years. However, I am also a stickler for the rules (you can blame my parents for that) and I cannot in good conscience support or promote something that I do not feel is being run correctly (you might ask why I’m in horse racing at all then, but that’s an argument for another day!).
23 October
But I figured that there might still be a middle ground. On 23 October, I rang Patrick Davis at Phumelela and told him what I knew. I asked whether Patrick would take it up on the quiet with Larry and see whether the matter could be resolved discreetly. Shortly afterwards I received a phone call from Larry Wainstein. We had another long discussion in the course of which he assured me that the paperwork had been lodged ‘weeks ago’, that the requisite memberships had been obtained and that the jockeys had been requested to submit their ID documents for endorsing. Again, Mr Rault of the SAEF was patient enough to confirm (yet again – he must have thought we were quite mad by this point) that there had been no application to the SAEF, nor had they called for passports.
25 October
On 25 October, Mr Steve Rault confirmed by email that an application has finally been lodged with the SAEF by Tex Lerena of the SA Jockeys Association. However, Mr Rault was in Cape Town at the time and could not comment on the contents.
I must be frank and say that I lost my sense of humour a little at this point. I came to the conclusion that there were simply too many conflicting bits of information and decided that it might be best to hand the whole mess (for that is what it had become) over to the NHA. So, I composed an email addressed to Rob de Kock, Denzil Pillay and Patricia Ribeiro dated 25 October and copied in my editors, Adv Maselle, Mr Rault and Mr Reddy.
26 October
Mr de Kock was good enough to confirm receipt of my email on 26 October and said that he would be requesting additional information. He responded again later that day as follows.
| From:Rob de KockSent:26 October 2012 15:33To:‘Robyn Louw’Cc:‘Adv Brett Maselle’; ‘Steve Rault’; ‘Tubby Reddy; ‘Karel Miedema’; ‘Kiki Miedema’; Denzil J. Pillay; Patricia RibeiroSubject:2012 Jockeys InternationalDear RobynAt the outset, it is important to point out that The National Horseracing Authority is not a member of the South African Equestrian Federation (“SAEF”).
The NHA is aware that only a member of the SAEF may apply for any of its members to be granted national colours by SASCOC. We have been advised by the Racing Association that the South African Jockeys Association has applied for membership, with the guidance of Mr Les Williams, who is the second Vice President of SASCOC. We understand that SASCOC has already called for the Identity Documents of the jockeys who would be eligible for national colours, to be submitted to SASCOC so as to finalise the process. As the regulator, the NHA will apply the provisions of Rule 8.3.5. This rule reads as follows: 8.3.5 Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in Rule 8.3, in the event of any International Jockeys Challenge being scheduled by any RACING OPERATOR, then it shall be permitted, in the sole discretion of the CHIEF EXECUTIVE and on such conditions as he determines, that the HORSES participating in the races relevant to that International Jockeys Challenge, run in colours depicting the country represented by the rider of that HORSE. Obviously if colours are not granted, the jockeys will not be allowed to ride in national colours. The NHA will not permit any irregularity to occur in this regard. Kind regards Rob de Kock – Chief Executive |
It gets a little convoluted (that’s compliqué for any French-speaking readers) after that as I sent some individual as well as joint emails, but in essence, I thanked Mr de Kock for his assistance, reaffirmed my support for the Jockey Challenge initiative and said that I hoped matters would be resolved timeously.
1 November
I was rather offended that Mr de Kock was willing to ignore all the evidence that contradicted the RA’s position, so I thought I’d double check my facts. I rang the colours clerk at SASCOC again. I checked with Mr Les Williams who Larry had said was advising them on the process. I checked with the SAEF. All of them seemed to be of the opinion that no racing body was a member of the SAEF. Worse yet, despite the fact that a membership application had been received from the SA Jockeys Association, it was too little too late as the SAEF were not due to meet again until 20 November.
As a courtesy, I rang and discussed the matter with Mr Pillay, who has been most attentive and helpful in what has been without a doubt, a rather delicate matter. I relayed all the above and said that I would be confirming everything by email.
So, I composed another email to Mr de Kock, Mr Pillay and Ms Ribeiro and copied in my editors, Adv Maselle, Mr Rault, Mr Reddy and Mr Wainstein so that we were all playing open cards and I have reproduced a copy of my email below as it lays out the timeline and my views pretty clearly.
| From:Robyn LouwSent:01 November 2012 17:04To:‘Rob de Kock’Cc:‘Adv Brett Maselle’; ‘Steve Rault’; ‘Tubby Reddy’; ‘Karel Miedema’; ‘Kiki Miedema’; ‘Denzil J. Pillay’; ‘Patricia Ribeiro’; ‘Larry Wainstein’Subject:RE: 2012 Jockeys InternationalGood afternoon Mr de Kock,Firstly, my thanks for your email of 26 October.
Please note that I have added Mr Wainstein to the cc list on this email so that he is aware of the contents of our correspondence. I have noted your comments that the NHA is not a member of the SAEF and that you are aware of the condition that only members of the SAEF are eligible to petition SASCOC for national colours. I am pleased that you understand both those concepts. I have also noted that you have been advised by the Racing Association that the SA Jockeys Association has applied for membership of the SAEF under the guidance of Mr Les Williams and that SASCOC have called for the ID documents of the eligible jockeys to finalise the process. I am a little surprised that despite the evidence both myself and Adv Maselle have supplied to the contrary, you were happy to accept Larry’s word on the matter and did not trouble yourself to check any further that the requisite permissions had been obtained. So I will lay out a timeline of events for you again and perhaps you will appreciate the seriousness of this issue a little better. Some time in early October (unfortunately I did not note the date) I spoke to both Neil Smith and Larry Wainstein regarding the Jockey International. I told Larry that there were rumours that the requisite memberships and endorsements had not been obtained to ensure that our jockeys could ride in their South African colours. Larry assured me that everything was in order, that the paperwork had been submitted ‘months ago’ and that any rumours to the contrary were rubbish. On 17 October 2012 the RA issued a press release stating:- “The local team … will again be awarded their Protea colours for their participation following negotiations between the South African Jockeys Association’s Tex Lerena and the South African Equestrian Association” I decided to check and in an email dated 17 October 2012, Mr Steve Rault, the President of the SAEF, confirmed to me in writing that the SA Jockeys Association was not a member of the SAEF at that time. I also verified this with SASCOC who claimed to have no knowledge of the event. On 23 October, I spoke to Patrick Davis and later with Larry Wainstein and outlined what I had been told. Again Mr Wainstein assured me that everything was in order, that the requisite permissions had been obtained and that everything was going ahead as scheduled. I said that I hoped he was right and wished him well. Subsequent to this, in an email dated 25 October Steve Rault stated that:- “Any application has been dropped off at the SAEF by TEX LERENA. I am in Cape Town at the moment and have not seen the documents submitted and cannot evaluate the content at this time.” I felt in an awkward position as Larry was telling me one thing and the relevant authorities were telling me another. And so I passed it all over to you in my email of 25 October 2012. On 26th October you responded to say that:- We have been advised by the Racing Association that the South African Jockeys Association has applied for membership, with the guidance of Mr Les Williams, who is the second Vice President of SASCOC. We understand that SASCOC has already called for the Identity Documents of the jockeys who would be eligible for national colours, to be submitted to SASCOC so as to finalise the process. It annoyed me that there appeared to be such a discrepancy between the two stories. So today (1 November 2012) I made some calls to the following people:- Mr Les Williams, second Vice President of SASCOC (082 809 9299) Ms Bongi Langa, SASCOC Liaison Officer (011 483 3788) Ms Marika Kruger, assistant to SAEF President, Steve Rault (087 820 4670) Mr Les Williams confirmed that the SA Jockeys Association were still in the preliminary stages of applying for membership of the SAEF. Ms Bongi Langa confirmed that she was entirely unaware of any international event involving jockeys and has not called for any ID documents for endorsing or finalising. Ms Marika Kruger confirmed that the SAEF had received documents of intention back in June 2012, but that the application had been incomplete and had been returned to the SA Jockeys Association for completion. The completed documents were finally re-submitted to the SAEF in late October 2012 and are currently being considered. However, the application cannot be approved until the next SAEF Council meeting, which is scheduled to take place on 20 November 2012. I invite and in fact encourage you to double check these facts with any / all of the above. As I am sure you are aware, the Jockeys International is due to take place on Friday, 16th and Sunday, 18th November 2012. This is before the next scheduled SAEF Council meeting. Which means that it would be impossible for the SA Jockeys Association to become a member within the allotted time. Without that membership, it also becomes clear that it is not possible for our jockeys to be awarded SA colours or to be named Proteas. I am very sorry to have to be the one to point this out. As I have said before, I enjoy the Jockeys International. I think it is a fun and worthy initiative and I have enjoyed it enormously over the past few years. However, while I am sad that we have not managed to get organised in time to obtain the relevant memberships and endorsements from the various sporting authorities, I cannot support the initiative in good faith while it is being advertised as an ‘international’. I feel it would be misleading to the sponsors as well as the public and an utter betrayal of trust to have the jockeys believe that they were official representatives of their country. Bearing your national colours and being named a Protea is an enormous honour. It represents the pinnacle of excellence and sporting achievement and is only awarded with the utmost care. It is because of these stringent selection criteria that the award holds an enormous amount of pride, prestige and value (evidenced by the vast sums of money that sponsors are prepared to fork out to have their logos added to things like national rugby jerseys). It is not something that should be used frivolously or carelessly. I do not wish to cause trouble or embarrassment, but unfortunately I think there is the potential for further, far-reaching repercussions and embarrassment for the industry if we do not address matters while there is still a chance to do so. As our industry regulator, I hope and trust that you will take matters further and ensure that they are resolved satisfactorily.
Sincerely, Robyn Louw |
Again, I received a very prompt phone call from Mr Wainstein. We discussed the matter and I explained that I was trying to help and ensure that matters were resolved before the challenge took place in order to prevent any possible awkwardness. He said he understood where I was coming from and thanked me for my help. He agreed that my email to Mr de Kock had been factually correct. He said that if he had stated facts incorrectly, it was based on information that he had received from third parties. He said they were working hard to resolve matters, but if things could not be rectified in time, he was the man in charge and would take full responsibility. I thanked him for being kind enough to ring me up and discuss matters in person and we ended the call on a positive note.
2 November
I received a response from the NHA stating that the matter was being followed-up and that they would have a definitive answer by Monday, 5 November.
7 November
Monday came and went, as did Tuesday. On Wednesday, 7 November the fact that all was not well hit the electronic media and was published on the Africanbettingclan forum. I fired off another email to the NHA asking whether matters had been resolved.
8 November
Having not had a response from the NHA and with things hotting up on the ABC, I sent another reminder to the NHA.
I received a response from Mr Pillay confirming that they had received news that SASCOC had asked the SAEF to grant the Jockey Association ‘provisional membership’ in order to expedite the process, but that the issue remained unresolved. I was told that the NHA would issue a press release later that day.
I thanked Mr Pillay for the update and expressed my hopes that matters would still be resolved.
The NHA duly issued the following press release:-
| From:Patricia RibeiroSent:08 November 2012 14:32To:‘Robyn Louw’Subject:Jockeys’ Internationalmaintaining the integrity of the sport of horseracingPRESS RELEASE – RACING: Jockeys’ InternationalThe Jockeys International Challenge will take place on 16 and 18 November 2012. International Jockeys will compete against South African Jockeys.All Jockeys participating in the Challenge will ride in the colours depicting the country that they represent. However, in order for The National Horseracing Authority to approve that the South African Team of Jockeys ride in ‘national colours’, approval must be granted by SASCOC for the issue of ‘national colours’.
In the event that the approval by SASCOC is not received by The National Horseracing Authority, then Jockeys representing South Africa will ride in colours determined by the Chief Executive of The National Horseracing Authority. |
That was the end of it as far as I was concerned until Mr Wainstein’s interview on Under Starters Orders.
I promised at the outset that I would not make a fuss or do anything to put the Challenge in jeopardy. I kept my word. I have tried and tried and tried again to get the responsible parties to resolve matters precisely in order to avoid a big, public blow up exactly like the one Larry has caused.
I am fully aware that every story has more than one side to it, but at least you now have mine.
Am I destructive and bad for racing? Should I be ‘got rid of’? You, dear readers, now have the facts and can decide for yourselves. If I have acted poorly or maliciously, I will apologise to Mr Wainstein. If not, I think that it is Mr Wainstein who owes the apology. To you, to the NHA, to me and to Adv Maselle.
You know my fondness for quotes and I found a rather fun one on-line this week. It’s a bit of Cowgirl Wisdom for the day and it reads like this: “Beware: I ride horses which means I own pitchforks, have the strength to haul hay, and have the guts to scream at a half-ton animal after being kicked. You will not be a problem.”
Mr Wainstein, the next time you decide to play the blame game with someone on national television, I suggest you consider your actions, as well as your position as the CEO of the RA and an NHA director, a little more carefully.
