For Convenience
Bitter Sweet Saturday for Champion Trainer
A rare frustrating flirtation, with feature race disappointment for champion trainer Mike De Kock, turned around when Flirtation clinched the Gr2 Colorado King Stakes (more)
Our Marathon Men
A jockey running for charity and a Stipe who only six months ago had serious heart surgery (more)
None So Blind…
In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. So goes the saying and it has been quite a week in KZN with two one-eyed Australian-bred horses winning in the last two meetings. (more)
Good Friday – Business as Unusual?
Genuine need or patent greed? The moral and commercial fisticuffs that characterise the debate over whether we really need horseracing and gambling on one of the most religious days of the Christian calendar, continues unresolved. As one tote teller yesterday summed up the prospect of working on Good Friday: The slaves will be toiling at … (more)
Perfect Pilot Puller
A delighted clenched fist punched the warm Durbanville afternoon air. The mercurially talented Chris Puller rode a cracker of a race to get the grey Jet Master filly Pan Amm up in the shadow of the post to win the jackpot opener today The bright yellow distinctive Amm silks worn to J&B Met and international … (more)
Meaker’s Magic Machine
For those fatalists preaching that horseracing is a dying game, some fuel would have been provided by the sponsors at Scottsville, where the Baker & Baker Undertakers Maiden Plate closed the eight race programme. (more)
Badgers Drift colt wins Kenya Derby
A son of South African stallion Badger’s Drift has recorded a dazzling victory in Kenya’s biggest race – the Kenya Derby (more)
Differing Fools Of Thought
A high quality day of horseracing on Saturday 31 March was tarnished somewhat by logistical gremlins. In a world where we are able to share a cloakroom with the most gorgeous jockey as she prepares to make history in the richest race on earth, we are still tripped up by nonsense. The outstanding feed into … (more)
Drier & Forbes Earn Their Stripes
We salute Dennis Drier and Alec Forbes! The coastal coupling overcame all the odds to clinch top honours in the R1 million Gr1 SA Fillies Classic run over the Turffontein 1800m this afternoon with the emerging talent of the Argentinian-bred Bambina Stripes. Nothing in moderation in racing. It is either brilliant or bad! The embarrassment … (more)
Lights, Camera-No Action
Faulty lifts, delayed planes, solar outages and absent false rails. An eventful Friday afternoon from Port Elizabeth to Singapore and a great way to celebrate April Fool’s eve. With the big weekend of racing that lies ahead at Meydan and Turffontein, we should probably also be thankful to the racing gods for dishing out the … (more)
The Big Sleep
The prodigious talent of Richard Fourie caught his fellow jocks fast asleep at Kenilworth today. A track running fast and a deceptively powerful tailwind are not rocket science and the young man took full advantage of the conditions. It is something of an irony that Fourie caught his colleagues napping over the same distance and … (more)
Bond’s The Name- Gone’s the price!
Even winning has its drawbacks. Veteran trainer Doug Campbell suggested that the loss of a big price was ‘sore for the owners’ after his Greyville Night first race winner was backed from nowhere into single odds. Who pinched the price? Should long-suffering owners be entitled to the privilege of inside information and double digit odds? … (more)
Being A Sport
The changing landscape of betting in South Africa and a reflection of the mindset of the people who run horseracing, was reflected quite coarsely Sunday morning on the home page of the Tabgold website (more)
Hopeless
The National Horseracing Authority pose a bigger threat to horseracing than any casino. Got your attention? Radical thinking maybe, depending on who pays your salary. But their handling of the objection today at Fairview was downright amateurish in an industry that funds their very existence. The racing operators were beating the eradicate-the-jockey-club drum not even … (more)
Keep Dreaming
The best laid plans of mice and men. Or maybe a touch too much arrogant assumption? The Competition Commission’s silver bullet in the knee this week for Phumelela’s intended carnival of Cape capers appears to have caught the role-players off sides and a touch red-faced. Playing Devil’s Advocate on the side-lines, we can only question … (more)
Puller & Prestage On Target!
A peach of a ride by Chris Puller for veteran master trainer Bill Prestage set the seal on an entertaining Human Rights Day racing afternoon at Kenilworth. Seeing a professional partnership in action gives one hope for the future of a sport that is strangely amateurish and hit and miss a lot of the time. … (more)
FOOL RUNNINGS
The unwelcome invader on the track during the running of the Greyville final race on 20 March will be charged with ‘Pitch Invasion and Reckless Endangerment’ and the matter is in the hands of the SAPS. This is the word from Gold Circle Chief Operating Officer Graeme Hawkins, after a potentially suicidal dash by an … (more)
King Of Rains
Racing made a welcome return to Clairwood on Sunday 18 March after an enforced break at the South Durban track following the controversially abandoned meeting on 26 January this year. Gold Circle took decisive action following that debacle and their caretaker team of retired Champion Jockey Garth Puller and former Gold Circle Executive Wayne Simpson … (more)
Green Light For Classic Day
A real crowd puller. The looks. The action. The ability. The owner. The trainer.Even the name. Gimmethegreenlight really has it all. Stabled at Randjesfontein with Geoff Woodruff, the 2012 Gr1 L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate winner confirmed his well-being and his readiness for Classic Day at the end of this month with a superb win tonight at … (more)
The Cycle Of Racing Life
It is a lot safer cycling on the N1 in Cape Town, than punting! Over 14000 of the 16500 live Place Accumulator tickets went into the dustbin courtesy of the two fancied runners going west in the final race at Durbanville on Sunday 11 March. Act Of Faith and Cognac On Ice looked head and … (more)
De Kock and Brown take three
There are no programming issues in Dubai racing it seems. As a perfect prep for world horseracing’s richest night on 31 March, Super Saturday provided all the pointers and indicators required for the connections as well as an enthusiastic punting public on a superb evening of horseracing entertainment. And trainers Mike De Kock and Herman … (more)
Sinking Ships
Nine times out of ten, the slanderous tongue belongs to a disappointed person. The words of American author and historian George Bancroft hold true on a daily basis in the lion’s den that is the sport of kings. It took just one telephone call to ruin Anton Marcus’ perfect evening at Greyville on Friday 9 … (more)
Beware No Rides in March
Trainer Joey Ramsden’s worst nightmare is developing into a full blown episode of Psycho. The sickening spectre of a cancelled Western Cape racemeeting has finally become a reality. The sms that was despatched earlier today by the operator was quite simple really: Due to a paucity of Declarations for DBVL Wed 14-Mar, this racemeeting has … (more)