Owner Gerald Francis of Fourways has written an open letter to the National Horseracing Authority of South Africa via the Sporting Post mailbag, in the wake of the Markus Jooste saga.
As a fellow race horse owner I would like to bring the contents of the attached letter to your attention.
Your motto of protecting the integrity of the sport of horseracing means nothing if Mayfair Speculators horses are allowed to run and earn money, by your organisation , whilst millions of ordinary South African’s like myself are suffering from the crash of STEINHOFF.
It’s a bit ironic that all of Markus Jooste’s horses were transferred to Mayfair Speculators no more than a year ago and now the crash of Steinhoff. People like Mr Jooste have already ruined the sport of horseracing by their sheer buying power and dominance of all the major races in South Africa.
I know that there has been drive by some unions to stop Mayfair Speculators horses from running , something I wholeheartedly agree with and will be supporting until all Mayfair Speculators horses are stopped from running.
Can I please urge your organisation to stand by your moto and do the right thing and stop Mayfair Speculators’ horses from running whilst millions of South Africans suffer from the crash of an organisation that was headed by horse racing’s biggest owner.
Ed – the NHA published a press release on Monday where they advised that they had called upon Mayfair Speculators to provide information. “We have written to Mayfair Speculators, the vehicle that represents the racing interests of Mr Jooste. We have given them 48 hours to revert to the NHA insofar as Mr Jooste, Mayfair Speculators and his racing interests are concerned. Once we have received this submission we will then decide on the way forward,” said CEO Lyndon Barends. The outcome of that is awaited.
