Bomber Nel (photo: Youtube)
Peter Nel, better known to most as Bomber Nel of Bombers Bits will be holding a bitting presentation at Ashburton on Thursday, 22 February 2018.
The presentation, which will be hosted at the Ashburton training centre club house, starts at 10:00 for 10:30. Bomber was recently in the news for assisting Micheal Azzie with his imported Gr2 Charity Mile winner, Hat Puntano.
Bomber has been associated with racing for many years and has helped big names such as Mike Azzie, Mike Bass and Mike de Kock, who famously once told him ‘At my level there is a 2% difference between walking to the winner’s enclosure or walking back to the stable. If I can get 0.5 % from feed, another 0.5% from training, 0.5% from the vet, dentist and physio then if you give me your 0.5%, I’ve got 2%.”
But there are just as many smaller trainers that find his equipment invaluable, including tomorrow’s host, Louis Goosen.
“Bomber’s work really is good. He puts his life and soul into it and it’s great that he’s got some high profile names to help give him a bit of a break. I’ve got a filly called Yaas and a Bomber bit really helped her. I think it’s something that’s so important to get right if you want your horse to perform properly.”
“When I grew up in the 60’s, we had three bits – a straight rubber snaffle for the babies, an egg-butt or maybe a D-ring snaffle and for anything that pulled, there was a Citation. And that was it. But it was a different era. There seemed to be a lot more time to make good mouths than there is these days, when you’re often buying horses straight off the sales that have already got no mouth. The industry has changed and the horsemen have changed. You’ll even hear Bomber tell you that the horses have changed and that their jaws are a lot narrower than they used to be, so it’s fantastic that we’ve got someone like this to give us a few more tools to work with.”
The presentation should last about an hour and entry is free. Louis says he’ll get a fire going at the clubhouse afterwards, the bar will be open and everyone is welcome to a boerewors roll on him.
For a sneak peek at what’s in store, check out Bomber explaining some of the intricacies of bitting below:-
