Sands of Time: September 1993

September 5 – 11

Empress Club leaves South African shores for the USA. The filly is to be trained by Charlie Whittingham on the West-coast, provided she comes through a lengthy 2-month period of quarantine in New York, the only place where South African horses are allowed to enter the country. Empress Club won 15 of her 22 races in South Africa, and earned more than R3 million.
Three-year-old Jewel Of Asia at 5/1 wins the Gr3 Matchem Stakes at Kenilworth by three lengths. The weight-for-age event gives the first indication of how the new classic generation compares with its elders. Three four-year-olds fill the minor places.

September 12 – 18

Dominof sprints home in a false run Gr2 Keith Hepburn Stakes, run at weight-for-age over 1400m at Turffontein. It is the gelding’s first run for trainer Terry Lowe after relocating to the Rand after the Natal season.

September 19 – 25

Concerned persons in racing in the Cape gather at the Blue Peter Hotel to attend a workshop organised by Charles Faull and Jehan Malherbe. There’s Jockey Club and TBA presence at the meeting, and the workshop makes the front cover of The Argus the next day. There is a call for unity and greater emphasis on marketing, and a five-person delegation is formed to represent the workshop meeting in talks with the Jockey Club, and ask that body to initiate a national unity drive.

Racing at Greyville is postponed after the running of the first race, with conditions described as “dangerous and totally unsafe”. Many disgruntled punters and trainers felt that the Durban Turf Club had erred in racing at all.

September 26 – October 2

Crystal’s Garter wins the R100.000 Natal Provincial Guineas at the postponed Greyville meeting. The filly Fair Model and feature race winner False Pretender filled the places.

The battle between officials on the one, and jockeys and trainers on the other hand, continues. After Bloemfontein it is the turn of PE to have a dispute on safety of the going. Trainer Andy Smith is fined R4000 for withdrawing his nine horses from the meeting at Fairview. Club officials pronounce the going raceable after inspecting the course, but Smith feels otherwise and refuses to run his horses entered for the meeting.

New Gr1 Gold Bowl sponsor IGN (International Gaming Network) pulls out all the stops on the big day, with a host of well-planned and professionally conducted live on-course interviews highlighting different aspects of what’s inv olved in the running of a racemeeting. Trainer David Payne saddles the first three horses home, when 25/1 shot Golden Peak finally gets his right reward after two close seconds in the Gold Cup and Gold Vase, winning from even money favourite White Tie Affair and Sweet Secret. White Tie Affair had been on the Highveld for several weeks to acclimatise, but the first and third were trucked from Natal the day before the race.