Right now, Last Cowboy Productions is putting the finishing touches to the first part of a documentary series on the history of South African racing and breeding, which has been commissioned by the TBA and which will be ready for flighting prior to this year’s National Yearling Sales, at Gosforth Park.
Unfortunately, the efforts of the producers to provide the fullest possible coverage of the different racing eras have been hampered by the dearth of photographs available of the champions of yesteryear. This has been remedied, to some extent, by our unearthing a treasure trove of African Mirror newsreels, but it would be enormously helpful if some of the wonderful photographs taken by the late Abe Goldstein, mainly on the Highveld, could be unearthed.
Present era photographer, H.F. Kenney, advises that the Goldstein negatives were either lost or destroyed, somewhere along the way, but there may be readers who know of the whereabouts of old prints, and we would love to hear from them. Those old racing photographs in your attic or storeroom could be invaluable.
There was also a photographer whom I think was a Mr McIntyre, but whom I only knew as “Mr Mac”. Does anybody know what happened to his collection, which must also have dated back many years?
Among the horses which we are seeking, which are listed in no particular order, are the great racemare, Flush Of Dawn (trained by Henry De Meillon), Colesberg (owned by Andrew Cohen and Dr Van Niekerk), Candican (Maurice Nathan), Dignitary (owned by Henry Nourse), Camp Fire II (owned by Sir Abe Bailey), Longstop (owned by Solly Joel), Bird Of Prey (Sir Abe Bailey), Hussein (owned by Willie Langerman), Glen Albyn (Solly Joel), Eccentric (Mr A Rowe), Zamora (Natie Rosenberg), Royal Chaplain, Glolite (Harry Stodel), Black Cap (Mr Philip Hill), Kings Pact (Willie and Agnes Murphy), Moonlit (Syd Garrett), Lenin (Maurice Lipschitz), Historian (also Maurice Lipschitz), Nagaina Hall (Mrs Connie Cohen), Riza (Howard Ginsberg), the stallions Sunstone (Sir Abe Bailey and later E.V. Birch), Polymelus (Henry Nourse), Greatorex (Henry Nourse).
If you can shed light on the whereabouts of pictures of any of these horses please be so kind as to contact me via E-mail at [email protected] or on my mobile phone, at 083 228 0791.
Jimmy Lithgow – via email
