The one-time British boy band member speaks about why he won’t be giving jockey Bernard Fayd’herbe any riding instructions, the trauma of parting with his dual SA Horse Of The Year Variety Club and why he has so few friends within the industry in this country.
It was not always easy in those days with the milk run, the paper run, serving an apprenticeship, working as a cocktail barman at night and then also working in a bookmaker at weekend. If you try and tell the kids these days they just won’t believe you. Sort of a bit like the Yorkshireman on Monty Python!
The man who spent some of the greatest days of his career looking after the champion Dynasty talks openly about his life: “I still live in a squatter camp and having a right to vote doesn’t put food on the table or provide shelter from the winter. But it is still a lot better than the bad old days when the police used to chase us and demand pass books…”
You happily endure those months of misery for the moments of pure magic, but that’s racing. Those moments are what it’s all about.
The Cape Hunt was a part of life and it brought people together. It’s a tragedy for racing that we don’t have this nursery anymore. I have to say it again and again.
The usual excuse is that it is no longer the only game in town. But if all of our modern day distractions were so magnetic, then how has soccer grown so much?
The National Horseracing Authority of SA and the media have seldom sat around the same fire. But the appointment of the vastly internationally experienced Dave McGillivray as Racing Control Executive has gone a long way to changing our perceptions and building bridges.
When people in England tell me they’ve got the best in the world, I tell them you can’t say you’ve got the best when you’re not running against the rest of the world.
A member of South Africa’s born free generation but not yet old enough to vote, this apprentice is learning his trade at the world class SA Jockey Academy. He has struck all the right chords early on and looks the real deal
Racing journalist, successful bloodstock agent, owner, breeder and above all, racing enthusiast, Barry Howard Irwin has embraced and helped promote the South African Thoroughbred like few others. We caught up with him on his recent visit to the National Sales.
Caroline Simpson has been with the TBA for 25 years and it is difficult to imagine a sale without her
SA horseracing needs strong leadership – today. Otherwise we are doomed. Stakeholders don’t need this kind of circus!
A former Bloemfontein champion trainer, Michael McLachlan was a popular character in the halcyon days of horseracing and now finds himself in dire need
