Horseracing has found its way back into our mainstream media for all the wrong reasons again following the Markus Jooste – Steinhoff scandal but the negative press is compounded when sources with apparent agendas express seemingly mischievously misleading opinion.
An article entitled ‘Jooste Given 48 Hours To Respond’ published in today’s Business Report in the Cape Times covers the National Horseracing Authority’s call on Mayfair Speculators to provide more information.
In the article, a ‘horse breeder’ named Phindile Kema accuses Jooste of ‘controlling the entire industry by using his power and influence’ and is quoted as follows:
“The Sun Met next month in Cape Town has been designed to favour his horses as competitive horses from the other breeders that are potential winners have been excluded from participating in the event.”
Edict Of Nantes – Met favourite
While the Sun Met will be run for the first time at pure weight-for-age in 2018, the revision of the race conditions were an attempt to upgrade the quality of the race and give the best horse the best opportunity of winning.
Jooste’s Mayfair Speculators currently own Legal Eagle, Edict Of Nantes and Deo Juvente. The fact that the first mentioned are the top two horses in the betting is as a result of those two horses’ on-track performance over an extended period. Ms Kema’s statement is simply non-sensical and incorrect.
Furthermore, her suggestion that ‘potential winners’ have been excluded from participating in the Cape flagship race is ludicrous and we are keen to obtain a list of these alleged exclusions from her.
We were unable to track Ms Kema’s registration as a ‘breeder of racehorses’ and there is no evidence of her having bred any horses in recent years.
