The much publicised incident at Turffontein Racecourse on Champions Day involving Racing Association CEO Larry Wainstein and an anonymous punter remains the subject of a National Horseracing Authority Inquiry which will be held this week.
While not condoning Mr Wainstein’s conduct, the Racing Association Board subsequently exonerated their CEO, accepting his unequivocal apology, and satisfied with the contriteness he showed, took no further action.
In an exclusive, the Sporting Post is now able to publish a statement from the other party, in which he sets out the facts from his point of view.
The statement was provided by an associate, and is published unabridged and without prejudice.
He has requested that his name be withheld.
Statement – Turffontein –Champions Day – 30 April 2016.
An incident occurred just outside the Parade ring of the Turffontein Race Course on Champions Cup Day 30/04/2016 after the parade of the horses for the tenth race.
Firstly I regret that this incident occurred especially that I used a few words that I would not normally use and there were women and children in the vicinity.
I saw Larry Wainstein walking out the parade ring when I was at least five to six metres away from him in a red suit. I pointed to him and called him a ‘c**k’ and a *c**t’.
He walked towards me and asked me why? I told him he looked like “Puss in Boots” in that suit.
He then punched me on my left jaw.
I walked away from the situation as I found myself in a position I did not want to be in. All this happened in a very short space of time 20 to 30 seconds.
I left the race course about fifteen minutes later with my friends. I had a few drinks during the course of the day.
I fear that I may be harmed if I took this further and preferred and still prefer to stay out of the public’s view.
