Magnum Race Day Orientation
I first had the opportunity to appraise Jonathan Snaith up close in the run up to the 2011 L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate. I was pretty impressed. I’m often told that I’m quite hard to please, so I guess that says something.
I have had a few more dealings with him in the interim and on each occasion he has confirmed my first impressions – he is focussed, driven and deadly serious about making a difference in racing. He is also remarkably considered, level-headed and objective – rare qualities in any walk of life, but particularly so in our industry.
I was surprised to hear that he’d taken a bit of a back seat for the 2014 Queen’s Plate. He explained “I still helped out where I was needed, but the Queen’s Plate pretty much runs itself now.” Of course, he is not the sort to rest on his laurels and has been focussing his prodigious energies on a new project – the UCT RAG Race Day, which features the inaugural running of the Magnum Mile at Kenilworth Racecourse this Saturday.
Key Players
First, a little background. Before we get to RAG, I need to introduce you to an organisation called SHAWCO. SHAWCO is UCT’s Students’ Health And Welfare Centres Organisation and was started in July 1943 by a medical student named Andrew Kinnear. He had spent a holiday doing ambulance driving to earn money to for his medical training and the poverty and lack of hygiene and medical facilities he witnessed in areas like Kensington and Elsies River appalled him. So much so that he decided to do something about it. Kinnear approached Dr Golda Selzer at Groote Schuur’s Pathology Department to assist him in establishing a clinic. Dr Selzer became one of the cofounders of SHAWCO and remained their honorary life president until her death in 1999.
What started out as a one-man initiative has grown into one of the largest student volunteer driven organisations on the African continent, attracting hundreds of UCT and foreign students on an annual basis. SHAWCO is a student-run, non-profit community outreach organisation based at UCT, devoted to improving the quality of life of people in the metropole’s developing communities.
SHAWCO has developed into two main parts – SHAWCO Health and SHAWCO Education, both of which merit a mention for the wonderful work they do. SHAWCO Health relies on volunteer medical and allied health science students to deliver primary health care to under-resourced communities. They co-ordinate no less than six clinics, operating out of a combination of existing facilities and three of their own, fully-equipped mobile clinics. These facilities are often the only port of call for those members of the community who work during the day or otherwise cannot get to local day hospitals.
SHAWCO Education has over 10 student-manned projects running in community centres in Khayelitsha, Kensington, Manenberg and Nyanga, local schools and children’s homes. These facilities offer after-school tutoring focussing on literacy, numeracy and sport, aiming to assist learners, get them excited about their education and hopefully offer them the means to reach beyond the boundaries of their current situation.
RAG
UCT RAG (Remember and Give), is the fundraising sector of SHAWCO. RAG organises a number of student and corporate fundraising events during the year, with all proceeds going to fund SHAWCO’s community programmes. Capetonians are all pretty aware of the SAX Appeal magazine (on sale to the public on the streets of Cape Town), but other initiatives include the ‘Big Bash’ annual end of year Orientation party, RAG Diary for UCT Students and a RAG Graduation wine, featuring a label with all approximately 4000 graduates names in fine print and a magnifying glass to read it! And now, after a 12 year hiatus, they are coming back to the races.
So why this particular day and why this particular project? Jono continues, “It’s obvious that we’re not concentrating on the youth in racing and we need to get more young people there. And I figured if I didn’t’ do it, no-one else would.” The project has been 4 years in the making. “It wasn’t easy, I can tell you. The first challenge was to get the buy in from RAG. As you can imagine, they’re pretty strict. However, one of my best friends’ parents are very involved with RAG and we discussed it over dinner one evening.
Then I went and met with RAG and the students on the committee and they were all really excited about it. The next step was finding a sponsor and more importantly a race day, which was perhaps the biggest challenge as it had to fall within the first two weeks of UCT orientation. When we looked at the schedule, the only suitable option was this weekend, which had obviously already been taken by Magnum for the Magnum Mile. So then I spoke to Clyde Basel and Michael Varney and they were fantastic. And then I approached Wayne Kieswetter and explained my proposal for bringing the students to his day. He has been incredibly supportive and excited and it’s all just come together really well.
Jono Snaith
“The guys from Magnum have already put a lot of money into the initiative and we’re really trying to keep it all about the students and make it fun. We’ve chosen the Great Gatsby as the theme and are putting together a ‘Varsity Paddock’ on the grassy area below the trees (on the corner of the chute and the track). Tickets are R65 each (available from webtickets). The dress theme should encourage people to dress up and have fun and we’ve got prizes for best dressed. We have a number of bands and DJ’s, specifically selected for the student demographic, to provide entertainment and our MC will push the betting throughout the day. The main challenge, as I found with the Queen’s Plate, is actually getting people to the races, so there’s been a massive advertising and promotional campaign. We’ve done a little marketing in the racing community and would love as much support as possible from all our regular racegoers (Somerset Room tickets are R200), but obviously for this day and particularly as it’s our first year, we’ve really focussed on the student channels. We’ve targeted UCT radio and SAX Appeal in particular, but I’m calling in favours all over the place.
“We’re using a lot of social networking and relying heavily on social media like Instagram, Facebook, SMS etc. We want to make sure that folks don’t just hear about this once, but 5 or 6 times. It must be really topical and exciting. We want to create a vibe and a real buzz about the project to make people want to support it. We’ve got Jake White and Jonathan Kaplan’s horse Naval Attack at orientation week. We’ve put up a white picket fence and dressed him up in a Magnum blanket and people can come and pat him and feed him carrots. Then we’ve got jockeys and girls dressed up in racing silks on site selling race day tickets.
“The Magnum Mile is a good race and has attracted a quality field, so we’ve got the appeal to the racing public and if we can grow the day, then we should be able to grow the stake too, which is good for racing. With the buy in from the students, I’m convinced that this has legs and the potential to grow into one of the biggest race days on the calendar. Obviously huge thanks to Magnum for the main sponsorship, but I’ve also sold off all the other races on the card too. We’re 110% behind the initiative, so Snaith Racing have put our money where our mouth is and sponsored the first race, but the other sponsors are Inform (Thoroughpedia), Tekkie Town, Maine Chance Farms, L’Ormarins, Highlands Stud, Jonsson Work Wear and Vasco Tavern. With all proceeds going straight to SHAWCO, that’s raised well over R100k already, which is fantastic. And then every ticket sold makes a difference. We’re hoping for between 3000 – 5000 people which would obviously be huge for the charity.”
Big hit
It seems the initiative – and Naval Attack in particular – has been a huge hit. When I spoke to Frankie at the RAG offices she said that the students were absolutely fascinated by the horse and loved being able to get up close to it. “It’s been great! Obviously having a horse on campus is fairly unusual and it’s created a huge amount of curiosity and interest. And there are betting sheets and tips being handed out and everyone’s really excited about it.”
I asked whether racing was not regarded as too exclusive or expensive for the student market and she said “Not at all, the R65 price tag makes it really accessible for our market – it’s a lot more affordable than some of the other big race days like the J&B Met and the fact that it’s being marketed at students and not at your usual ‘up and coming’ crowd makes it feel a lot more friendly and welcoming. And obviously students like a party and what’s a party without alcohol, so Magnum fits in really nicely. It’s a great product at a great price!”
And speaking of the product…
Regular readers of Joey Ramsden’s blog will already be familiar with the Magnum ad and jingle, but for those who aren’t, it’s worth relating that Magnum Cream Liqueur, while still being relatively new, is taking the global market by storm.
They launched in Africa 2 years ago and are in the process of expanding to the USA, UK, Europe and now South Africa. Although liqueurs have traditionally had rather a staid reputation, it is all changing and Magnum is leading the charge. The beverage is based on a Scotch malt produced at the historic BenRiach distillery in the north east of Scotland in the famous Speyside district. It is blended with high quality Dutch cream to produce what I am reliably told is one of the smoothest cream liqueurs on the market with hints of caramel, chocolate and rich toffee. It should be just the thing for a hot Cape summer’s day.
The packaging is fun too and Magnum comes in a reusable, stainless steel ‘milk churn’. Ideally served ice cold, preferably over crushed ice, Magnum liqueur can be enjoyed in a number of ways, including in cocktails and even coffee. Magnum Cream Liqueur is available from all good outlets and retails at around R120 for a 1 litre flask. Like most alcohol companies, Magnum Brands is very aware of their social responsibilities and committed to the Drive Alive initiative. They are aligned with ‘One For The Road’ and are laying on student transport to and from the racecourse, which will be available at UCT from 10am.
New racing partners are vitally important to the survival of horse racing. The addition of Magnum Brands to our racing stable not only means investment into our sport, but is also a firm vote of confidence in the future of local racing. It is always exciting to have new sponsorship, new enthusiasm and new energy on board and we wish Magnum and the good folks at UCT’s RAG every success. Gates open at 11 with the first race off at 12. See you at the races!
– Robyn Louw
