Cecil Pienaar
20th February 2019
Dear Ed, how good ( winners , place ratio to runners ) is Tobie Spies down in The Windy City
Cecil Pienaar
20th February 2019
Competition is a good thing - the days are long gone where you could take any average horse to PE and expect to win. Good thing the 'allegations' were 'investigated' and unfounded. However a precedent has now been set in PE
* weather / humidity reaches the benchmark and halt all races. Safety, Animal welfare first.
* All Visiting, satellite Trainers must spent X amount of time at their yards - to be made known
I like PE racing, big follower of G Cheyne, T Gould, L Hewitson, M Yeni and R Munger, often winning my fav bet the JP. Like CT a few trainers dominate here, hence Trainers and "Asst Trainers" like Mr Spies should be welcomed.
Tobie ,,, pls open a satellite yard in KZN ! Ashburton even better. Good
alan
20th February 2019
Plea To Support The Small Trainer
mr steyn is correct the big 5 in cape town control the game re the big owners. i believe the problem lies with the handful of bloodstock agents that dont support the smaller yards. these guys get overseas clients looking to purchase horses and only place them with the big 5. why has sheihk hamdens horses only gone to the top guys, when in the uk they get spread to smaller guys as well. the sheiks representative here in sa is not supporting the the smaller guys in my humble opinion. i am sure that there are others that are guilty of the same practice. i went through sales data on horses bought by bloodstock agents in the last 5 years and was surprised at how low a hit rate these agents attain taking into account the large amounts of money they spend.
small yards use to make it when racing was a gambling sport where horses had to be punted for owners and trainers to earn decent money. it has now become a commission game for trainers. take mr colin palm his stable was a gambling stable. he had the wealthy ovenstone familys horses on the one hand and then the local portuguese barber who could only afford one horse on the other. but the small guy loved to gamble.mr nicholas the ex zimbabwe trainer was a gambling stable. colin burroughs, even mr atholl fisher. today there are maybe one or two of the big owners who gamble big.
hang in there piet you will get a good horse then the guys will be back at your door. keep doing rollcall on the hay forks your stable...(click here to view the rest of this comment)
Harold
20th February 2019
Plea To Support The Small Trainer
Take a horse like the Bass trained Blue Tiger for example, he was a good horse that set the pace for his more illustrious stablemates, Pocket Power and River Jetez and had limited success. But had he been with a smaller stable, would no doubt have been a Grade 1 winner instead of having run a string of Grade 1
Harold
20th February 2019
I agree with Wayne. Times are dependent on track conditions and performances are dependent on the
Dan
20th February 2019
SA Handicapper On WBRRC Committee
Our horses are 10-15 points too high !!! Really is a joke as jeopardizes there chances are
Editor
20th February 2019
We can try Dave, sure.
Will send Messrs Moodley and Hyde a copy of the comments for a
Dave
20th February 2019
Hi Editor, may we request that you obtain an answer (from the NHA) to the questions posed regarding consistency of this ruling ?
Editor
20th February 2019
There are only ever valid reasons, Wayne!
Yours was posted - refresh your
Wayne Fouche
20th February 2019
Good day Mr. Editor
Is there any valid reason why my comment was not
WILLIAM MILKOVITCH
20th February 2019
Plea To Support The Small Trainer
And then Mr Steyn, isn't it now coming down to the scenario that many previously unemployed or "down and outters" experienced, when you have to go "knock on the doors" of the Ruperts,Slacks, Shirtliffs etc etc and ask for business/a chance ?
A bit of putting one's pride in one's pocket
Wayne Fouche
20th February 2019
Ah Mr. Perd I do not believe that times are that important. After all the great Sea Cottage never broke a record in his racing life (if my memory serves me well) and whichever way you look at it Winx runs against the same horses every time. Ho
WILLIAM MILKOVITCH
20th February 2019
Plea To Support The Small Trainer
I have the same thoughts Cecil.
To Mr Steyn, big trainers and small trainers, big and small owners
Mostly, we hear about unhappy/frustrated punters, struggling jockeys & marginalized trainers and then, lets not forget the massive grooms issues.
We have heard about betting operators who own or have commercial interests in other arms of the racing fraternity.
All this seems to point to, for the want of a better word, is the "chosen few".
Is this unfair on them, on the general public, or for that matter, on who ?
Are the big 3 or 4 trainers in Cape Town at full capacity ? If they are been stretched to keep their customers happy, wouldn't it be in their interest so say to one or 2 of their " 20 horse strong" owners - Send 3 or 4 of your horses to eg. Mr. Steyn, Mr Botha, Mr Ennion ?
Shouldn't we consider a "cooperative" type of business model for racing so that more trainers, owners & grooms get a equitable slice of the cake
beatle
20th February 2019
Does Snaith still have satellite yard in PE(is he a regular visitor to PE ??? ) and agree with Anthony - for me you can't investigate one yard only, go check all satellite yards
Ashleigh
20th February 2019
Fairview Abandoned – Horse Welfare Concerns
It always amuses me when a layman fatuously accuses an experienced vet of being clueless. What year did you graduate from Onderstepoort, sir?
And again when someone thinks that POST RACE heat distress has anything to do with the loss of human life. Oh well. Pesky semantics again. (Don't quote me in the Computaform comments though!)
The authorities and vets tried their very best to keep the meeting going after losing so many meeting in the preceding days. The Stipes Report will show you how the weather deteriorated as the meeting went on. After Race 2 there was one horse which displayed moderate distress. It was not full blown heat distress. No treatment was needed for recovery. That was at 12H40. This could happen even in normal conditions. Race 3, nothing. Race 4, nothing. However in Race 5 at 14H10, another horse displayed distress symptoms post race. Full blown heat distress disorder/ heat exertion illness. The horse recovered on it's own without veterinary treatment. It would have been a lower grade heat distress. Water, ice, removing the bridle, all the normal corrective processes helped this horse recover. No veterinary treatment was needed.
But then things take a turn for the worse. The heat index has clearly escalated, because after Race 6 another horse has such bad heat distress that she needs veterinary treatment to recover. This was at 14h50.
But just 40 minutes later, a horse returned from Race 7 so distressed that it bled out...(click here to view the rest of this comment)
Brian
20th February 2019
So NHA. You need to save face because you've once again had to open your mouth to swap feet.
Will you be informing all other trainers who have satellite yards to do the same or is this
Adrian Thurston
20th February 2019
I bet its after Steffi's Grafft won in Cape Town these tips started coming
Anthony
20th February 2019
Are the same investigations undertaken in KZN in the satellite yards of Crawford and Tarry ??? i think
Editor
21st February 2019
Spies Cleared By NHA
Mr T Spies had 111 runners this season for 3 winners at a 2,7% win strike-rate. 37% place
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