Being Served a Stale Waffle with a Dollop of Syrup When You Are
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SPORTING POST DIGEST • Thursday 8 auGust 2019 1 NATIONAL 2YO SALE Thursday 8 august 2019 15-16 AUGUST FAIRVIEW Friday Best Roving Banker: R2-(4) Lucio (15/10) TURFFONTEIN Saturday Best Roving Banker: R1-(5) Stone Judgement (15/10) KENilwORTH Saturday Best Roving Banker: R1-(8) Winter Oasis (16/10) HOLLYWOODBETS GREYVILLE Sunday Best Roving Banker: R2-(7) Knight Warrior (15/10) Saturday 3 August Flamingo Park – race 3 Sporting Post Best Handicapped Being served a stale waffle with a dollop of syrup when you are famished Misty Heath WON 8/1 and desperate for a substantial three-course meal is what the South African racing public and stakeholders were dealt today. The public announcement disseminated this a very good start to dealing with ‘the challenges morning by our cash-strapped racing operator facing the industry’ will be to get the numbers – ironi- Phumelela on behalf of a group of hand-picked cally the solitary reference to any hint of ‘fact’ in their ‘significant stakeholders’, who bizarrely choose to statement - closer to the reality. remain anonymous, is the latest slap in the face for Estimating that 120 000 to 180 000 are employed our troubled industry. within the industry is a clear swipe in the dark and an When are our leaders going to finally realise that insult to the intelligence of even the most disinterest- schoolboy level fibbing, hot air, spin, mudcakes, ed civil servant. smoke ‘n mirrors, and the rest of their treacher- a variance of 60 000 on a minimum of a 120 000 is ous egotistical fumbling will no longer work when a ludicrous indictment on it’s own that somebody is the last race is run and the sheriff comes knocking thumb-sucking. for the boardroom tables to be loaded on to the truck to the auction yard? and it is this very harry casual approach to everything SPORTING POST DIGEST • Thursday 8 auGust 2019 2 LET THEM EAT WAFFLE NEWS that will continue to compound the slide to racing’s day zero. That is until a real leader without any vested agendas and only The World’s Richest! racing’s best interests at heart, says enough is enough of this The $20m Saudi Cup, to be run at King Abdulaziz Racetrack in bull, and stands up. Riyadh on 29 February 2020 is now the world’s richest race. admittedly slightly dated figures sourced from an economic impact study and presented by present day Nha Board Member Robin Bruss to a 2013 Parliamentary Portfolio Committee hear- ing suggested that employment figures in horseracing, estimat- ed at 100 000 in 1995, had plunged to just over 15 000 in 2009. The industry has continued to shrink over the past decade – and besides the top heavy executive structures in certain offices who are staring down the barrel of a gun, how can they – these anonymous stakeholders - possibly consider the 180 000 to be a true reflection of the reality? It’s easy to criticise and harp on one aspect. But frankly, there is no other substance in the communication. and there is simply no time for the ‘additional due diligence, process and consultation’ that they suggest is required to create HRH Prince Bandar bin Khalid Al Faisal a ‘single body’, which they so disingenuously suggest will be Details of the contest were announced by Prince Bandar bin ‘crucial’ to the success. That has been the ignored call for a dec- Khalid al Faisal, chairman of the Jockey Club Of Saudi arabia, at ade – scrambling the eggs now, may just be too little too late. a launch event in Saratoga this week. The announcement can be read here The race will be run over 1800m on dirt and have a maximum It won’t inform you of anything you didn’t know before you read field of 14 starters. it. The prize for the winning horse will be uS$10,000,000 with What a dreadfully sad anti-climax. finishers down to 10th place sharing another uS$10 000 000 between them. The Saudi Cup will take its place on the international calendar and will be run four weeks after the Pegasus World Cup at VENUE SWITCH Gulfstream Park, and four weeks prior the Dubai World Cup at Meydan. This means that the top horses in training have the Due to continual rain in the Western Cape, a decision opportunity to compete in all three of the most valuable dirt has been taken to move this Saturday’s race meeting, races in the world. originally scheduled for Durbanville, to Kenilworth Race- The prizemoney of the Saudi Cup places it in esteemed company. course. Following 17mm of rain in the last 24hours and 28mm in The Pegasus World Cup had a peak value of uS$16 million the last 7 days, with more forecast, there are concerns that in 2018 while the Dubai World Cup is currently worth uS$12 the track at the country course will not dry out sufficiently. million. In terms of turf races, the richest is in australia (the Everest) Race 2, Race 3, Race 7 and Race 8, all programmed over and is worth uS$9.8 million, in Japan the mark is uS$6 million 1250m, will be reduced to the distance of 1200m to ac- for the Japan Cup and Europe’s most lucrative event (the Prix de commodate the venue change. l’arc de Triomphe) has a prize fund of uS$5.6 million. There are eight races carded and the first is due off at The race is open to Northern hemisphere four-year-olds and up- 13h15.The final race is off at 17h25. wards and Southern hemisphere three-year-olds and upwards, Kenilworth Racing Track Management took the decision to and will be run at weight-for-age. move the Durbanville meetings of 19 and 25 June to Ke- Lasix and Bute will not be allowed in the Saudi Cup. nilworth to give the country course a rest and for essential treatment. Entries are due by noon on Tuesday 7 January 2020. There are ten Durbanville meetings scheduled for the The race is free to enter and free to run and shipment of invited September/October period – that while Kenilworth under- horses will be arranged and paid for by the Jockey Club Of Saudi takes its spring treatment break. arabia, which will also pay for stables, fodder, veterinary fees and farrier, and arrange and pay for flights and accommodation Get your racecard here of connections. Read more here can be purchased here SPORTING POST DIGEST • Thursday 8 auGust 2019 3 WEEKEND RACING and distance and if she doesn’t give too much ground away at the A Promise Of Better Days jump, she could grab a back-end of the quartet cheque. Pinnacle Stakes Turffontein Saturday Our ratings point to Dalai’s Promise and the industrious Muzi yeni After being spoilt with an endless stream of high quality feature getting our START headlined racing that seemed to start somewhere in the height 12:55PM PINNACLE StaKES - 1000M Bipot off to a of the Cape Summer of Champions and roll through the High- TURFFONTEIN 2 SAME TRAINER:(2-5)(3-6) flyer. Best of veld and on to the heights of the KZN champions fest, we have Kahal 1 PRINCE OF KAHAL(RR Magner) D Schwarz ... 4 60.0 the rest could Potala Palace 2 Dalai’s PROMISE(Ashley Fortune) M Yeni .... 1 54.5 hit something of ground zero as August month traditionally Seventh Rock 3 DONNY G(G Maroun) T Juglall........................... 3 54.0 be Donny G. Overlord 4 TalktotheStarS(FC de Beer) C F Dicken .... 2 52.5 does on the calendar. Fencing Master 5 MOUNT KEITH(Ashley Fortune) C Bantam ....... 6 50.0 Weaned off our decadent diet with some Great Britain 6 QUEEN OF WAR(G Maroun) J R Syster ........... 5 50.0 really entertaining non black-type racing at Flamingo Park last weekend, we are now focussed on two R130 000 Pinnacle Stakes features on the Turffontein standside track A General Poser? on Saturday. Not that there is anything Our handicappers are always in the news. That’s just the way it wrong with the quality of the contestants. works, it seems. Dalai's Promise | JC Photos The Bipot opener is a 1000m dash and not Last week it was the publication of the revised and softer unexpectedly loaded with raw speed. guidelines applicable to the assessment of races. Prior to that it was the blanket ten point merit rating increase. Now it’s a While the field is a small one with only six runners, Bipot players former Sa Champion trainer tearing his hair out. may feel a bit nervous about bankering the SP top-rated Dalai’s Promise. But not for any other reason than she does return from “What am I going to do with him? Maybe the handicappers an unplaced effort on Super Saturday, when she did not enjoy can help,” was Justin Snaith’s reply when asked by Gold Circle the Greyville polytrack and failed to feature - running just under 6 journalist Michael Clower as to when his ‘boom’ 3yo General lengths off Sunset Eyes. She is not the world’s happiest traveller Franco is going to run. if one looks back to her Cape summer campaign, and is a much This is the Frankel colt who looked a potential superstar when better girl on home turf. winning on debut in mid-april only to finish plumb last when The daughter of Potala Palace reeled off an impressive Vaal 1000m odds-on for his only subsequent start the following month; hattrick before travelling to Durban, and even though those victo- slightly sore shins was the only plausible reason to emerge.