Not all have been bowled over by the 20-20 format
OPINION: OWNER SUGGESTS THE RACE MEETINGS HAVE BECOME ‘MORE LIKE A CIRCUS’
There is a definite need to package product differently from time to time, says Hawkins.
Cricket fans will be delighted with South Africa’s recent win over New Zealand in a 20-20 match, but the 20-20 racing format at Greyville is not proving everyone’s cup of tea.
Prominent KZN owner, Alesh Naidoo, went onto a website to voice his dissatisfaction with the latest idea to attract new fans.
Naidoo stated: “My view as an owner is that 20-20 horseracing at Greyville has become more like a circus.
“This must be abolished immediately as I will no longer allow my horses to participate in these meetings.
“For too long I have been talking to guys at the top level and they keep on saying 'we are trying'. Now that you’ve tried - it doesn’t work.
“The industry is not making monies or entertaining anyone on course so please stop it at once. Don’t make a mockery of our horses in this sense. Someone on the top level please take note of this.
“I heard from a lot of trainers on course saying they will not be supporting in future.”
Graeme Hawkins, marketing executive for Gold Circle, was quick to respond to Naidoo’s criticism.
“For starters, I guess you are never going to please all the people all of the time, but the feedback we have had from punters and viewers across the country has been positive. Some even suggesting there should be a meeting at least once a month and not only a few times a year.”
“We do understand the 20-20 meetings come with some inconvenience to owners and trainers and for that reason we intend to stage a maximum of four such meetings per annum.
“Change is always resisted but there is a definite need to ‘shake things up a bit’ and package our product differently from time to time. I was most encouraged to read of a call to introduce these 20-20 meetings in Australia.
“From a turnover perspective there is no evidence to suggest the 20-20 meetings compromise our revenues. In fact, the 20-20 meeting in October 2016 yielded the highest turnover during the first quarter of the Night Racing season, only eclipsed during the holiday season in December.
“To ensure jockeys are not compromised we have reduced the number of apprentice races outside 20/20 meetings to maintain the same number of opportunities for apprentices on an annual basis. It certainly makes economic sense to bring in apprentices from around the country to ride in four races at a meeting than in one or two as was the situation.
“To describe the 20-20 meetings as a ‘circus’ is most unfortunate. Perhaps he just had a bad night!
“Ironically, as a result of the tragic accident on the N3 which caused delays (Duncan Howells took four hours to travel from Ashburton to Greyville and arrived in time for race seven!) the 20-20 format saved that meeting from being abandoned.
“I certainly don’t want to ‘oversell’ the 20-20 concept, but there is no doubt in my mind that there is plenty of scope for the promoters of the sport of horseracing. Gold Circle stages more than 110 race meetings annually in KZN. Some are very important feature meetings, but most are of the ‘bread-and-butter’ variety. Surely some of these lend themselves to being ’re-packaged’?
“All that being said, perhaps 20 minutes between races was a little radical for the ‘purists’, notwithstanding that operationally we have nailed the challenges that such a race meeting presents.
“Maybe we can settle on 25 minutes between races and allow the horses a little more time in the parade ring before going out for the following race,” concluded Graeme.
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So what’s happened to last season’s Cape Fillies Guineas winner, Silver Mountain? Not only did she win that race from the worst draw, but went on to finish second in the 2016 CTS Million Dollar.
Interviewed prior to Saturday’s Vasco Taverna Prix du Cap, Anton Marcus said he was hoping Just Sensual would return to her best but felt Silver Mountain would be a tough rival.
Most pundits (including Racing Express’ Jack Milner) called it right when selecting Joe Ramsden’s runner, but Candice BassRobinson’s newly appointed firstchoice jockey, Aldo Domeyer, found there was nothing in the tank when asked to cut back the leaders.
Although fillies can be notoriously unpredictable, one now has to rate stablemate, Nightingale, winner of the Klawervlei Majorca Stakes on Sun Met Day, the better of the two.