Durban July winner makes history
Ashwin Reynolds, the first person of colour to own a Durban July winner, dedicates the victory to the “uncles at the tote”
IT’S the biggest, most glamorous event on the racing calendar and the Greyville Racecourse in Durban is usually swarming with the who’s who of South Africa, dressed to the nines and quaffing bubbly in the balmy KwaZulu-Natal winter sunshine. But of course, things must be done very differently these days. Last year the Durban July was held behind closed doors and this year it was a significantly watered-down affair.
There were no cheering crowds, no booze and precious little fanfare. The only people allowed onto the grounds were trainers, jockeys, core racing personnel and a handful of media representatives.
Everyone else had to watch the R2,5-million race on TV – and that included the owners of the racehorses galloping to the finishing line in all their thoroughbred magnificence.
But for one owner, it was good enough – in fact, it was almost too much to take in. Ashwin Reynolds watched as his horse, Kommetdieding, overcame an unfavourable draw to dash to glory in the final seconds of the race. The win caused a major upset for race favourites Got the Greenlight and Linebacker.
In a rags-to-riches story fit for a fairytale, the sensational win made Ashwin (47), who grew up in impoverished circumstances on the Cape Flats, the first person of colour to own a Durban July winner in the race’s almost-125-year history.
His racing colours will now be displayed on the wall of honour in Hollywoodbets Greyville’s Classic Room alongside many of South Africa’s most famous racing silks (the colourful uniforms jockeys wear).
“Everything just came back to me when I saw Kommetdieding win,” he tells YOU.
“I saw my late grandfather and I just couldn’t anymore so I sank to the floor and broke down and cried.”
His wife, Rene (48), and sons, Brandon (23) and Aiden (13), were beside themselves.
“They were shouting and screaming at the top of their lungs,” Ashwin says.
ASHWIN’S exposure to horse racing started when he was a six-year-old boy growing up in Grassy Park and he spent many a weekend with his ear pinned to the radio, listening to the races.
“My grandfather would always ask me to listen and jot down the numbers while he napped,” he recalls.
Ashwin’s dad died when he was nine and his grandfather, Titus Reynolds, took over as the father figure in the home. Still, his mom, Yvonne Scott – who worked in Woolworths’ food department – struggled to fend for her children without their father present and Ashwin dropped out of school at 16 to find a job.
“I grew up very poor as the eldest of six siblings,” he says. “I never completed school. I had to work to help my mother.”
Yet the sport of kings continued to loom large in Ashwin’s life.
“My first job was working for a man called Oswald Fouten who owned race horses and I always admired him for having his own successful company.”
His passion for horse racing was further strengthened when he married Rene at the age of 22.
“Rene’s family are horse racing fanatics and through them I started spending my Saturdays at the races. I fell in love with the thrill of the sport and made it my goal to own my own racehorse before I turned 40.”
After he married Rene, Ashwin went to the UK on his own and spent two years there, working as a labourer and saving as much money as he could. When he returned, he started a building and maintenance business in 2006 and the company grew from strength to strength, enabling him to buy a home in Claremont in Cape Town’s southern suburbs.
But his love of horse racing remained and when an acquaintance suggested he join him in a partnership to own a 10% share in a horse called Noordhoek Ice, Ashwin couldn’t refuse.
All it took was for the animal to win one race and Ashwin was addicted to the thrill of owning a horse in the sport he adored.
“Each win is a totally different type of excitement,” he says. “Owning and racing horses is almost like a drug. Once you’re hooked you just want to buy and buy.”
Today Ashwin owns 17 horses in partnership with others and fully owns three – one of which is the history-making, nearly four-year-old Kommetdieding.
Asked how he came across the colt, he replies, “I didn’t find him, he found me.”
Trainer Harold Crawford phoned him from a sale he was attending with his daughter and training partner, Michelle Rix, and asked Ashwin if he could buy a horse for him.
“Usually when trainers attend sales on behalf of owners they spend between R200 000 and R300 000 on a colt or filly, and they’re told to pay attention to the horse’s breeding and bloodlines.
“I couldn’t afford to spend that much so I told Oom Harold my limit was R80 000. Luckily for me, he happened to find this colt for R55 000 – a steal.
“I genuinely believe we were meant to find each other.”
KOMMETDIEDING is also believed to be the first Durban July winner with an Afrikaans name – so what’s the story behind it? “I was having a drink with a friend one night soon after I’d bought him [Kommetdieding] and he dared me to name the horse after his favourite Afrikaans catchphrase, ‘Kom met die ding’, which means ‘bring it on’.
“I’d had a couple of drinks at that point and as a joke I immediately called the trainer to tell her I’d found a name for the horse. She thought I was being dead serious, and that was that.”
Ashwin laughs as he recalls how racing commentators at first struggled to pronounce the name, especially as they needed to quickly rattle off names in the heat of the racing action.
One person who didn’t struggle at all to say the horse’s unique name after his Durban July triumph was golfing legend Gary Player, who called from his home in the US to congratulate Ashwin.
“Soon after the win I got a call and the person says, ‘Hi, it’s Gary Player’. I honestly thought it was a joke.
“He congratulated me on the win and making history, and I was so chuffed. For a legend like him to just call me up – it felt surreal.”
Despite the accolades and praise, Ashwin insists this win is for the people on the Cape Flats who cheered for or betted on his horse.
“For me, this win is for uncles like my grandfather, Titus. The uncles who can only afford to play R100 or R200 out at the tote,” Ashwin says.
“Horse racing isn’t just for South Africa’s wealthy elite, and I think the industry needs to do more to acknowledge those at the bottom who spend what they can and keep the industry going.”
‘THEY WERE SHOUTING AND SCREAMING AT THE TOP OF THEIR LUNGS’