Cape Argus -John Mcdonald (td)

Hibbs its the root of all evil MONEY.
There was a trainer at Summerveld that never had money and was running to other yards to get the left over feed.
If John had the Money this problem would not have existed.

But if stipes did there job this really would not have existed.

There was an ex trainer in Natal a few years ago whos horses were in worse condition no feed in yard,
i called the jockey club they said they will investigate

Took a few weeks before Sxxt hit fan

horses moved on

One thing for sure Pirates im sure you would not have made the debating team.

Shame all round !! esp the horses.

well said Neigh shame all round .
When people are in tbl some people can take it some cant.

Some people commit suicide some fight back.

As i said John is not a bad guy and im sure he feels bad for the situation.
I prey for his sake he gets out of all the tbl and prospers.

As for the horses i hope they find good new homes.

sorry to hear about the horses, and also sorry to hear about John - and that it arrived at such a low point. Glad some got out in time - but back to the issue that was raised here previously - nl. owners not paying. What to do? at what stage does the trainer call SOS and to whom??? and how does one 'report' non-paying owners...or threaten to sell the goddamn horse if they cannot afford to feed it??? surely we cannot all be so naive as to think every trainer has a bottomless pit of cash flow to carry funds not coming in?

think about it...12 horses....approx R1000pm to feed and care properly....R12,000 per month...is a lot to find if it isn't coming in!

I am assuming John's issue was cash flow = so stand under correction. Point made however...

Why not put your pride in your pocket and ask for help? :S

Why was the state of the horses not reported by the officials who check the stables weekly.It could all have possibly been avoided!!!!!!!!!

ask whom, Ryperd?

just a general question - the O&T Benevolent Fund.....what does that cover?

I have said this on many other threads around this kind of issue ... Why are defaulting owners allowed to get away with NOT paying their bills? Owning a racehorse is a luxury, not a neccessity... and if you cannot pay don't buy. John must accept part of the blame as he must understand horses cannot defend for themselves and long before it got to the stage where the horses were suffering he should have taken some action (request the horses move to another yard, request the owners to move them, ask for help...whatever) ... but as always on these forums and threads there are some known facts and much speculation. And of course, there are always two sides to a story.

What a shame....I hear the pros and cons re: John Macdonald however he should have called the authorities ages ago.In this way if there was owners guilty of not paying stable fees, he could have refered the authorities to them.
I sincerely hope that the animals will be saved however one feels immensely sad at the plight of the mare Fortis.