My memories of SA racing

Its so sad to read the poor state that SA racing is apparently in these days.

Saturday morning, oh yes its racing at Kenilworth today. Got my race card and Argus racing page, Computer form was only for the big backers those days as i could not afford one as it was a trifecta cost. Phone a few friends, no not on a mobile but on the land line. Whats good for today blah blah blah.

Work out the PA, shit its R64 too much what can i leave out. Ok narrowed it down to R24. Fingers crossed lets hope that i have not messed up. Down to the off tote on the Racecourse road put on the PA and a couple of other bets in case i forget about them when at the track. Go home have a bowl of cereal, too much hassle to make a sarnie for lunch and then walk down to the track, just 10 minutes away.

All happy with the expectation of winning. R200 win for the day would be great, rent almost covered for the next month already then.

Crowds beginning to fill in, best get to the bookies to see the prices for the first race. Bookies start shouting the odds, runners in postion, boards priced up. 15 minutes to the off of the first race. You could feel the excitement and expectancy in the air. The crowd is buzzing as there are one or two class horses from the Millard stable running later. Lets save some money for those two. Off to the parade ring behind the main stand. People milling around in the parade ring, all smartly attired. Horses been lead around the ring by there grooms. Out come the jockeys. My eyes are searching for a tell, if there is a coupling where will the trainer spend the most time. The jockeys mount and the usual ride him Puller is heard from his loyal fans who are scattered around a now pretty packed parade ring. The bell goes and as the horses disappear from sight and onto the track their is a stampede from the parade ring to the bookies ring and what seemed to be like 10s of tote windows. I still have not made up my mind which horse/ swinger/trifecta to play. Ok made my mind up, placed my bets and its up to the stand in the silver ring to watch. Sometimes when i felt posh i paid the extra, usually around pay day to venture with the hoi poloi in the members.

They are off, down the straight they come and wosh past the post. Yes i won a swinger. Great now i can get myself a hot dog and a coke plus play and extra horse in my jackpot or pick 6.

The process continues into the 2nd race, the 3rd race. Darn it at this rate i may be out of here before the 5th race which was normally the main race of the day. Must not forget about that Millard horse. The course is now packed the crowd roar as the favourite wins the 4th race by 5 lengths. The bookies dont look too happy. They reluctantly pay out bundles of cash to the lucky ones who have backed big. The main race of the day is almost upon us. I dont bother to go to the parade ring as they wont be any space. Bookies runners are running around laying bets to each other. The horses enter the course proper and do their usual run past and off to the starting stall. So far i am down but am still in the PA. I take out a green note R10 and walk up to the bookie. Take the Millard horse at 3/1. Yes that will be R40 when it wins. Still way away from the R200 that i want for the day. Millards horse wins and i am up for the day.
The next couple of races come and go and i am still up about R60 on the day. My PA is shot. What do i do, keep the R60 and go home or have a bet on the favourite which has about a dozen live tickets on it for the P6. Yes i will have R20 in the 14/10 favourite. Get in it wins and i go home with a profit. Get home have a beer and look forward to next weeks meeting.

Great days which from afar appear to be missing from SA racing nowadays.

Ah those were the days chook!

So in my time it was Gosforth Park or the big T on a Saturday and Newmarket or the Vaal on a Wednesday. No exceptions thats how it was, no rubbish about spring treatments, no rubbish about jockey protests, no rubbish about starting stalls not functioning, no rubbish about the turf not being ready. In my 30 odd years of racing before Phumelela destroyed the ethos of horseracing in Johannesburg WE NEVER LOST A MEETING DUE TO INCOMPETENCY, the lost meetings were all acts of God. To the best of my ability I can only recall one meeting lost and that was the meeting scheduled just after the Hennenman plane crash disaster, RIP to all those fantastic jocks we lost.

I was employed by a large financial institution in the Johannesburg CBD, and depending on circumstances would regularly go "see a customer/supplier/colleague at a branch etc etc" on a Wednesday afternoon. If racing was at Newmarket it would be a day at the track, if racing was at the Vaal it would be a booze filled afternoon at the Loveday street tatts. Now these were the days long before cellphones so once you were out the office, you were home and hosed, free as a bird. So if it was Newmarket racing, you needed to get there at least 30 minutes before the off or otherwise the parking for the general public would be full and you would need to park outside the track in the surrounding suburb. In those days members of the various clubs had dedicated parking areas and I would often bribe the parking attendants with R5 to lift the tapes and let me in. Entrance was either Silver or Gold ( In Apartheid the people of colour went to the Bronze ring ) and entrance fees were paid. Often if you timed it wrong it could take up to 5 minutes to get to the front of the queue and on more than one occasion this delay cost me in terms of "getting on" for the first. Once inside and depending on the company I as in, we either spent it in an on course pub, rushing out to watch the races, or when I got lucky I either got invited or sneaked into the members. Due to the nature of my job I was always attired in a 3 piece suit. Over time I worked out an ingenious scheme to join owners on their way back from the parade ring before a race and never once was I challenged. Once inside members it was a dream afternoon sitting at the long bar overlooking the track. The great thing about this spot was it was frequented by many owners and trainers and I would often overhear what the graft was for the day. Those days were the happiest of my life I absolutely adored Newmarket, and loved it even more when the lights were installed. After years of ducking and diving, in 1991 I became a member of the club and rarely missed a meeting there.

If midweek racing was at the vaal, my "meetings" continued undaunted. My place of employment was close to the Loveday street tatts so I would park at a public parking facility nearby and walk across to the rooms. Those rooms were a cauldron of personalities, big punters, scalliwags, hustlers, the lot. There was no televised racing broadcast in those days and the races were called over the "blower". I recall with fondness race calling from Francois Wolfaardt in particular describing a race and the resultant cheers and jeers from the masses as the race unfolded. Those were great afternoons, spent with racing friends, talking racing and getting sozzled. We would often bolt across to the Benders between races. It was the done thing in those days. The preparation for the Saturdays racing began on your way out from both the track and the rooms when you threw away that days Computaform and purchased the Saturday edition from the vendor at the exit.

Saturday racing was the creme de la creme of racing on the Highveld. The quality of horses were better, and to be honest, the competition between the racing clubs to better each other was fierce. Both Turffontein and Gosforth Park were always in magnificent condition and if those stewards could see the condition of our current tracks they would weep. As a member of the public if you weren't parked 30 minutes before the first on any given Saturday, you would either be 6 blocks away on the sidewalk in Turffontein suburb or under the gumtrees about a kilometre from the entrance at Gosforth Park. I have to say that facilities wise Gosforth was my favourite. Whilst the members facilities were opulent, the gold ring facilities for day trippers were superb and you could have a great day between parade ring, pub and grandstand in very close proximity to one another. Turffontein wasn't as grand but we spent the majority of our time in the men only pub just around the corner from the main grandstand and invariably I would stagger out long after the last after a fun days racing. Attendances at both tracks on any Saturday were in the tens of thousands and you would often not have seating available come race time. I miss those days. I haven't been on a racecourse for many years now, it hurts too much to see the decline.

CNC and OTA, lovely pieces that brings back many good memories and penned in a way that brings the experiences to life.

In Phumelela's defence it was a lot easier getting the logistics right when only racing twice a week and clearly having racing daily is partly to blame for some recent losses.

Having said this racing was almost inspirational in the old days, not anymore, and money was still worth something when you had a win.

Would love to see racing reaching out to the new generation in a more creative way and establishing a love for the game that will build future fond memories like the one's penned here for new players.

Newmarket racing at night was my fav, it was always a mission to get there from Pretoria but the atmosphere was great and the horses could also fly at that 1000 mt at the Germiston track

Thanks for the memories

Great posts... to me that is the difference why people went racing in those days if you were not at the race course or in the big tattersalls you did not know what the business was or who was backing the so called graft no info was available freely ...today a punter on his phone or online can punt a horse and we can only speculate who it is or if it is genuine money...

Great posts. I'm a little bit younger than you guys and can not imagine 3 racetracks, Gosforth Park, Newmarket and Turffontein within a stone throw from each other. Must have been the good old days? Wish I were there..................

I could write a book,but seeing Empress Club beat Taban and Marie Galante in course record time over 1000m @ Durbanville tops many great memories.

The other two were really good sprinters,and she just blew them away.What a champ she was.

H, I was lucky enough to be on course that day and it was beautiful to watch. Believe she started at probably the longest odds that was ever available on her, about 3/1

Good memories indeed.

I was a runner and I remember 4/1 and 9/2 being traded,although she may have started shorter by race time(can't remember,I must be getting old).

Great memories, thanks Chicken and OTA

In my younger bachelor days I never missed a Saturday meet at Gosforth or Turffies - and pretty much the same experience as Chicken - running up and down from the parade ring to the stands to get a good view - one of my biggest expenses during varsity days was 'investing' in a pair of binoculars - the better to watch the horses with, my dear

My biggest win was at Gosforth when I caught the P6 banking some horse in the last leg against the favorite trained by Tony Millard and the 2nd favorite ridden by Striker - can't remember the horse, but can still recall how my Computaform was flying through the air after my banker cruised in

Those were the days indeed :pinch:

Be it Ascot Bulawayo or any other course, I remember the excitement pumping me with adrenalin. I don't get that feeling anymore

You are probably right H

I got there just before the off of the race and grabbed the 3/1 and some people mentioned that higher was available.