My memories of SA racing

Western Telex should have been a very good horse but his undoing was at the start where he should always be slow away and loose many lengths. If you backed him it was case of hit and miss until his latter part of his career but he was still giving away a slight start.

Nobody seems to mention Field Street Tattersalls ....da gong going and the claim been made ... punters waiting for paper wrappers (guys dat wrapped their moola in newspaper and walked into bookmakers cubicles to lay their bets) .....dat man Som Singh had freaking guts to lay but then he was in the know... I remember taking 16000/1000 twice from him on Spanish Galliard in the July and he freaking told me I will see you later ... and he did money and all.

Boxer Goolam legendary tipster and form /breeding guru a racing icon and a childhood hero of mine...This was taken in '66 and shortly after this article was published Sea Cottage was shot...

royal president wrote: Nobody seems to mention Field Street Tattersalls ....da gong going and the claim been made ... punters waiting for paper wrappers (guys dat wrapped their moola in newspaper and walked into bookmakers cubicles to lay their bets) .....dat man Som Singh had freaking guts to lay but then he was in the know... I remember taking 16000/1000 twice from him on Spanish Galliard in the July and he freaking told me I will see you later ... and he did money and all.

RP Som was a PROPER bookmaker... fearless and paid with a smile....Field Street tats with the cafe upstairs and the public phone box on the 2nd floor...great memories

Winning my first pick 6

What a thrill. The firm that i worked for had their offices close to Spotty. Across the road was the tote. Went to work with my P6 already worked out and as soon as they opened i nipped across the road to place my bet of a R8.00

I then went on my calls around the Peninsula and arrived back at the office at around 3.30. Before going in i went to the tote to check the results. First 2 legs in, great. About another 60 minutes or so i went across the road to the cafe to get a toasted sarnie (single so whats cooking eh). Nipped back into the tote next two legs in. Shit am i going to take this out as it looks like its paying ok.

Now the nerves starting to kick in. So went back to work and sat at my desk nibbling on my toasted sarnie (cheese and onion) you must try it if you have never had one really delicious.

4 legs in the 5th leg just about off, should i go across and listen (they did not have a tv ) No i will wait until after. 10 minutes later i knocked off work and made my way, very nervously across the way. Bang 5th leg in. Great. Next 15 minutes were the longest of my life.

All in, ready to race and they are off. I had a banker in that last leg over the 1200. Good draw and was the favourite so surely i have a big chance as this was Durbanville. Turning into the straight my horse was in the front and as the commentator said that he has 4 lengths clear i knew it was my lucky day. From then on until they crossed the line it was all a blur in my mind.

Now the wait to hear the announcement how much it paid. What seemed an eternity, which in reality must have been a few minutes, they called the winning numbers of the pick 6 and the pay out was R17280.00 Yes yes yes. R17K in the late 80s was a great amount of money at all that on a R8 bet. Funny thing is that it took me so long to win it that 2 Saturdays later i won another won, paid just over R4K but still. Jackpots were more my thing and was fortunate to win now and again but nothing like the P6 win.

Great topic guys. Every single reply brought a smile and a lump to the throat.

Millennium Diamond was the big punt a earlier poster was thinking about in Cape Town which David Payne pulled off.

Great memories, Illustrador, Royal Chalice, Roland Song, Martin Locke doing a great job interviewing, even at the start, Spanish Galliard, Star Effort, Wolf Power, the Match Race with Northern Princess and Senor Santa, Goldmark, Icona, Steven Jupp and Leopard Strike, Felix and his white whip, so many great memories. Betting on Jeff Lloyd Glynn Schofield Felix Coetzee Muis Roberts Pierre Stetson in his younger day, my favorite courses Newmarket and Clairwood, candy floss and popcorn at Clairwood back in the day, I used to bunk school in Port Shepstone and hitch hike to racing and then hitch hike back home after a day of winning or losing but still totally thrilled with life, great racing, sadly it's all gone! Racing has lost its sparkle, the operators have left us with shitty racecourses and boring racing. The small guy and dream has gone, sad to say.

I don't punt anymore or have anything to do with racing anymore but still love it andngo into the tote now and then when I feel like a smile to watch some mad punter screaming his horse home, it's still brilliant but sadly the racing doesn't do it for me here anymore except on the bigger days. I still find British racing fascinating though and enjoy a day out at the races if I'm over in the U.K. Aid racing also has it going right with the bookies area. I'm sorry but a racecourse without a full ring of on course bookies isn't a racecourse!

Great stories, look forward to more...

In the early 70's I was on course at Scottsville. Saw a bit of a carfuffle going on. Went over to see the Security throwing this old man out of the gate, handling him rather roughly I thought.

Noticed this old man now at the fence beckoning us to come and speak to him. By the time we got there the wig , false nose, big jacket had been discarded. He pushed about R1000.00 (massive in those days) and asked it be put on a certain horse. By this time the course security was there and removed him completely!.

The horse duly won at around 4/1 ( cant even remember the name).One of our acquaintances had taken the bet and now was holding this stack of cash. A gentleman comes up and says, go to Durban Tatts, on Monday and Joe Balamenos will collect his winnings from you. Was there wating for his winnings and gave the punter 10% present.

To our younger ABC ers you wont know the name, but one of the shrewdest trainers and punters SA has ever seen.......

Scottsville, 1983, someone on the site walks to (i think) Tommy Morgan and puts R 5 000.00 on a 7/1 David Payne horse running at Germiston. Needless to say every man and his dog empties their pockets on the self same horse. It arrived and both out of province bookies were sulking. If memory serves me right, the horse was owned by (Dr) Richard Mopanya.

This person reads and posts here regularly, hopefully he remembers this day and punt.

A bookmaking story :

For a 6 month period in 1992 I held a bookmaking license. I bought it because I loved the game & thought I might make a few bob on Wednesdays & Saturdays. I retained my fulltime core business & literally only pitched to the course on racedays to 'stand up'. I had the time of my life! I eventually sold my right only because I realised I could not run two businesses simultaneously.

One particularly memorable Saturday afternoon at Kenilworth we arrived at the penultimate race of the afternoon - a top division 1200m sprint. I fancied a runner trained by Paddy Kruyer called Sectional Title. He opened at 12/10 so I meandered over to Michael Hayman and asked him for R20,000 - 15,000; which he laid me after a brief hesitation & cocked eyebrow.

I went back to my box and said nothing.

The money started to come for my fancy and eventually he jumped at 9/10. All the time I kept telling the staff - Just lay him! The late Les Broad was 'guesting' as my clerk that day. Nothing phased Les but even he turned to me and cautioned me that we were standing the horse for well over R10,000 ( probably about R50,000 in today's value).

I just shrugged and said - 'They are all on at evens ' as I eyed the enormous melee of hysterical punters in front of my box.

I must point out that the size of the mob is often unrelated to the size of your liability; most of the punters were R50/R100 merchants.

Eventually Les said to me : 'Boyo - were are now on the third page of the betting sheet for this race & they have only backed one horse!' At which point I called a halt and fell in line with the remainder of the market at 9/10.

My staff looked rather bemused when Sectional Title doddled in by four. In keeping with the protocol of the day they all became very quiet to show solidarity with what they believed was a massive loss on my part.

'How much did we do?' I asked Les.

'About 12 grand' he replied.

'Ah, well. That's racing' was my reply.

We never struck a single bet on the final race as my staff were still too busy paying out on Sectional Title. So I wandered off to one of the 'bucket shop' operators and took an even R4,000 on the last favourite ; which also won.

On the way out from the course Les sidled up to me & said : 'Sectional Title gave you a horror day, boyo.'

To which I replied : 'Collect R14,100 from Michael Hayman & R4,000 from Mr X on Monday & it won't look that bad!'

His reply was unprintable.

We were always the best of friends after that and up until his death.

I could never really fathom what happened to Terry Lowe as a trainer. He trained one of my fav horses Lord Shirldor !

Great posts ...fond memories of all these tracks..
I think if Turffies was I in a better area.... you would get better attendance ... We only go to the track if a mate of mine has a horse running.. or my nephew who is a jockey is up from Durban...and riding here

Yes great thread and the mind boggles maybe a book one day on racing stories

Divine Act
Mill Reef
Lucky Jim
Breathless
When I was a bookie
Bucket shop in the factory when Roberto won the Derby
Won a 9 horse Union Jack to pay for wedding

Everyone a long story, will get back to you but thanks for the contributions