Harness racing launched in SA

A crowd gathered at Greyville Racecourse in Durban early yesterday to witness the official launch of harness-racing in South Africa. The occasion also provided an opportunity for the horses to get used to the Greyville track where the first two official races will take place on Friday evening, March 27.



The seven horses which will compete in these races were put through their paces individually but although each trial was timed, visiting Swedish professional harness racing trainer, Johan Nilsson, who is lending his expertise and providing guidance, said the times could be misleading as some of the horses do not give of their best when working alone.



The public were also given a demonstration of the rolling start which will be employed at the first event.



Dean Latimer, chairman of the South African Harness Racing Association and the driving force behind the venture, was well pleased with the attendance and level of interest being shown. He said that overall it was a successful introduction of the standard bred and the concept of a sulky being drawn rather than a horse being ridden in a race.



Latimer said he was particularly satisfied with the way all the drivers performed, especially the BEE drivers who all come from a rural background.



One of the riders, Willie Mahlaba, has had a long association with thoroughbred racehorses and is the first unrestricted license holder and trainer of harness horses in the country. Nkululeko Jali, originally from Mount Ayliff in the Eastern Cape, has worked as a groom at Ashburton while the youngest of the trio, Nkululeko Kunene hails from Dundee and is the nephew of Menzi Buthelezi, chairman of the KZN Rural Horse-riding Association.



The other drivers taking part in the first races are former jockeys Garth Puller and Jimmy Anderson, Ashburton-based trainer Bart Rice and Swede, Johan Nilsson.



Gold Circle Director of Racing Graeme Hawkins said that Gold Circle was proud to be associated with the new venture and indicated that active participation could be expected by a far greater diversity of people within all communities in which the company operated. He said it also added a different dimension for all existing racing enthusiasts and that he expected the sport to grow as awareness and interest increased.



Longstanding KZN racing commentator Craig Peters, said he was honoured to be calling the historic first two races and said that while there was common ground with thoroughbred racing, the dynamics and speed of the new discipline required some thought and creativity on the race-caller’s part. He said that he had been studying and observing the overseas transmissions and had picked up a few useful hints from that source.



With a further 70 horses arriving from Sweden in the near future, it is expected that harness racing in this country will take off and compliment the local thoroughbred industry.



Ends

Government should take control of racing. They would do a better job

i take it these 2 cart races will be run AFTER the proper racing has been completed so the track does not get stuffed..a bit of rain come the day and the track will be ripped to shreds

Can you be a virtual punter? because I am virtually broke.

.

Unforgivable.

FYI, harness racing was a big sport in the U.S., but has shrunk drastically. It could have something to do with the number of driver/trainers that were sent to federal prison for fixing the races over such a long span of time. It is rumored that meetings of the Hall of Fame for harness drivers were conducted at one prison in Upstate New York.

Several harness drivers are rumored to have granted early prison released, because their arms required surgery on the ligaments and tendons, an occupational hazzard that resulted from these fine athletes pulling on their horses so hard so they wouldn't run up to expectations.

Hey, whil Gold Circle is at it, why don't they start promoting Jai Alai? Only two players. Might be the easiest game to fix in all of sport.

-"Gold Circle Director of Racing Graeme Hawkins said that Gold Circle was proud to be associated with the new venture"
-"Longstanding KZN racing commentator Craig Peters, said he was honoured to be calling the historic first two races and said that while there was common ground with thoroughbred racing"
-"harness racing in this country will take off and compliment the local thoroughbred industry"

Insanity:

I've hit some resistance when I've complained about the non-racing posts on this forum, but it highlights the danger to racing when it doesn't look after itself, or maintain some form of 'purity'.

When horse racing tries to raise funds for itself away from it's core product, it risks the danger of diminishing itself.

Example:
if it tries to make money by importing a TV product, it risks losing it's own airtime.

If it brings in slot machines, it creates a culture of some people being less interested in the core product.

If it wants to make money on dog or harness racing, it has to make room for those things.

When the northern clubs corporatised, they invited non racing investors into the fold, and now they have to live with a horse racing environment which is partly more interested in looking after investors' interests than in racing for racings sake.

P takes it's horse racing component (that's what it is now, just one part) for granted, and now has to generate more income any way it can for Sanlam or a pension fund or whoever, who are now the real bosses of P executives and to whom they MUST answer.

The danger is that something more profitable can come along and marginalise the very horse racing sport for which it was created in the first place. So horse racing is now just one of the ways to generate a profit for the owners of Phumelela Ltd.

Harness racing is welcome to give itself a go, but aren't we foolish to facilitate competition for ourselves? Are we not watering down the sport we want to grow stronger by trying to grow using soccer bets, casino bets, kranji bets or harness bets?

Harness racing will strive to replace thoroughbred racing in the hearts of punters, and we have rolled out the red carpet. Our racing is struggling to survive, and we import competition. I'm not opposed to competition in principle, but who helps the opposition?

I'm not a member and no one asked me, but I would not give/hire out the facilities. It doesn't make sense to me at all.

It is a crying shame that some wealthy people that have racing in their blood don't take over both of the racing associations or start their own circuit.

Instead of disapating its meager resources on harness racing, these people should to something about that abominiable training center at Milnerton, which is not fit for a Thoroughbred.

How somebody like Mike Bass can develop and keep sound a horse like Pocket Power is the marvel of all time.

Gold Circle should be ashamed of itself for offering such a pathetic site at which trainers must condition their stock.

The main question is will harness racing produce enough income to sustain itself?

Who exactly is going to punt on this stuff.I for one am most certainly not.

Unfortunately, it already seems a given that punters will bet on absolutely anything.

I will bet you we don't.

My pocket is harnessing to the casino table.....
Can even bear the sight of harness racing on TV. Just not interested.