Phumelela...please ANSWER THIS...!

Today was declarations for Vaal Sand 8 July...

Nominated Kruger Gold for a MR72 - 1600m & Graduation Plate 1450m. Detzky's Tao for a Maiden Plate 1600m...

My trainer phones with dissapointment in her voice...ELIMINATED...Reserve 1 in two of events...

Mus't say i phoned up Roger Smith at NHRA who was very helpfull and heard me out and tried to explain some reasons on the matter but he is not actually the person in charge of the Vaal final declarations...

My question: AND CAN SOMEONE FROM PHUMELELA PLEASE ANSWER! [Dave if you could help]


1. There were close to 60 [not certain of amount] nominations for the Maiden Plate over 1600m, why not divide the race [i'm sure Phumelela has enough funds for extra races due to abandoned meetings]? My trainer was informed my horse has no merit rating [i understand] and others more eligible. OK, so if others also eliminated then add a race and split! Why can't the brainiacs at Phumelela sit down and have a look where there are more nominations than usual and card extra races in future meetings [and we're talking sand as the Vaal Turf looks like a brick road and a horse already broke a leg last week on turf]. 1200 PLUS yearlings are up for sale annually and we have, if lucky, 2 maiden plates per meeting! So how do we get these 1200 maidens through the ranks esspecially if you bought the scraps from each sale???? Surely Phumelela mus't foresee this and add extra races where there are more nominations than other races and i know other owners on the sight have the same problem. Where's the think tanks at Phumelela safeguarding the small owner who pays just as much stable fees as the big guys?

2. Kruger Gold got eliminated in a MR 72 as his merit [75] was too high for the benchmark set although we were willing to carry a big weight. My point to Roger is that we wanted to show he is not a 75 but we had to stand back for a horse with a 52 merit to get in the race. Our merit is 3 above the benchmark and the last horse in the race 20 below the benchmark? With respect to that horse Phumelela, how many horses on the higveld has a merit below 70????? I would say 70% of horses running!!!!!!!!!! So if you look at the final field for this MR 72 - 5 runners above 70 in a 16 horse field and the rest are below? Hullo, how about more merit rated 65, 60 and below races then these horses can also run and earn stake money for owners. Just because i got dealt a ridiculous 75 i must sit out as a reserve runner and if i get in due to a scratching [which will propably happen] and run last the merit stays the same cause i'm sure Kruger is the line horse????? And by the way, Kruger got eliminated the previous week on "turf" in a merit 78 handicap due to his merit too low namely 63 for turf, why? Also 50 horses nominated and couldn't split the race. Eich, what do we do now? We look at races [sand] for the rest of July and there's nothing - next meeting for fillies & mares, the following meeting no suitable distances and then oops, the end of the month - PLEASE PAY YOUR TRAINER'S FEES!!!! Come on Phumelela, put on the thinking caps - you have 7 to 9 nine runners in MR 90 and 85 races for huge stake cheques but 16 - 18 runners in MR 75 and lower races. So, create more races for MR 75 and lower, create more Maiden Plates where noms are 40plus. Where are the old days where you had 4 Maiden Plates per meeting - 2 for sprints and 2 for middle distance runners. One day a month or at least 2 should be dedicated to all horses with MR75 and less. Or otherwise impliment more races at Kimberley or open Bloemfontein which is a white elephant. With all the overseas racing Phumelela can surely afford more stake money or rather more races!?

3. Lastly, as Kruger was also nominated for the Graduation Plate we wanted to re -instate him and was denied. Why? Firstly we didn't want to take on 2 runners with merit ratings of 106 & 102 respectively as it should be a penalty kick for one or the other. We are out at the weights [getting 2.5kg only] and who wants to compete if it doesn't bring down the merit of our own horse with a 75? We opted to re-instate just for the fact of running but my trainer was refused after a lenghty telephonic discussion. So, both ways we lose.

Can someone at Phumelela please explain this dilemma. I don't know that much about racing but enough to know myself and lots of other owners [small] are getting ass raped here with the way races are put together and declarations done as i don't see any races for July on sand with MR65 or lower or even qualified maiden plates for that matter. Just another quick initiative thought out and now gone. The public vanished from the tracks - soon the small owners will too, what then?

I got nailed with 3 abandoned rained out meetings so far this year [speaking for other owners too] and wow, all feature races get postponed but we must shut up and eat crap and nominate again or a meeting gets added. The joke is the added meetings are all different races and distances. All abandoned meetings should give privilege to runners affected in added meetings not to even raise the draw scenario. No wonder us small guys battle to pay our bills [not to mention the vet bills] on time as we have horses for pleasure and not a business and we are in racing for the PASSION and whatever happens we will stick but we need to raise our voices as we pay your salaries. Wonder where's the RA in all of this?


Can PHUMELELA please answer...

they will answer you with this :D:D< as that is the best answer`s they can give,
sorry buddy

Been there done that mate..dont get angry its just not worth it

Radetsky i feel your pain as ive had several instances of your occurrences in my racing career.Worst case is when you have a stayer ,and they have only got limited races for them,and you can wait for a race for upto 2 months,and go through the same drill eg nominations,draw,merit rating and so on,and hopefully you qualify through all that,then to see if your horse is fit enough,as its been out for so long waiting for the rite race.How many times has your trainer mentioned that we havent got enough races,and back to the drawing board.I would have thought that all these problems would have been eradicated by P,but as they keep on saying that our racing has never been better,im waiting in anticipation to see what response you will be getting,

Morning Rad ,Patrick Davies has been intouch and wants you to give him a bell ,and he will go over your query,have forwarded you his cell number..

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