Why Turfontein was not sold!!!

I read the very long post from Rian. Much longer than my average Archie comic.

Should be applauded for responding even if a few years late.

My question is why they chose to sell Newmarket over Turfontein? It made no sense at the time and still make no sense.

you get paid 20 million and another 40 million to then spend 60 million plus to get a badly located venue to be nearly on par with the venue u sold.

My view has always been Turfonteins only plus was they had stabling for horses.

For me the closing of Newmarket was like closing a shop in Sandton City for a location in Hillbrow. It may save me overheads but at no stage will it attract the same customer.

The property values around Newmarket must have been effected by the closure. Business near by are being effected by a rise in crime. You now have uncontrolled movement of cattle at newmarket. Currently being used as grazing for about 100 or so cows.

I doubt having horses so near to a refuse dump(Turfontein) adds to the quality of the horse or reduces its risk of attracting disease.

Whether Newmarket sale was political or Financial make no difference to me. The racing experience in Gauteng is currently non existent. Randties may save it but again may be a few years to late. Much like the response from Rian.

Thanks

Sly

Off to the Pub now.:)o

see what i mean??

Sly this is your best posting ever, glad you wrote it before you went to the pub><

I think they made the right decision by them....they wouldn't have gotten a quarter of what they did for the Big T. (compared to Newmarket)

Bad location, bad smell, bad security, bad bloody everything

gregbucks Wrote:

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> Sly this is your best posting ever, glad you wrote
> it before you went to the pub><


i must agree - your best by far

The big boy Graham Hawkins was the front man for the sale of newmarket everything Hawkins has touched has turned to Sh.......t He has had more top jobs in raceing than anyone else I know and has buggered them all up.Anyone know where Geff Moffert is he was a great marketing man to far ahead of all the others ask any ex steward of newmarket they will tell you.Geff was never a puppet like Hawkins he knew what he wanted and always did it well I worked with Geff as a steward for a good few years.men like him are rare .

@Unhappy:

Endorse Moffatt. Add to him Tony Winthour.... gentlemen men who would have made a difference if not for the shysters around them!

-D

Ja Sly. Could never quite understand why Newmarket was sold over Turffontein. My reasoning was that for modern day racing in Gauteng Newmarket was perfectly sized. 1000 people look like 10 000 people there.

I would also guess that selling an asset at the time Newmarket would be a better sale for P than the big T,(not sure that would have generated much interest).

The in hind sight it is becoming apparent that real reason why Turffies was not sold is that there was not enough gravy or graft for the big knobs to take a cut. Big sums were ploughed into Newmarket to make it a boutique styled venue even the Alberton town council bought in and styled the road network to accomodate ease
of traffic flow. The place had a buzz and the night racing was a hit. To add insult to injury the course had better prospects to have added an inside track as the bends were more ergonomical. Additional property for expansion and building of stables and grooms quarters was also available. But there was nothing to gain and Turffontein was pushed forward as it had more of a historic appeal. Dinosaurs are also historic. I pray for a day when expert consultation together with properly researched impact studies are carried out and open and frank input is concidered before the big knobs make these brainless types of decisions. We are supposed learn from the mistakes of others, yet history continues to repeats itself.

"Garbage dump for sale" would not have made for a great advert if they'd tried to flog Turffontein.

Seriously, I have the distinct impression that Gauteng racing has been on the slide ever since Newmarket was closed. Whether this was a contributing factor or just a coincidence, in the past few years we've seen numerous trainers relocating to KZN from Gauteng, with others reportedly wanting to make the move if they can find boxes. I've said this more than once before, but the whole sale of Newmarket saga smells like a dead fish on a hot day.

As I've also said before, the fact that nothing is now happening on the Newmarket property makes it the ideal spot for a "stand alone" AW track like Wolverhampton. I know that pigs will learn to fly while singing the national anthem in Swahili before anything of the sort happens, but it's a nice thought anyway!

Dont we have a leader in the clan that can challenge the status quo, I and others will follow you. Racing ouside the Big P.... Phew... Oh, how I would even pursue the dream of penguins dressed in Zulu regalia blowing bagpipes on the moon....