Clairwood Racetrack

to all conspiracy theorists out there could this fiasco hv been a deliberate ploy by natal racing to undermine the cape sales with all there international clients,so that the nys could 1nce again be king of the sales in rsa.lol..i mean todays scenario is almost unbelievable and surely the relevant authorities in natal had to know the clairwood track is not fit for racing,so why schedule a meeting at the track wen they hv alternative tracks in natal..imo its an utter disgrace for the image of sa racing wen we hv so many overseas visitors in cape town at the moment.

gregbucks Wrote:

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> Is it that they couldn't care a sh!t cause
> Clairwood is about to be sold?

I would venture a guess and and say yes, looks as though they are not putting any costly maintainance into the track etc. but
very short sighted and not a problem for Clairwood or KZN alone.

During lunch I popped into the TOP BET @Monte to witness the fiasco and was told of similar short arm stories about the Turffies tractor and Phumelela not having the money in budget to repair or replace it. This equipment is intigral for maintaining the sand training tracks. The trainers protested and threatened to boycott nominations until the tractor was replaced or repaired. No new tractor, but a refurbished old one is now doing its job.

For how much longer will an interest in this industry last if the operators carry on cashing in on shares or pad their bottom line while facilities are allowed to deteriorate. This is just the tip of the iceberg of which no Titanic can avoid!!!!

The problem is thatr the track manager will rightly bear the brunt ............but who manages the track manager,and surely it was some executives responsibility to ensure the track was suitable for racing......Don't worry-be happy!

I heard that some local farmers were going to use the track for growing potatoes,in between meetings.
They arrived a day early and ploughed the track early this morning.They were very upset that 1st race went
ahead and ruined there crop.But sense has prevailed,the authorities are letting the farmers use the parade ring.

I see Pirates is very quiet...hope he is not still waiting for signals. ah wait, maybe he is banking all the cash he had to take to the track.X(

braam Wrote:

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> I see Pirates is very quiet...hope he is not still
> waiting for signals. ah wait, maybe he is banking
> all the cash he had to take to the track.X(
Most likely having a few sharpies to calm himself down
Mr Witz don't forget to turn off the lights.....

At least the have apologized.....

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Gold Circle apologises unreservedly to all racing’s stake holders and punters for the inconvenience caused by the abandonment of today’s racemeeting at Clairwood. 
 
Whilst there have been on going problems with certain sections of the course, mainly due to an infestation of goose grass, the race track was declared raceable by officials of Gold Circle and the NHRA following inspections during the course of last week and again on Monday and Tuesday. 
 
“It is worrying that the affected turf at Clairwood has not satisfactorily responded to treatment as a consequence of the very dry, hot and windy conditions that prevailed for the first three weeks of January and clearly we are going to have to tackle the problem from another direction,” said Racing Director Graeme Hawkins.
 
A full enquiry will be conducted into all of the circumstances which led to the jockeys’ protest after the running of the first race.
 
ENDS
Gill Simpkins
Public Relations Manager 

gjmurrell Wrote:

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> At least they have apologized.....and blamed it on some poor Goose....

Okay let me get this right, the course was inspected yesterday and declared raceable

yet and I quote: ''It is worrying that the affected turf at Clairwood has not satisfactorily responded to treatment as a consequence of the very dry, hot and windy conditions that prevailed for the first three weeks of January'' ....

So how can it be declared raceable? you people CLEARLY do not know what the hell you are doing!!!

pirates has just come back from the races as he had a runner in the 2nd race..having spoken to a lady who trained at clairwood since 1960 to 2000 and still walks the tracks with her dogs every week there and also having spoken to a jockey who rode there from the late seventies and with much success what happened today was inevitable and no surprize to them...for 6mths the ex lady trainer has said that in all her years at clwd she had never seen the track in such shocking condition and the senior jock who walked the track this am said to me good luck to the horses and jocks who are running and riding today....there is plenty more i could say on this subject and who is to blame but rob faux has summed it perfectly in his posts and im not in the mood to hear gc propaganda and how great their board is....this is rock bottom .i ask one question why did they not have jockeys work on the track a few days ago and get the ok from then whether the track was good enough to race?is it true that when the track was closed for treatment that the track mgr was on leave for 2 weeks in mauritius?

Pirates, someone, I think Pee Kay said that there is water leak some-where. What I saw on tv was the grass just 'popping' out in certain patches. When grass pop out like that, the root system of the grass is in bad shape. Easy to use nitrogen fertilizer (Lan) & water, to get everything green and luch, but why not take a soil sample and see if there is a phosphate shortage that promote root growth? Just my humble opinion.

Feel very sorry for jockey's and owners. Kak en betaal is die wet van Transvaal.:X

ou ryperd they sent people to the moon 40 years ago but there isnt anyone who can sort out the problem at clairwood ...i have said before i gave up my gold circle membership for the very reason that i have zero faith in the board and todays disgrace has justified my decision...mediocrity continues