The Greyville Issue

2 FEBRUARY 2012

Gold Circle will be hoping the old wives tale that “disasters happen in threes,” is now a thing of the past after a series of mishaps affecting racing in KwaZulu-Natal this past fortnight.

Yesterday, Gold Circle technicians isolated the fault that led to the abandonment of the seventh race at Greyville on Tuesday evening.

While trying to load the field for the race, jockeys and handlers complained that there was electricity being generated within the starting stalls giving off shocks.

In an interview with on-course television presenter Paul Lafferty on the night, Gold Circle’s Racing Director, Graeme Hawkins, said it happened: “All of a sudden and for no apparent reason - and we have had the electricians down there.”

After trying in vain to load the field for the third time, “It soon became apparent that it was unfair on the horses because they were spooking from the gate because they had had a bad experience so in the interests of safety from a horses perspective it was decided to abandon that race,” Hawkins said.

Extensive tests were carried out on the starting pens yesterday morning to locate and rectify the problem. The stalls electrics were checked and tested and found to be in order. However, the cable that connects the pens to the signal cable going around the track for the start gong was then checked and found to be faulty. This cable carries a 48 volt signal back to the control room. The screw that retains the cable in the plug had come loose and was making contact with the body of the plug thus putting voltage on the pens. This particular cable was isolated at last night’s meeting by removing the control relay however with the nature of the fault it did not clear the problem. This has now been corrected and tested and all is in order.

After a lengthy delay and with all the electrics disconnected, the eighth race was started manually without incident and the odds-on favourite Northern Emperor won in a canter.

Last week a scheduled meeting at Clairwood was abandoned after the running of the first race after protests of a substandard racing surface were lodged.

In a statement released to members, Gold Circle apologised unreservedly to all racing’s stake holders and punters for the inconvenience caused by the abandonment.

“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 Hawkins.

The racemeetings scheduled to take place at Clairwood for the remainder of February have been changed as follows:

Sunday, February 12 and Tuesday, February 14, will take place at Scottsville.

ends

Gill Simpkins
Public Relations Manager

Phone: 031 3141579
Cell: 076 039 0563

What happened to poor Jack Hobbs, did he get electrocuted which helped cause his heart attack? Another issue that I was very upset about was the way Sheldon called home Northern Emperor sure it won a good race and he probably banked it in his Pick Six, But a horse and Jockey came down very badly in the race and he showed no respect for them, only singing the winners praises like nothing happened, I have watched thousands of races, and seen plenty incidents, but I have never come across such a lack of respect for the horse and the game.

I hear you Russ,but it wouldnt have been a good time to have a minutes silence either..................I don't know how he could have handled it differently to be honest?

Russell

I understand your feelings as well.

That horse that won is top class. I don't blame sheldon getting excited a bit.

Jack Hobbs was already the 3rd accident and was the biggest disaster of the lot .I had the press release but decided not to post because imo it looks like they are claiming that it in some way it was not their fault that they cant do maintenance properly

hibernia Wrote:

---

> Jack Hobbs was already the 3rd accident and was
> the biggest disaster of the lot .I had the press
> release but decided not to post because imo it
> looks like they are claiming that it in some way
> it was not their fault that they cant do
> maintenance properly

Hibs -
strange it is not their fault. {their suggestion anyway}.

Sure Rob, I wouldn't have wanted a minutes silence, I just think he could have toned it down a little, Jack Hobbs was second favourite. If your biggest opposition drops dead in any sport you shouldn't be celebrating your win in that style. And he has no connection to the horse anyway( besides maybe his wallet), he is just the voice that called it home. And more importantly the voice of Durban racing and if that's the attitude of Durban racing well good luck to them, they can keep there Dog show with Laff Tipping the top three in the market time and time again, and Sheldon shouting home his winners with no respect for anybody.

I am with Russel on this one. He did not even mention whether Muzi was up and about or still lying comatose ...

Russ,I am not a Sheldon Peters fan at all..................I really dont like his commentaries as I believe a lot of his retoric is self serving and ego driven.
This particular issue though seems to be a strategy.........they play down bad news......they keep the camera away from incidents wherever possible,and he is part of the team!

rob faux Wrote:

---

> This particular issue though seems to be a
> strategy.........they play down bad news......they
> keep the camera away from incidents wherever
> possible,and he is part of the team!


What I'd like to know is if there is indeed a TT policy in place that trouble on track, at the starting stalls, etc., is to be kept away from public view. I've complained about this before (not on ABC), that it's treating the racegoers as if they were little kids. I never got an answer, just got the feeling that they thought I was some sort of accident-gaper. It's not the case.

But if a horse persistently fights being loaded into the stalls I'd like to know for next time I'm tempted to back it. Always the camera swings away a soon as there's any fuss, and the commentator says something like, "XY is backing away, the handlers are leading him up again, but he's being a little fractious", when the beast is lashing out in all directions and running in circles backwards because it really, really is terrified of the stalls or is hating the whole raceday experience.

Mav, I could not agree with you more if you told me that Rome is the capital of Italy. The viewing public has a right to see what is going on. This is a multi million Rand enterprise, not a kids' pony show.

Hope someone in authority is reading the comments about this race caller.
Cant really blame him for the accident,he has to finish the commentary,BUT the lack of information relayed to race players is pathetic.
studio presenter was also uninformed.

Just curious about the abandoned Claiwood meeting.
Small field,what would have happend if another jock won the 1st race?would his comments about state of track been taken seriously?