Vaal races Tuesday 9th Oct

PHUMELELA MEDIA RELEASE
SUBJECT: Vaal 11 October switched to Turffontein
DATE: Tuesday 9 October 2012
RELEASED BY: Phumelela Gaming and Leisure Limited

The race meeting on the Vaal turf straight course scheduled for this Thursday 11 October has been switched to the inside track at Turffontein.
Today’s race meeting on the Vaal turf straight course had to be abandoned after one race and with more rain forecast in the next two days, it is unlikely that Thursday’s fixture will be able to go ahead as planned.
Consequently, the meeting has been moved to the Turffontein inside track. All races will now be round the turn instead of down the straight, which will alter the significance of the draw, and connections can withdraw their runners if they wish.
It should be noted that two 1400m races carded will now be run over 1450m.
Carded runners in the races abandoned today can be entered for the race meetings at Turffontein on 16 and 18 October.

scotia Wrote:

---

> PHUMELELA MEDIA RELEASE
> SUBJECT: Vaal 11 October switched to Turffontein
> DATE: Tuesday 9 October 2012
> RELEASED BY: Phumelela Gaming and Leisure Limited
>
>
> The race meeting on the Vaal turf straight course
> scheduled for this Thursday 11 October has been
> switched to the inside track at Turffontein.
> Today’s race meeting on the Vaal turf straight
> course had to be abandoned after one race and with
> more rain forecast in the next two days, it is
> unlikely that Thursday’s fixture will be able to
> go ahead as planned.
> Consequently, the meeting has been moved to the
> Turffontein inside track. All races will now be
> round the turn instead of down the straight, which
> will alter the significance of the draw, and
> connections can withdraw their runners if they
> wish.
> It should be noted that two 1400m races carded
> will now be run over 1450m.
> Carded runners in the races abandoned today can be
> entered for the race meetings at Turffontein on 16
> and 18 October.


So now they blame the rain... what a bunch of chops!!!

Bwahahaha *rolls on the floor laughing*

No, GB.... No compensation. Maybe for trainers that had to use their own private floats, but I cannot confirm that. I know for a fact that the TellyTrack cameramen do not get paid for their shift if less than 4 races have been run. I guess the handlers etc may be in a similar boat. It just bolis down to nobody wanting to make a firm decision. It should have happened *before* the first race.

One has to ask whether the course manager was present while the track was being cut yesterday. If he was surely he should've raised his concerns then and there. Did he think the same uneven/unsafe track was going to repair itself overnight :S

Surely this goes back weeks rather than a couple of days or hours. the track has looked poor for a while and frodo has made numerous noises in recent weeks that it is not in great condition. Louis G hardly gave a glowing report this morning. In my ignorance, the questions seem quite simple...

1. why is sand used on the track at all, why is turf not replaced by turf in filling these holes, sand sounds to me to be a very short-term solution and not good for the track but I am no gardener!
2. everyone knows the calender so surely this must have been seen as a possibility some time ago? why were the necessary repairs not done then or the meetings switched earlier.
3. why are we having two meetings per week on the outside track, surely that is simply bad planning between fixtures and maintenance on the inside/outside and sand tracks?
4. it sounds to me like it needs water (a little ironically!). Frodo mentioned the other week how much water was required for the sand track (which then had its meeting abandoned because of a waterlogged track :S ) ... is water being used on the sand and leaving an insufficient amount for the grass? I am talking over the long-term.
5. Does this come down to money and an insufficient amount being available for the upkeep of the track?

None of the above is an accusation, I am merely asking questions that in my ignorance I do not know the answer to but would be interested to know the real cause of the problems. It is easy to blame the bosses etc and they may well ultimately be at fault, but if there are any gardening experts out there who can shed a little light I would be interested to hear comments on how the track is allowed to get so bad... Louis explains a cause but it does not explain why it wasn't or couldn't be properly rectified. There was a similar issue at Clairwood some months back if memory serves me correctly.

I certainly do not claim to have all the answers, but it looks to me that with the limited number of racing surfaces available at any one time, every little maintenance issue has to be planned in detail and then just hope to high heaven that nothing goes wrong...... there is simply no room to manouvre.

Looks like the hope was that the outside track could withstand a hammering while the inner track got its 'spring treatment' (and the sand track was being 'maintained') - not sure if there was any alternative considered in case the outside track did not stand up - or if an alternative is available.

Again, imo, it points to one simple fact - we need another track. But I suppose getting another track in the not too distant future, (would like to know what the status is of the 'polytrack' experiment) is almost as unlikely as getting a stand alone channel for local racing

The timing of the abandonment of today's meeting is a connected but separate issue imo and one that will probably just be hushed away.

Really becoming a joke now. Where's the good of having 3 tracks at the Vaal and 2 at Turffntein but the show cannot go ahead?

One of the main reasons for sale of courses was that due to high maintenance costs. Well they can't seem to be unable to maintain anything these days.

This is what happens when all the eggs are put in one basket. When we had separate racing clubs more heads were able to work to get the show going.

i remember various posters(Frodo was one) commenting on the poor surface a few weeks ago so surely the Track Manager and the Phumelela Racing Manager should have seen this problem but I'm sure nothing will be done as usual.
What you actually need is the foreign racing partners to act against Phum for non-performance due to negligence (It was only 8mm!! not a Tropical Storm)

I was wondering what would happen to a Manager at Checkers if he knew for a month or more that the biggest selling product in his store was running out and did not bother to reorder causing customers to shop elsewhere? Racing is a business and the people running it should be held to account as are any other business people!!

mr hawaii Wrote:

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> I was wondering what would happen to a Manager at
> Checkers if he knew for a month or more that the
> biggest selling product in his store was running
> out and did not bother to reorder causing
> customers to shop elsewhere? Racing is a business
> and the people running it should be held to
> account as are any other business people!!

Just imagine if there was a competitor to the monopoly that runs racing now... :