Mike de Kock rants at the state of Natal tracks

THE KZN Breeders’ Day at Clairwood on Sunday is an exciting and unique concept that provides well deserved incentives for loyal racehorse owners.
Supporting the R1 million KZN Breeders’ Million Mile are six races carrying a stake of R200 000 each but restricted to horses that qualify as KZN-breds.
The KZN Breeders’ Club embarked on their most ambitious project yet when brainstorming a concept to revive interest and reward participation in the grand scheme of purchasing horses bred in KwaZulu Natal.
The meeting is strategically placed a week before the KZN Yearling Sale but had to be moved from Greyville to Clairwood to protect the racing surface at Greyville for next week’s Durban July.
Mike de Kock said on Sunday morning that the change of venue will affect the results anticipated had the races been stages at Greyville. “The meeting should never have been scheduled for Greyville a week before the July in the first place. We were informed of the move via sms after declaration stage. Initially we left out runners that would have been suited to Clairwood and accepted with those more suited to Greyville, like Festival Of Fire for example. Naturally the draw bias at Greyville won’t come into play at all now.”
Mike commented on the state of the tracks: “The track at Clairwood is just as bad, if not worse than Greyville. I’d venture to say that all the KZN racetracks are in the worst condition I’ve seen them to be in the last 20 years. What we have here is another monumental comedy of errors handled in their customary high-handed fashion by Gold Circle.”

From Mike de Kocks website

You think gold circle got the guts to take on mdk like they did with brugman lol

be careful what you say mdk as i said pretty much what u have said on this forum and was told by goodman that if i dont like it here i must take my trainer and horses and fcuk off somewhere else...it hasnt taken long for the current board to fcuk up racing down in natal and unfortunately the worst is still to come.

H, i reckon MDK is not that far away from fucking off all together from SA

This,after we have had all the "precious" comments that it is only the moaners on ABC who see any fault in Gold Circle activities................................lol.

Sickening that there is all these "negative posts" on abc on our busiest week in our history ()<

lol

hibernia Wrote:

---

> H, i reckon MDK is not that far away from @#$%&
> off all together from SA

I agree... it's a matter of time.

pirates Wrote:

---

> be careful what you say mdk as i said pretty much
> what u have said on this forum and was told by
> goodman that if i dont like it here i must take my
> trainer and horses and fcuk off somewhere
> else...it hasnt taken long for the current board
> to fcuk up racing down in natal and unfortunately
> the worst is still to come.

And here the Cape was blamed for the noose around Durbans neck.....after all it was their own noose!!!!!!

Maybe Mike will settle in the Cape after all we know how much he enjoys his red wine....

Have chatted to Mike on this issue. It definitely will be part of the Agenda of the National Trainers Forum. We are trying to get together as a body this week as we are at KZN Sales.

Ultimately, Vaal Sand also comes to mind, so too Vaal Turf which is full of holes. From what I saw during last Winter in the Cape and having spoken to the Cape boys during the last few weeks, the Turf at Kenilworth is just getting better and better all the time. The track manager down there, Dean Deidericks is doing brilliant work and the results are great. Recently, after a few hundred mills of rain in the days leading up to a meeting, they still raced and the Turf stood up quite remarkably. Maybe a Star of the Week from Spost/Wform on this groundsman could be done, so that we can all learn about him and his efforts....?

It's all about effort and dedication. We are supposed to be going forwards and not backwards.

Ultimately, though, we as Trainers must enter into serious deliberations with the Operators and goals and timeframes must be set. The way forward lies in our input as horsemen and the resultant mutual agreement to repair and/or replenish. I believe that this will be done.

Thank you louis , great write up and brilliant win today -D

who is the boss HAWKINS