Greyville Racing (nearly Dead)ready to be buried !

Grave Ville, KZN
More questions than answers right now - Updated December 13, 2014

Taken from Sporting Post. All credits to Sporting Post !

It wasn’t quite Friday 13th, but Greyville’s 12 December night meeting has got to go down as one of the most bedevilled comedy of errors yet experienced by anybody remotely anticipating an evening of racing entertainment.

The irony is that some things in life are uncontrollable – and just maybe nobody is to blame.

But in the absence of any spin or feedback, right now we are left with more questions than answers.

Are there not contingencies that can be put in place to accomodate the unforseen?

This is after all, a multi million rand industry, not a church fete.

“One gets the feeling that somebody just doesn’t want this meeting to go ahead,” said a bemused Alistair Cohen in the Tellytrack studio after a series of freak events that must have had Gold Circle Chief Operating Officer Graeme Hawkins tearing his hair out while visiting his Mom in Cape Town.

What do we know.

It was a night meeting.

So lighting was paramount.

The first race was due off at 18h10 and was delayed over an hour.

We were kept posted but the technicalities were unclear as to where the problem lay.

The lights came on at about 19h00.

We were then told the Municipality was testing the lights and the current.

When the first race runners were sent down and loaded a false start was called.

Apprentice Divan Neethling broke his arm and was whisked to hospital.

There was no second ambulance.

The runners were returned to the unsaddling area and the first race was abandoned.

The second race was also then abandoned immediately.

The first leg of the Bipot and Place Accumulator were thus effectively abandoned and punters given no option to cancel their bets.

The questions.

Were the lights tested in advance of the meeting?

Was the fault localised and when did they become aware of it?

What was the nature of the fault?

Why do they not have a generator on-course as a back-up?

Given the extraordinary circumstances, why was a back-up ambulance not called the moment a jockey went to ground?

Why were there so many puddles on the polytrack?

Why was it necessary to ‘fluff’ the polytrack and cause even more delay?

Is it normal for Polytrack going to be amended to ‘rain affected’?

Should Place Accumulator punters not have been given an option to cancel or change their bets-rather than be given a no-notice ‘race 2 abandoned’?

Was the Greyville meeting scheduled for international transmission?

What did the debacle cost in the end in terms of lost revenue?

Will any compensation be paid to stakeholders?

Let’s wait and see what comes out of this.

For now, night time is not the right time – certainly not in KZN.

Gold Circle owe their customers an explanation.

greyville has been buzzing on friday nights,sure it will come good with a few tweeks

Bob Brogan wrote: greyville has been buzzing on friday nights,sure it will come good with a few tweeks

Hey Bob, I nearly forgot.

There was no Bunny Chows advertised ! So somebody got upset !

Took a minute out if the 7's to read this article. Did the author put their name to it?

Hey Les your allowed a positive view now and then

I think GreyVille night racing has the opportunity to save SAF racing

They will be South Africa's Shat Tin or Del Mar one day imo

Bob Brogan wrote: Hey Les your allowed a positive view now and then

I think GreyVille night racing has the opportunity to save SAF racing

They will be South Africa's Shat Tin or Del Mar one day imo

Absolutely agreed.

Craig Eudey wrote: Took a minute out if the 7's to read this article. Did the author put their name to it?

No they did not.

Can't recall ever seeing a name !

No names, NO PACK DRILL !

But Craig, Are you disputing the facts.

This is not a negative view/report.

It is what actually happened.

My purpose in posting it on ABC, is to hope that some or other ABC Clanner, or reader with "Clout", can do something about this state of affairs.

This is applicable to all race courses offering night races.

Why wait for the pawpaw to hit the fan ?


PS. Don't forget the Bunny Chow advert !

SO bob you an expert in south African racing tell me how it is going to save saf racing ?and what is it going to save it from? take into consideration the maximum fields it gets every week and the sparingly used grass track

pirates wrote: SO bob you an expert in south African racing tell me how it is going to save saf racing ?and what is it going to save it from? take into consideration the maximum fields it gets every week and the sparingly used grass track

They will still be racing when others fall away, night racing and the vibe is the way forward

pirates wrote: SO bob you an expert in south African racing tell me how it is going to save saf racing ?and what is it going to save it from? take into consideration the maximum fields it gets every week and the sparingly used grass track

Now Bob, I was just about to post, that if you (yourself), post one positive opinion every day, I will be your biggest Fan and support you.

Aw shit, and now someone (Pirates) attacks you again !

Les, any article where the writer is critical and is not prepared to put his name to it when writing it goes into file 13! Back to the rugby until I see an intelligent thread. By the way Bob is right. Anyone who has been to Greyville in the past few months on a Friday night will see the increase in the number of people on course every week.

great answer bob ..lets change greyville racecourse to messiah racecourse as everything else in sa racing is going to fall away :lol: