Vaal Sand Tuesday the 13th

TBP, sorry that you lost to start with!

It is a difficult place to punt at the moment. My point is that everyone seems to blame the course and imho doing so just plays into the hands of the authorities, almost saying "well done" for closing it. Whereas, again imho, the reality is that it is they who are entirely at fault for the sh1thole it has become.

The "moans" imo should not be about the course, which quite a few of us once considered to be one of the most consistent in the country, but aimed solely at the door of the authorities who have "allowed" it to happen and continue to call the going "standard" every meeting. Over probably the last year or so, the last thing I think you can describe the going on the Vaal sand, meeting to meeting, is "standard". It seems different almost every week!

Anyway, I have gone past the point of sounding like a broken record on this one...

Engels a leading trainer blamed the "older jocks" for starting this campaign, not through safety but through the fact that it`s too hard on their bodies

Bob Brogan wrote: Engels a leading trainer blamed the "older jocks" for starting this campaign, not through safety but through the fact that it`s too hard on their bodies

Bob. whether or not that be true, where does the buck stop? And are you perhaps suggesting the course was deliberately not maintained simply because a couple of "walking stick using" jocks wanted it closed? Causing the seemingly weekly fiasco for a time of it being supposedly dangerous and meetings being switched to the turf etc? it wasn't the jocks who failed to maintain the course and I think it more than a little unlikely they would have referred to the going as "standard" on a weekly basis.

you only have to check the times for the meeting on the vaal sand yesterday to see how heavy the track was .. the 3 sprint races were run in 62 to 64 seconds over 1000m..magic who won the 3rd race has run 6 seconds over the same course and distance and yesterday his time was 3 seconds slower than his previous worst time ...the same applied for the other sprint races ,,as for the races over further 107 seconds by fort navidad over a mile and he won by 8 lengths and it goes on and on..tabgold run ons have the official times ...but the going was DECLARED as standard ...only 2 ways this track has been declared as in 15 years of existence and that is RAIN AFFECTED and STANDARD...both mean fcuk shit and piss to punters ...