Help Find' Wavin Flag'

It is the old Hyjo Stud (previously Mr Millard's place).

Jenny Millington runs a private rehoming programme from there.

Wavin' Flag has been there for a few months already.

The other horse is called Maximum Flo.

Seems there is a big bush racing meeting planned in the Cape flats this weekend. Seems the horses may have been stolen for that.

Major search under way.

Pray they are found safe.

Txs Suz

This story has had a tragic ending if facebook posts are to be believed. Unfortunately Maximum Flo has had to be destroyed after sustaining injuries apparently inflicted whilst being raced illegally in bush racing somewhere on the Cape flats. All of this is all over facebook and clearly I can not guarantee the facts but judging by the posts, it seems pretty legitimate.

Thankfully Wavin' Flag has been recovered and seems to be in better condition although things seem pretty vague. The question that needs to be asked is how does a Gold cup winner land up in a rehoming centre in the first place? How can owners allow their horses to be placed in these conditions, especially ones that have clearly done so well for them? When one peruses the owners of this horse one sees Adrian Todd and Grant Knowles amongst them. These are directors of CTS. Surely these guys could and should have done more for their champ? There are big names listed as owners of Maximum Flo. Some are so called leaders of industry. Larry is one. WERE THE REQUIRED RELEASE FORM FROM RACING COMPLETED IN BOTH THESE CASES? If the form was completed properly, it is time for action to be taken against the new owners by the NHRA. If not, each and every one of these owners should be kicked out of racing. It is disgusting that horses can be discarded in this way. It is time that the NHRA show us that they are capable of policing their rules.

Robyn Louw Sporting Post

The Western Cape racing community was left reeling after two Thoroughbreds were stolen from a Philippi rehoming centre on Wednesday, 12th April.

Maximum Flo and 2014 Gold Cup winner Wavin’ Flag were removed from Jenny Millington’s THRC programme on the old Hyjo farm in Philippi.

With the news shared far and wide via social media, a cross-section of the local equestrian community pulled together along with the SPCA and SAPS stock theft unit to launch a wide-scale search. With a large bush racing meeting allegedly scheduled for the Cape Flats over Easter weekend, fears ran high that the horses had been stolen for illicit racing.

Those fears were confirmed when the horses were found on Friday, 14th April. An exhausted and emotional Jenny Millington explained, “The horses were located with the help of a drone and found in an area of bush in the Mitchells Plain area. They weren’t even tied up, but were just too tired and sore to move. Flag could still walk onto the box by himself, but we needed about 10 people to carry Max onto the box and it was clear he was not in a good way.”

The horses were returned home to THRC where they received veterinary attention. “They’d obviously been galloped into the ground,” says Jenny. “Their mouths had had wires through them and were bleeding and you could see straightaway that Max’s leg did not look good.” X-rays revealed that Maximum Flo had sustained serious injuries, including fracturing his sesamoids beyond repair and due to the extent of his injuries, the decision was made to euthanise him humanely. “He didn’t stop eating the whole time he was back and it broke all our hearts to have to put him to sleep, but it was the right thing to do.”

“Flag is very stiff and sore and his legs are very swollen,” continued Jenny, “but he is as comfortable as possible. Snaith Racing have kindly lent us some ice boots which have been a great help.”Horse Racing

Jenny expressed her gratitude to everyone that assisted. “I just want to say thank you to everybody that came. I couldn’t have done this without their help. The support has been absolutely mind-blowing.”

The Racing Association funds bush racing and has been doing so for years.They even promised to help build a race course for the bush racers in Berlin.

41.10 The OWNER of a HORSE shall remain responsible for the care and welfare of a HORSE
registered in his name with the NHA, once it retires from racing and for the rest of its natural
life, unless he:
41.10.1 transfers ownership of the HORSE to another OWNER or an owner in another
racing jurisdiction; or
41.10.2 transfers ownership of the HORSE to a BREEDER; or
46
41.10.3 transfers ownership of the HORSE to a Horsecare Unit run under the auspices of
the National Horse Trust or another rehoming facility approved by the CHIEF
EXECUTIVE, together with the required fee; or
41.10.4 has the HORSE humanely euthanased and reports such euthanasia to the NHA;
or
41.10.5 disposes, whether by an auction approved by the CHIEF EXECUTIVE or
otherwise, the HORSE out of racing, on condition that a “second career
assessment form” as prescribed from time to time, has been completed by a
veterinary surgeon, the OWNER and the TRAINER, enabling the HORSE to
pursue an intended second career outside of horseracing. If required, the OWNER
agrees to make all relevant veterinary history available to the veterinary surgeon
and TRAINER, in order to complete the form accurately. The assessment form
shall be submitted to the CHIEF EXECUTIVE within one week of the horse retiring
from racing.
Should the assessment recommend humane euthanasia and the OWNER elects
not to humanely euthanase the HORSE, then the OWNER shall remain
responsible for that horse’s welfare for the rest of its natural life.
41.11 An OWNER shall be guilty of an offence if he fails to dispose of a horse in accordance
with RULE 41.10
41.12 For the purposes of Rule 41, a horse will be regarded as having been retired from the
time it leaves a Trainers’ yard or a breeding establishment to be placed in the care of a
person who is not registered with the National Horseracing Authority.
[Amended 01.03.2016]

www.nhra.co.za/pubs/docs/forms/Second%20...ssessment%20form.pdf

There are some huge names involved in the ownership of these horses. The NHRA are bound to investigate this and to take appropriate action against the owners and/or trainer involved.

ELAN PROPERTY GROUP GOLD CUP (Grade 1)
Greyville, Turf, 3200m
26 July 2014

Wavin’ Flag, the horse no one wanted, repaid his owners four times over when he landed the Grade 1 eLan Property Group Gold Cup at Greyville Saturday.

Under jockey Glen Hatt for trainer Brett Crawford, Wavin’ Flag finished smartly up the inside rail to deny Wild One and Gold Onyx with favourite Hot Ticket putting in a late effort to snatch fourth franking the form of the Gold Vase.

It was a red letter afternoon for Crawford and Hatt who followed up their Gold Cup triumph in the Grade 1 Beach Beauty Champions Cup with favourite Futura, a race that Crawford won last year with the now retired Jackson.

Bred by John Slade, stud manager at Maine Chance Farms, Wavin’ Flag was bought as a weanling by the grooms co-op. However, when offered for sale at auction as a yearling, Wavin’ Flag failed to reach his reserve. “He had a reserve of R200,000 but no one wanted him,” said well-known racing television personality Grant Knowles, one of the many co-owners. “So I bought him back but we still had trouble putting a syndicate together. There was nothing wrong with him, just that he was a typical Silvano yearling; a bit plain.”

Well he didn’t look plain in the winner’s box Saturday!

-WAVIN’ FLAG (SAF), 53.0, b g 4, Silvano (GER) – Garland (SAF) by Capture Him (USA). Owner Messrs S D Burgess, G S Knowles, J Labuschagne, I W Longmore, Ian Robinson, A Todd & Mrs J Crawford; breeder JR & Mrs Slade; trainer BJ Crawford; jockey G Hatt


MAXIMUM FLO
Age: 4 (at last run)
Sex: g
M/Rating: 62 (at last run)
Owner: Messrs G D E Kahan, Max Naidoo, N A Rideal, D Rossouw, J Shill, M Trakman, J R van der Linden & L A Wainstein
Breeder: The Alchemy
Trainer: B Crawford
Breeding: Toreador (IRE) - Final Flo by Model Man
Colours: Yellow, purple band of diamonds and sleeves, quartered cap
Last run: 2016-12-13
Next race: Not carded

.....so sad that even when ex/owners/connections attempt to find places to send their horses on to.....that these places can even be the targets for these "bush racing" bandits to find animals for their warped form of entertainment.....something is clearly wrong that the PTB who tried to support so called "bush racing" have done so in the typical h@lf @rse way they apply to everything that they attempt to do.....and in doing so are creating a bigger problem..... :blink:

ZSUZSANNA04 let me begin by saying how grateful I am that we have people like you in racing, for doing the things that you do, always with the welfare of the horse in mind. Let me also say that I have been told that the racing community, or some members at least, assisted greatly in searching for the horses. Once found assistance was received from various quarters, and for that each and every individual deserves thanks.

Where I have major problems with this story is how the horses landed up where they did in the first place. There are lots of stories doing the rounds as they tend to in times like these. One of the stories that concerns me most is that owners of one of the two horses were totally unaware that the horse had been retired and thought that the animal was on a spelling farm to recover from racing issues. Another tells the story that the one horse was retired and moved on to a woman who very shortly thereafter advertised the horse for sale on gumtree.

Where I have major issues is it has allegedly already been confirmed that the 2nd career assessment form has not been completed. If the story that some owners were unaware that the horses had been retired are true, well that opens up a completely new can of worms doesn't it? Many people ask why racing has the bad name it does. Let's start right here, the disposal of the horses off the track. If a Gold Cup winner can be discarded like rubbish after its racing career is over, its no wonder we are villified by many in the Equestrian circles. Each and every trainer and owner involved in this tragedy needs to be questioned and either exonerated or charged. There must not be a cover up because of the high profile individuals involved.

I am pledging R2000 to assist Jenny in continuing doing the good work that she does and call on all clanners to contribute whatever they can.

Reading above i get the impression the horses were sent to a decent home?

The fact they were stolen from the home was another story.

Read again Dave

Ok skipped the detail i thought the owners had sent the horse to Jenny