Vaal Sand Track?

The National Horseracing Authority wishes to confirm that an investigation has been opened into the circumstances that led to the race meeting at the Vaal Racecourse on 14 March 2017, being abandoned after Race 4.

I watched racing on that track last week and it looked like a sand bowl - The reason the poor tracks are in such a bad way is because there is no racing on the Classic track - Now please could someone better informed than I explain why an event that took place in March still has not been resolved? If a jockey causes interference or such-like then amazingly an inquiry is finalized in days (weeks perhaps) Now something so simple as to find out who caused the track to become inoperable (there surely is only a groundsman and his assistants that work with the track and the superiors who tell him what to do) has yet to see daylight unless of course it has and nobody knows about it -

While on the topic of nobody knows - Where has the sectional timing gone? Was that just a figment of my imagination?

Simple Mr H -
1)The Classic track was laid with too much clay and the drainage was effected.
2)They then had to spend money on the drainage project.
3)Somebody signed off, allowing the drainage contractors to take a month off over Christmas. This is right in the middle of the growing Season. (Kikuyu needs 20 degrees celsius or more to grow)
4) The project was completed too late for max growth and knitting of the grass where the drainage cuts were made.
5)The front stretch was completed before Christmas and knitted perfectly. The back stretch did not.
6)We now have been racing on the same track in the guise of "inside course/outside course" for just on a year.
7) The Classic Course will be a great surface once it has been through this Summer's growth. We use the front stretch for stalls on Fridays and it is good.

Your observation is correct - the Vaal Turf surface is stuffed and horses are hurting. Not only is there no Sand course in Winter, but there is no relief for Vaal Turf.

I have asked this question previously without success.

To me it is obvious that the NHA has been captured by the operators. This is one of many clear examples of this "regulator" being impartial in the way it operates. Another clear example is the way the Cobalt doping episode was handled. Small trainers were being nailed and no leeway was being given in the investigations into their "positives" for cobalt. The Cobalt King, he of champion trainer status, then gets caught with a string of positives and the rules get changed. It is obvious that stipes are inconsistent and in many cases, some glaringly so, incompetent. The head of the organisation has been placed there so that the inner circle of racing can control the regulator. Barry Irwin on SP has some harsh comments on the cabal that controls the sport in this country and he is spot on.

Racing has been captured. This is beyond debate.

blue in the face from waiting for those sectional timings. Atleast HK has sectional timing.So that keeps me busy aplenty...but really looking for to SA's timing...IF it ever arrives!!!!!

Remember all these porky pies?

“An enormous amount of energy, money and time has gone into the Vaal sand track down the years, but the complaints are endless and it’s unlikely that all stakeholders will ever be satisfied. Plus the sustainability of the track is questionable,” said Phumelela Horseracing Executive Patrick Davis.

“The best long-term solution is to replace the sand with turf and once the new turf track is proven as a racing surface, the way will then be open to replace the existing inside turf surface at Turffontein with a synthetic surface like Polytrack. Such a surface will solve winter going issues on the Highveld and lessen the pressure on the turf tracks and the number of race meetings lost to rain,” Davis added.

Yes its quite strange how the horsemen get blamed for the state that the unwashed sand is in right now, but no mention is made of the fact that same sand was fine for a few years and definitely no mention of the possibility that it was not properly maintained for the last 2 or so years....