Additional fixture - Due to Vaal abandonment

Lightning and thunderstorms have continued to plague race meetings on the Highveld with Races 4 to 8 abandoned at the Vaal today, six on Tuesday 8 January and two on Sunday 6 January.

In order to compensate for the loss of these races, Phumelela have scheduled an additional night race meeting at Turffontein (Standside Track) on Thursday, 17 January.

A programme of races to be run on the night will be disseminated shortly.

Entries will close on Friday 11 January at 9am and Declarations at 11am.

.....Vaal boys left sucking hind tit again......night meetings and the current weather.....around that time the storms have blown all the way from the Vaal and likely to hit the southern skirts of the city of gold at around 5PM like they did again today......:huh:

Well done on the extra meeting. Owners still sit with extra costs but hopefully they can get thru the night without rain or lighning.

......really gotta feel for the Vaal boys though......they lose a handful of meetings to Turffontein because the track is f@cked due to poor maintenance through Phum.....then they lose another 10 races this week and they gotta trek out to a night meeting to try get a reward.....hope Patrick Davis brings back some level headed thinking and planning so that all can get a fair shake....:huh:

The Weather is a problem here as well. We have moved the last 3 Scottsville meetings to Greyville.

Some info, points -
1)The myth that the Vaal track manager was to blame in Spring , early Summer - in November, I stayed over at a farm some 20km from Vaal. The farm grow their own fruit for jams etc. None this year. No Apricots, figs etc. The reason was because of the late frosts. Surely, the track manager cannot be blamed for that or because kikuyu wont grow in temps below 20 degrees C.
2)The revenue from co mingled pools and the income from selling our racing overseas forms a substantial part of the Stakes pot. Overseas demand is for later races.
3)The Classic course is in exceptional condition right now, probably the best surface in SA. But, you cannot race in lightning... anywhere.
4)Vaal Trainers are not confined to racing at Vaal. Randjes Trainers have to travel to every meeting.The Vaal Trainers do very well at Turffontein. A lost meeting at Vaal effects everyone, not just the Vaal boys.
5)It must be a nightmare, running Racing in SA at present, given the Weather patterns. Unless , of course, you believe Donald Trump, who declares that there is no change iro global warming and weather conditions...

We are all frustrated by the current Weather .

Good points raised ..... just ito 'ço-mingling and selling our racing overseas' - I'm obviously not privy to how these deals are structured - but would it not make more sense to have an agreement in place where the scheduling should be entrusted to the local operator - yesterday the storms were predicted - and instead of having at least the local revenue (and some of the overseas 'early birds') by moving the meeting earlier, in the end all potential revenue from the abandoned races were lost

.....Louis we hear you and yes the weather is to blame but partly predictable.....and as you say that the racing surface at the Vaal is in gr8 shape......then why not have an additional meeting planned for the Vaal but start early.....I like night racing but as you know the logistics for participants is way less friendly and more prone to a thunderstorm too.....as for KZN they sure get a bang for their buck on the poly..... but it is becoming boring.....:dry:

Frodo , I agree with you about earlier racing. We could race earlier. However, Punters do seem to prefer punting later in the day, when you measure the flows/activity . The big problem is that the overseas schedule is planned ahead. We have contractual obligations, in order to generate this much needed revenue. And it is about demand. There appears to be a low demand for earlier racing. Just the other day, I saw a win pool of R450k for a maiden race at Greyville. That was because of France comingling.
I also think, in fairness, that long term weather forecasts are not the most reliable. Long before even the card is printed, the overseas times or slots are agreed upon. Its damn difficult when the weather plays up come raceday. If we abandoned our overseas business and relied only on local turnover, we would see stakes drop by about 35 percent and then the downward spiral will immediately take place. It is what it is.... we are dependant on good weather then everything else falls into place.

Muhti
I must say that GC have been great this year. The 3 Scottsville meetings were moved to Greyville Turf and not to Poly. This is a big change from before. Right now, Greyville Turf is closed for preps for the Season to come. What is remarkable is the condition of this course right now, just before treatment - it is in the best shape that I have seen it in , for years. Likewise, Scottsville - the course is in top nick. By moving the meetings to Greyville, they have looked after it. (Nobody could have been more frustrated than myself by these moves, but it made sense). At some stage, we will have to race at Scottsville in wet conditions. Let's hope that damage is limited, because they have really made huge efforts, to get their rotations and/or maintenance schedules right etc.

Ultimately, we are having this discussion because of something which we cannot control - the weather.

As for the added night meeting - I assume that it is all, again, about selling it and/or about it making financial sense. The losses would be substantial, by adding a midweek meeting to an already scheduled meeting/fixture. The stakes for that added midweek meeting would probably not even be covered. In terms of local turnover, GC make a profit when Phum are racing (staging the meeting and paying the stakes etc). The same applies to Phum, when GC race.
Just my opinions...

....and there I go kicking the gift in the teeth again.....we should count ourselves lucky that the operator is chucking in an extra meeting....and if it came down to financial sense alone..... then they may as well not have any local racing at all.....:dry:

Who remembers the breakfast meetings in the early 90’s?


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Mac wrote: Who remembers the breakfast meetings in the early 90’s?

......heard about them.....but in those days I was more interested in fast women than slow horses.....:blush:

There were early meetings not that long ago?

Banded meetings?