another gold circus disgrace

whichever way you cut it todays meeting at greyville could have been postponed to tomorrow night to coincide with dubai ,friday night which is most popular with racegoers or even sunday as their is no natal meeting for the weekend..if the excuse of that totetellers from natal have gone to cape for the met gets given i might bring up ..owners and trainers can wait weeks and months to get their horses a race decent draw etc but we abandon at the drop of a hat.carry on gold circle treating owners with contempt..but on the other hand you dont recognise the natal owners assosiation so these decisions shouldnt be a surprise

It will change when Phum takes them out mate..I just hope they keep GHwkins on cause he is a good guy.

Yeah it will get worse.

ITts a disgrace.

There would have been no point in postponing it by 24 hours, even assuming our racing operators still knew the meaning of the dreaded 'P' word. It's still raining steadily in Durban and even the seagulls are looking as miserable as sh*t.

The chances of KZN racing over the weekend of the Met seem to be about as good as my prospects of being crowned King of Spain, so that was never going to be the route chosen, either. I'm not saying I agree with this, but that's the way it goes.

Round Number 3 of the Flamboyant Stakes saga for 2009 now takes place on Sunday 8th February. Those who had horses entered in other races on the Greyville card can, once again, suck hind tit. Personally, I find less and less reason to keep moderate or average horses in KZN.

At least in Port Elizabeth the stakes go up once a year and it doesn't rain six days a week!

Just another example of poor executive planning..no all weather track means "who cares if racing does not happen for 3 weeks cause its raining"..we still collect our salaries..stuff you owners, punters, trainers,and all others who rely on racing in SA to make a living.

in general would it be true to say that the drainage at most SA tracks is poor in comparison to say the UK courses, or is it just that when it rains it buckets down proper?

Southpaw the last time the tracks in SA were revamped was when Noah had finished building his ark mate.

oscar you phum guys got a sand track and still dont manage to race on it when it rains..all this talk of the more rain the better because the sand compacts ...

The JHB and KZN owners have no reason to complain.The stakes are larger than the Cape for a similar type race in both centres.The Cape no longer has a season.You guys are now putting the blame on Gold Circle for the weather.
Ever heard of global warming? The Cape lost many meetings the last winter and yes nobody was happy to lose them but did't blame the club.
Some now want all weather in KZN but these cost plenty in capex and they want stake increases.
Many owners will be shedding horses in the next months {and cars/houses}
GET REAL THE ECONOMY IS ABOUT TO BITE DUMP YOUR BAD HORSES NOW WHILE SOME OTHER MUG MAY STILL BUY IT.

KZN owners have no reason to complain? Stakes haven't gone up for two years, and training tracks are useless the moment it rains for five minutes (makes for a good excuse every time a horse runs below expectations).

Of course we are not blaming GC for the weather. We're not in kindergarten. However, there are in my book more reasons to race in Phumemela centres than in Gold Circle country. This may change, but for now the annual stakes increase and the availability of an alternative sand course in Gauteng (even if it is not of the all-weather variety) make Phumelela territory attractive by comparison. Not to mention the return to three meetings a week, to alleviate the traffic jam of trying to get horses into races.

Just because the Western Cape is a shit place to own horses doesn't make its GC cousin in KZN a great deal better. At least in Cape Town you don't have a rainy season which seems to stretch forever, and PE is within comfortable raiding distance.

And yes, I've heard of global warming. Unfortunately it doesn't make the bills melt away.

Magic, why is it that you speak (as an owner) as if GC is completely distinct from youself. GC, much more than P, is completely governed and controlled by you (owners that is).

You can't be arguing that GC is holding back from their revenues money that should be added to stakes, as every available cent is poured into that pot, at the expense of all else (incl tracks etc).

Now the weather makes GC a disgrace too. Owners 'own' GC! Solutions people, solutions...enough complaints already!