Here is the full letter
"RACINGWEB NEWSLETTER, FRIDAY 4 SEPTEMBER:
A strange and particularly sour week in horseracing South Africa has
flown by. Thankfully. I say “particularly’’ sour – suggesting
one step up from the ordinary base level of ‘’sour’’ that
constitutes most weeks in this often hateful industry.
The severing of the association between trainer Brett Crawford and
owner Sabine Plattner and the racing media’s coverage of it
unleashed a storm in the La Plaisance camp.
For all we know, however, the storm might just have been a brewing
Testosterone Twister in the pants of Stud Manager Jan Mantel (it is
breeding season and all those enormously hung stallions are mounting
all those horny mares), but it had various ramifications all the same.
I published a version of events of racingweb on Monday, nothing in
the short article apparently disputed except this line: “Plattner,
it has been rumoured, will be relying on Justin Snaith’s racing
operation until she finalises her own future plans.’’
Class of racingweb, let’s read that again: “Plattner, it has been
rumoured, will be relying on Justin Snaith’s racing operation until
she finalises her own future plans.’’
Next up, a Tuesday call from an irate Mantel who, in the typically
condescending manner one would expect from one who carries the
shopping bags of a multi-billionaire, posed: “Are you a fucking fly
on our office wall, or what? Where did you get your information?”
He seemed surprised by my reply that this was actually old news. It
had been carried on the africanbettingclan website as early as
Saturday night and was in fact a topic of discussion at the Vaal
racecourse on Saturday.
You see, Jan, in this game, you surely should know, news gets out
faster than the projectile sperm missiles that shoot from those
stallion penises!
Next up, a call from Justin Snaith raising a valid point. Nobody in
the media – not me, nor Tellytrack, nor Inside Racing, nor Winning
Ways, had bothered to phone him for a comment on the matter, leading
to unjustified rumours which may or may not have been hurtful to his
stable. One cannot argue with that and it is a lesson all of us must
learn – in journalism one has to tie those loose ends!
Still, I read the offending racingweb paragraph and I am convinced
that, considering the many sources of information all saying the same
thing, it is/was neither a harmful nor offensive nor unjustified piece
of speculation. Especially considering the fact that on the very day
Jan Mantel went into a tailspin, Snaith declared from his stable a
Plattner runner, Plaisir De Fete, for Race 2 at Kenilworth this
Saturday!
It doesn’t stop there. After complaints in relation to the same
matter, allegedly also by Mantel, Tellytrack suspended this week’s
edition of the always entertaining Winning Ways show, hosted by James
Goodman and Paul Lafferty.
In the show, Goodman quotes from the racingweb report and then
cheekily likens the Snaith/Plattner association to a bottle of sour
milk that is put in the fridge for some time and then taken out, still
sour. Probably not the most suitable wisecrack for this juncture, yet
it was not harmful or degrading either, contained in a highly popular
show known for its off-the-beat humour, and most certainly not worthy
of censorship!
Nico Kritsiotis of Tellytrack told me that the decision to suspend
and then censor Winning Ways (the offending part has been edited out
and it is back in the loop) was taken “in the interest of South
African racing’’ and in consultation with various interested
parties including Gold Circle, who produces the show.
I disagree with Nico in strong terms. The decision was an act of
petty, draconian and in fact unconstitutional censorship and made only
in fear of owner Sabine Plattner reaching for her tissue box and
withdrawing her support from the industry. I don’t know the woman?
Is she that childish and demanding?
I actually share James Goodman’s view that Plattner is probably not
even aware of what is going on and that her adjudant has caused this
storm in a teacup, or built a mountain where the molehill disturbed
nobody.
And I’d like now to put tye system to the test.
As a devout non-believer, I object herewith against jockey Kevin Good
wearing “Jesus Loves You’’ caps in his winning interviews and
against apprentice Dereck David doing the Jesus/Mary/Joseph/Samson
whoever thing with his fingers after every win. It annoys me to no end
and I want to hurl things at my television set when I see it.
I request that Tellytrack edit those things from post-race interviews
or I will relinquish my silks and my shares in 16 horses and stop
writing about the game.
Racing’s television channel should not be indulging every whim,
even if they come from the quarters of the mighty, rich and powerful.
On the contrary, if decisions are made in the true “interests of
racing’’, the decision-makers should pay less or no respect to
people who use power plays for their own shady little agendas.
This brings me to this weekend’s EYECATCHERS, still doing well!"
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