Whew they try hard.

How many more dropped balls do these guys get.

Despite warnings from a prominent South African government department to halt construction of floodlighting at Johannesburg's premier horseracing venue, Turffontein Racecourse, Phumelela Gaming and Leisure Ltd, who control horseracing in the region, have ordered construction to continue as scheduled.

Night racing is becoming increasingly popular at horseracing venues around the world, and for Phumelela the time was right to offer the night time racing experience to Johannesburg's hoards of punters and racing fans. But whether they'll get to watch an actual night race remains to be seen, given the current situation.

The problem stems from the fact that the 'Environmental Authorization' required from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development for construction of the floodlights, was issued to Neville Harbott of Phumelela Gaming and Leisure Limited on February 26, 2007. However, that authorization has now expired.

As such, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has warned Phumelela that 'any construction undertaken without the required authorization will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.' Phumelela CEO, David Attenborough, responded by saying, 'The lighting project is proceeding on schedule.'

While this debacle is clearly a matter of Red Tape between the South African government and Phumelela, the ultimate winners of the floodlights will be horseracing fans themselves, who'll be able to enjoy the excitement and novelty of night racing under the cover of warm and clear Johannesburg summer skies.

The first night races at Turffontein have been scheduled for Saturday, November 7 as part of the venue's popular Charity Mile November Handicap race meeting, which has always traditionally attracted a sizeable number of spectators. That number is expected to increase with night racing thrown into the mix.

Located just 3 km from the Johannesburg CBD, Turffontein Racecourse offers parking for up to 3000 cars and hosts most of the top races in the province, and regularly hosts many of South Africa's leading jockeys including Anton Marcus, Piere Strydom, Anthony Delpech and Weichong Marwing.

Just a small correction on the authorisation:

Phumelela has a formal letter from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development confirming that the development had commenced within the required time frames. The project is proceeding and is on schedule for the first use down the straight on Charity Mile day of 7 November 2009, and I'm sure we're all looking forward to it.

thanks Margaret, will be great to see it finally happen.

Goodnews Margaret..

Only down the straight I see?

Guess it is better than nothing right?

Will it be old or new course? We don't get given the details here in the USA....LOL

Tommy the lights are in the parking lot. The horses and jocks are bing given night goggles.

The punters as normal will play in the dark.

lol

Tommy_Hotspur Wrote:

---

> Only down the straight I see?
>
> Guess it is better than nothing right?
>
> Will it be old or new course? We don't get given
> the details here in the USA....LOL


But if you're very good we'll give you a pair of night vision goggles

On a more serious note...

It will be a normal programme of events, but because the lights will be fully operational at the straight that is where we'll run the last few races.

The rest of the course is scheduled to be operational by the Sansui Summer Cup Day (28 November - and hope to see lots of you there) - there we are planning on a 12 race programme starting at 13:05, last race to run at 19:40.

We will be using the stand side track for night racing.

Thanks Margaret, I appreciate the info and the night goggles.....Wish I could attend a few of these night race meetings as I used to LOVE Newmarket night racing.....A bit of a long trip however!! LOL