SA team announced..by The Ra

My opinion....Pick on merit no matter what the skin colour, the BEST 11 men in football, the BEST 15 men in Rugby and the BEST jockies for the SA Team. Khumalo very good jockey and probably could be one the best if he was riding for a top stable....Did I not read on this site that he is a lazy jockey who doesn't like riding work?...Not sure if its true though.

Jack, so then in your opinion everything that happens in South Africa is truthful and well thought out?
How is it then that not the best athletes get picked for the SA rugby and cricket teams??? Do I think they are now a bad team, certainly not, but I am saying that there are more things involved then just picking a team of the absolute strongest candidates.

Nothing may come of the selection and I'm sure that it won't, but what if some political idiot tries to curry favour with the government and succeeds only in damaging our sports further????

You think I want a weaker team to participate??? I want to WIN, but not at the cost of our sport being undermined by our government.

Anyway, I wish them all the best and I certainly will be screaming every winner home as loud and as patriotic as I can!!

Greg,

I couldn't agree with you more. EVERY sport should pick on merit and thats the end of it...............

But does this really happen? How many rugby bosses have quit because they are not allowed to pick who they want to?

Possibly we shouldn't cater for "political idiots", and tackle them when and if?

I'm sure we need legions of political idiots to scratch the surface of the damage we've done ourselves. In every way, shape and form this is an elitist sport.

In fact I would argue that as far as racism goes in racing that jockeys are the very least affected. If you can ride, you can be champion and you will be a millionaire, there is no colour bar or prejudice whatsoever, if you can cross that line first.

Its not about the jockeys or who pick them...Its about politics that involve itself in EVERYTHING it shouldn't in SA!

I wish them all the best

I really think the team should be made up of the Champ Jockey - the balance should be made up of the winners of an interprovincial series (top six qualify - sixth man reserve). This would actually give any jockey the chance to qualify if he puts in the work. The logistics maybe hazy as i'm sure some of the big yards would not like strangers aboard their horses but as we have a workriders series so we should have a jockeys' series - one race every month in each province (random draws for rides- obviously only the top 14 stakes earners per province qualify -)
At the end of a set period, perhaps six meetings highest scores count for provincial teams. Top three in each province then go foward to interprovincial meetings - one Cape, Gauteng, PE/Flamingo, Natal. The circus then ends and the top six qualify. Creates a provincial buzz and the youngsters have something to work for. The series could also generate good betting prospects as their may be some suprises when top jocks don't have the pick of the rides.

i agree with the selection,bar that of R Fourie.
Been posted on this site hes quitting SA.ACKNOWLEDGE hes worked very hard to reach current status,but its all about the patroitic green jacket.
KN did well last year.

The rest of the team are riding on top of their game in GP at moment.

Doyen to be fair, FIVE of the six have ridden overseas - four for very lengthy periods - and returned to SA as better riders - young Fourie should be given the chance that he has earned.It's not as if he's burning his passport or anything like that - The guy has ambition and I'm sure like others before he will return to his country of birth when he is ready.

how did felix get in ahead of Karl Neisius. Karl rode last year and did well.