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GOLDEN LOOM twice won the Grade 1 Computaform Sprint; was second once and third twice.
The brilliant brown gelding was the king of speed on the Highveld in a golden age of sprinting. He raced for nine seasons and chalked up his final race victory at the ripe age of 10. In all, he had 78 starts, won 22 of them and was placed 37 times, for a stakes haul of R2.8-million.
Those are the bald statistics, and they’re amazing enough. But the story of Golden Loom is also a human one, featuring three brothers from the East Rand and an extraordinary racehorse trainer.
Raymond, Budwa and Michael Abrosie were born and bred in Benoni and moved a little closer to Johannesburg in 1975 when they bought The Executive, men’s outfitters in Bedfordview.
“We’d always been interested in racing,’’ observes Raymond. “And when we had enough money we decided to get into ownership, in 1978.’’
The brothers’ first horse was Mary Reid, who won a race for them and cemented their love of the game.
If Golden Loom was the horse in a million that would eventually change their lives, it was a modest purchase at the 1981 National Yearling Sale that was the foundation of all that glory.
The Abrosies paid R6,700 for Lumination, a filly bred by George Rowles from the stallion Silverware and the mare Lightning Girl. Trained by Denis Fisher, the filly won first time out in a juvenile Graduation Plate at Scottsville, breaking the 1000m course record.
Although plagued by injury, Lumination won another two races and was second in the SA Nursery and the Morris Lipschitz Memorial Plate.
The Abrosies decided to become breeders, sending Lumination to Zevenbergen Stud in Robertson when she was four.
Her first son was Majestic Light, who won five races, including a Listed race. Then there was Senor Smith, a seven-time winner; then Barberis, who notched up five successes.
World’s Best, foaled by Lumination in 1991, won three races and made a name as a broodmare herself, with every one of her progeny from 1998 onwards being a winner. Raymond and Budwa still own her and race her offspring.
But it was a colt, born in 1992, who was to be Lumination’s greatest legacy to SA racing. He was named Golden Loom by the tailoring brothers.
The Abrosies initially sent their youngster to Ormond Ferraris, but the timing wasn’t the best as the veteran trainer was then in the process of handing his yard over to son David.
Golden Loom had been sent to a spelling farm at Kyalami for gelding, pin-firing and blistering, and the Abrosies dispatched Buddy Maroun there to cast an eye over him.
The up-and-coming young trainer immediately took a liking to the horse and it was agreed that he would transfer to his yard, then at Randjesfontein.
It was there that Golden Loom was first dubbed “Goofy’’ by Buddy, due to his lovely temperament and laid-back demeanour.
His first public outing in 1996 was a racecourse orientation, and though he finished unplaced, eight lengths behind the winner, jockey Anton Marcus was impressed. His second outing was again earmarked as an experience-builder, but Golden Loom burst from the pack to finish second to star sprinter Divine Force. It was third time lucky as he won his next start at odds-on.
That was the start of five wins on the trot, a run in which Golden Loom beat the champion sprinter of the day, Tommy Hotspur.
“Actually, Golden Loom campaigned through a golden age of sprinting, with all of Jet Master, Divine Force, Harry’s Charm, Noble Thatch, Turbo Star and other brilliant horses competing against him,’’ remembers Budwa.
“His first big win was in 1997, in the Grade 2 Concor Technicrete Spring Handicap,” says Raymond. “Over the next two years he raced 36 times and was always in the first three places.’’
In the 1997 season, Buddy took his star to the demanding uphill finish at Scottsville – regarded as the true test of a good sprinter – and he ran second in the Grade 1 Golden Spur. The next year he was third. Then, in 2001, he won the race and the undimmed admiration of all racing experts. Just for good measure, he clocked up another third in 2003.
Inevitably, the handicapper piled on the weight. But it didn’t stop the brown bomber. “He was carrying weights in Top division handicaps that horses hadn’t carried in Joburg for 50 years,’’ notes Raymond. “He carried 65kg to win a few races, including the Listed Syd Laird Handicap.’’
His first Grade 1 Computaform Sprint victory came in 1998 over the 1000m of the old Gosforth Park track. It was a repeat performance the next year.
“We hosted hundreds of people at Germiston for those Computaform Sprint days,’’ says Budwa. “The excitement was unbelievable; by then Golden Loom had caught the public imagination. We turned them into charity days for the Maronite Catholic Church, taking over the old stewards’ enclosure. Those were wonderful days.’’
It was almost seven years to the day after his Maiden Plate win that Golden Loom landed his 22nd, and final victory. He was 10 years old when he claimed the Grade 3 Senor Santa Handicap over the Turffontein 1200m.
Although he raced, and placed, after that, Buddy Maroun noticed that the old fellow was losing interest in racing and it was decided to retire him.
Anton Marcus rode him to 12 of his wins, Rhys van Wyk to six, Sherman Brown to two, and Piere Strydom and Guillermo Figueroa to one each.
“Golden Loom gave us the times of our lives in racing,’’ says Raymond. “We were immensely privileged. Such horses come to very few people – anywhere in the world.’’
Indeed, one can only wonder at the odds of owners who’d never had more than three horses in training and had just one broodmare chancing on a champion like that.
But the Abrosies are quick to give most of the credit to Buddy Maroun.
“We just had out name on the horse. He was really Buddy’s, the apple of his eye. Without Buddy he would never have done what he did,’’ says Budwa.
Buddy Maroun came from a prominent Joburg horseracing family and learnt his trade in the stables of his trainer father, Robert.
There, he and Robert evolved a theory of training that drew scepticism – but was enormously successful. The notable feature of Buddy’s method was running horses frequently. Week in and week out the “Maroun army’’ of sprinters would put best hooves forward on racedays.
And while rivals couldn’t quite fathom it, his horses generally stayed sound and enjoyed racing into advanced age – Golden Loom being a prime example.
Totally engrossed in his craft and eschewing racing politics, Buddy set up a private facility at Putfontein, laying down tracks with special grit and always insisting on driving the harrowing tractor himself.
Though he’d never been a jockey, he rode most of his string in work, often exercising more than 40 horses of a morning. And he did his own hooves and shoeing.
“Golden Loom wasn’t the soundest,’’ recalls Budwa. “But Buddy kept him racing, which wouldn’t have happened with any other trainer. He’d spend four to six hours working on Goofy’s feet, fitting shoes to keep him sound.’’
Just like Golden Loom, Buddy Maroun came to be known as the “Sprint King’’ of the Highveld. He developed a legion of horses into top-grade speedsters – Geordoba, Fov’s Favourite, Al Nitak, All Will Be Well, among many others.
The racing world was devastated when Buddy died suddenly three years ago from infection to a minor wound while on a horse-buying trip to Argentina.
Golden Loom outlived his best friend.
After enjoying his retirement years on a farm at Kyalami, Goofy died in 2010 at the age of 18. He was euthanized after injuring himself in a romp with his paddock companion.
He is fondly remembered by the racing public, many of whom used to send the Abrosies fan mail. One fan wrote poems in his honour. Another regular correspondent was presented with a special “Goofy’’ tie by the outfitters.
The stylish Executive outlet in the Bedford Centre has its walls dotted with framed photos of Golden Loom’s greatest triumphs. In pride of place in the shop’s office boardroom is a large painting of the great horse.
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