VAAL SAND - THE TRUTH !

Having witnessed Yesterday's joke and also the last two "rained out" sand meetings, which were rained put for less than 10 mm rain, I have made many calls and found out the true story, according to Vaal Trainers and a few others on the know.

At the outset, one of the trainers who keeps on being referred to is xxxxxxx, but he has refused to comment to myself on the issue. This is a pity, because I have been told the following about him -
1) In January 2014 he had a meeting with track staff and Phum management and explained exactly how the track should be maintained. Apparently, management agreed that they knew little about the sand racing surface.
2) xxxxxxxx was there when the Sand course was originally built and visited the site daily during construction, as it was his special interest, having built his own track before. During the meeting of last year, Xxxxxxxguaranteed Phum that they would lose meetings due to rain if they didn't get their levels and drainage right. This year, he was proved to be correct.
3) Some Vaal Trainers believe that xxxxxxxwould fix the track in a day or two, as it was just a maintenance issue.
4 ) All Vaal Trainers say that the track manager is never ever seen at tracks. Some say that whenever they look for the man he is either on leave or nowhere to be found.
5) A few Vaal Trainers openly laughed at the statement that the Sand course could not be repaired. The following came out -
a) they now have 3 track packers instead of the one which they previous course manager had.
b) they took delivery of 3 brand new, top of the range Massey Ferguson tractors last year, IN ADDITION TO the existing tractors which were good enough for years before.
c) they have 2 new, extra water truck/tankers.
They are short of nothing and have Millions of rands worth of extra equipment.
This leaves the sand itself. The flavour of the month story being fed down everyone's throat is that the Trainers are at fault for requesting the sand to be upgraded 5 years ago. Apparently the sand is the problem, which is why it cannot be prepped properly. Trainers laughed at this one too. They say that the whole replacement of the sand was a joke in itself. Again, xxxxxxx ' name came up a few times. Apparently he still has the pieces of glass and sharp objects which he, Woodruff, Houdalakis and Botes picked up off the test strip, which was laid from local sand. This was a joke to them. It was then decided that the local sand could not be used and sand would have to be bought in. (There is a sand pit currently at Vaal with pure, clean, perfect sand). Trainers scoffed at the idea of having to buy sand in. They felt that it was potentially part of a hidden agenda. The outgoing course manager was retiring soon, so probably did not need the hassle of the extra work....but just before leaving , after the sand was replaced, the course manager bought an Audi TT...And the track manager also bought an Audi. This same track manager is still the track manager.

Further, when the sand was finally delivered, there was a big problem. It seemed that the sand which was delivered was not the spec or standard which Phum had purchased..... There were massive stones in the sand. Phum had to delay the commencement of sand racing, whilst staff worked through the night to sift the new sand. They had to grade the entire course up and sift to remove the stones.
The bottom line is that there is definitely a cloud surrounding the sand which was placed on the surface.
But, this same sand withstood some 130mm of rain in 48 hours before the running of the 2013 Emerald day. The meeting went ahead, was only postponed after 6 races had been run on the day and lightning and hail fell.
Trainers say that it is the same sand, so the only problem can be maintenance related and lack of skills.
The one point mentioned by most Trainers at Vaal is the fact that the sand course is only prepped on a Tuesday for thursday racing and that it is not maintained as a racing surface 7 days a week. Trainers say that track staff are noted by their absence after Thursday races when the bosses are gone and throughout the weekend. The sand course gets prepped for 3 out of 7 days. Some say that by daily preps, they will actually spend less on the track.

It is surprising too, that many believe that Patrick Davis does not like sand racing and therefore wants it to fail, so that he can get rid of it. There are some who believe that this whole sand problem is being done on purpose.

Have messaged Goosen and brought this thread to his attention

This is really sad and shocking and whilst I am not a fan of Sand Racing (however I still punt there), Emerald Casino has to be one of racing best sponsors and provide a really important weekend of racing and good to watch and follow during a dull period (Aug/Sept) in SA Racing...

Hopefully sanity will prevail and the correct unpolitical decisions will be made!

PHUMELELA MEDIA RELEASE
SUBJECT: Vaal sand track investigation
DATE: 22 MAY 2015
RELEASED BY: PHUMELELA GAMING

Phumelela has completed its internal investigation into the circumstances
surrounding the abandonment of yesterday’s race meeting on the Vaal Sand
after just two races.
Jockeys claimed after the second race that the going was inconsistent and
unsafe. An inspection of the surface was immediately carried out by a track
inspection panel, which confirmed the jockeys’ concerns and called off the
meeting in the interests of the safety of horses and riders.
Senior track officials from Phumelela immediately went to the Vaal to
ascertain what had gone wrong, given that there had been no problems at a
race meeting on the sand surface a fortnight earlier and that weather
factors had not impacted the track subsequently.
After a comprehensive inspection, General Manager Racing Operations Stan
Diesel concluded that the Vaal track manager had slightly overwatered the
surface, which in turn caused the inconsistencies.
But he was quick to point out the difficulties the track manager faces in
getting the moisture balance of the surface correct.
According to Diesel, the surface has become extremely problematic since the
washed sand originally laid was replaced by unwashed sand five years ago at
the insistence of horsemen, who claimed that washed sand was causing horses
to slip.
Phumelela reluctantly acceded to the demands of the horsemen at the time,
but warned that inevitably the unwashed sand would cause inconsistencies
and would also result in more races being lost to rain.
“I do not wish to make excuses for yesterday and the track manager will
face internal disciplinary proceedings because there appears to have been
an element of misjudgement. But it does need to be clearly understood that
unwashed sand has made the surface extremely difficult to manage,” Diesel
said.
Phumelela is doing everything possible to ensure that the sand course is in
optimal condition for the winter sand racing season. New equipment has been
purchased to enable the sand to be turned over more regularly and
effectively. This will bring the deeper, cleaner sand to the surface ahead
of the normal raceday compaction process.
Diesel is confident of achieving a good and safe racing surface for the
Vaal sand race meeting on Tuesday next week, but said that as a precaution
horses will be galloped on the track beforehand to ensure everything is in
order. The gallop is scheduled for 9am on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, investigations into the feasibility of possibly installing a
synthetic racing surface at Turffontein are at an advanced stage.
“The thinking is that a synthetic surface at Turffontein would replace the
Vaal Sand course’s big role in winter racing on the Highveld,” said
Phumelela Horseracing Executive Patrick Davis. “If Phumelela did install a
synthetic track at Turffontein, a decision would then have to be taken
whether the existing Vaal sand track should be for training only or be
converted to a turf racing surface.”

Looking like the death is nigh

So...

"you" apparently know it will cause huge future issues but "you" do it anyway
"you" don't inspect the track regularly despite many recent issues
"you" know there have been plenty of recent problems but because one sand meeting went ok, "you" think everything is fine rather than monitoring as "you" should
"you" spend millions on new equipment to make things better and then talk of closing the track
"you" seemingly accept no responsibility and blame "horsemen" and the "track manager", what a surprise

"Quick to point out blah blah blah", what a pathetic and blatant attempt to shift blame. Take some farking responsibility ffs, the buck stops with "you"!

what a crock of sh1t

The end should be nigh for certain people Bob, not the track

Oh and thanks for reporting on your findings Whoosh, will be "interesting" to see the reaction from "horsemen" to what you report and Phumelela's halo sh1t

Thank you Phumelela for telling us nothing new -Unacceptable !!!!! Action is what is needed

The Vaal track manager "slightly overwatered the track".......................it caused abandonment FFS ............is that the understatement of the year?..................lol

Joke Rob

i know that an AUDI is an unreliable car. They breakdown often. perhaps the guys has car troubles and can't always get to work.

There are many harsh comments on Sporting Post