VAAL SAND - THE TRUTH !

I think that we all agree that the Vaal Sand is bad right now.
What worries me about Ian's post is that it is a bit over the top. No horses were reported injured on Tuesday and no jockeys were injured either . This doesn't mean that it will not happen nor that we must accept the poor course condition.

I note with interest and with confusion, that Ian has taken 6 rides , at today's acceptances for next week's sand meeting.

What baffles me is that some of the people complaining bout the perceived unsafe conditions will get in his bmw or merc and hit the hiway at 160kmh in some of the unsafest road and roadusersconditions in the world and not give a moments thought bout it

Bob Brogan wrote:

Frodo wrote: Well as you say - 'sort of' :dry:

Ja bud , can't see them wanting to maintain two hard to maintain all weather tracks, can you ?

what you on about Bob? We dont have all weather tracks...... 5mils rain and ABANDON

Striker also very critical , says " world worst track " in a sportingpost article

I really commend Ian Sturgeon for standing up and reminding us of the human and animal cost of all this.. Just for a buck or landing a gamble.. Most don't get paid to ride the hard hours each morning at work. I DO forget sometimes about the continued risk to jocks. Hell, I shat myself the last time I rode a farm nag and he bolted away with me when startled. This shifts the blame away from jocks to the track again. I really feel we can't keep making comparisons to the conditions of UK tracks etc when weighing up the risks of what constitutes a safe racing environment.

Nobody is disputing the fact that the Vaal track is in a poor state in that it is extremely heavy. Certain horses are not able to deal with the going.
One doesn't want to tempt fate, but the fact of the matter is that no horses or riders have been injured and based just on that, it is less a safety matter and more a racing matter.
Based on that, we should rather be concerned for Punters and Owners, who fund this industry. They are the ones suffering the most right now.

I have a problem with the jocks, when they state that the course is dangerous , life threatening etc and then go and take rides on this "dangerous surface". What will the Operators read into this ?

But should ALL Trainers and jocks not accept to run, then the Operators would get the message very clearly
Nowadays we lose meetings far easier than ever before. Maybe jocks nowadays are softer than before and only want the convenient meetings or surfaces, or only want what suits them. Maybe not. That's a debate on it's own.
But the fact of the matter is that if the track is dangerous and a jock truly believes that he has a above average chance of being injured, then he would not take rides.

louisg wrote: Nobody is disputing the fact that the Vaal track is in a poor state in that it is extremely heavy. Certain horses are not able to deal with the going.
One doesn't want to tempt fate, but the fact of the matter is that no horses or riders have been injured and based just on that, it is less a safety matter and more a racing matter.
Based on that, we should rather be concerned for Punters and Owners, who fund this industry. They are the ones suffering the most right now.

I have a problem with the jocks, when they state that the course is dangerous , life threatening etc and then go and take rides on this "dangerous surface". What will the Operators read into this ?

But should ALL Trainers and jocks not accept to run, then the Operators would get the message very clearly
Nowadays we lose meetings far easier than ever before. Maybe jocks nowadays are softer than before and only want the convenient meetings or surfaces, or only want what suits them. Maybe not. That's a debate on it's own.
But the fact of the matter is that if the track is dangerous and a jock truly believes that he has a above average chance of being injured, then he would not take rides.

Very true - Owners that expect to get a run and the race is abandoned, owners who feel that unless their horse has early speed it has no chance, not knowing if they should drive to the Vaal or not for fear the meeting will be canned.
The punter is the scary one though - When you have results like last week with a PA paying over 11k then you known punters will stop supporting. Also the fact that you have studied for a Sand meeting and place bets accordingly only for it to be moved to grass is not on. Losing punters is never on.
Personally I have had the majority of my winners as an owner on the Sand so it holds a special place in my heart but unless it is made safe and consistent then I see no good reason to keep it.
As Paul Whitmore once answered when I asked him how to fix the Sand track:"Plant grass over it!!!"

This is a hot topic of debate at the rooms at the moment following the abandoned meetings and the jockey stand downs. There is a growing school of thought that the reason Phumelela is not sorting out the issue is because they would prefer punters to bet on overseas racing.

Over the Air wrote: This is a hot topic of debate at the rooms at the moment following the abandoned meetings and the jockey stand downs. There is a growing school of thought that the reason Phumelela is not sorting out the issue is because they would prefer punters to bet on overseas racing.

do the tiny pools take enough?

Bob I do not necessarily agree with this viewpoint. I already spent more on UK racing than I do on local. I care less about what percentages Phumelela make as I do very little tote betting and its all open bet if it is. The point the guys are making is sound if the reasoning behind it is correct. They say that because there is no expense besides royalties on international racing offered, it stands to reason that the profit per rand bet on imported racing is larger than the profit per rand on local racing.

Is Phindi really a bad person?

But the thing is OTA that in the uk hardly anyone specifically goes to UK bookies to punt South African racing, they may have a few bets when they are in the shops putting their local bets on.Or when meetings are abandoned.If there was no local racing the totes would quickly empty of racing fans.