May ABC Go From Strength to Strength

As an outsider looking in it saddens me to see such wonderful site being abused by a selected few.It used to be a site where one can go and gather information on the days racing be it local or international and to read other posters various comments and opinions about a particular horse that they fancy.

Recently though this site turned into a mud slinging contest which is not good at all for those that really enjoy horse racing.
Lets hope sanity prevails and this site can get back to for what it was intended for.
For those that constantly bitch and moan about the RA/Phumela LIVE AND DEAL with it. They ain't going nowhere.They will still be here long after you have departed.

Happy punting and best of luck to Dave Scott.


PS: Hibernia I really enjoy your posts and pictures.
Keep it up.

Racing at Heart while your post may touch the hearts of millions that read and post here let me remind you of one fact .

Phumelela and the RA are only here because we made them . When I say we I mean , the punter , the owner , the trainer , the horses , the jockeys , the grooms , the workriders .

Its like you saying the ANC is here and we must deal with it . For those that are happy where they are good luck. But I would like to say good on those who fight for what is right , these are the real heroes.

Fair enough Lex.

You have guys like Cuckoo and TS that have been fighting a lone battle and what have they achieved besides alienating themselves.They have won one case against the RA albeit on a technicality.

Don't you think its time to blend in and take racing forward instead of openely challenging the RA/Phumela.I'm sure the RA/Phumela would love critism but not the way its done here on ABC.

PS: The punter could'nt give 2 hoots what goes on behind the scenes.All he/she is ever interested in is having a punt on his favourite past time which is horse racing.

Cheers guys, two sides to every story, and the Forum is here to give a voice to the punter/owner/trainer/whoever? and all I ask is to use it with respect to each other.

enjoy!

Agreed Scotia , all posts must have a level of respect irrespective how heated the discussion becomes.

ABC has come a long way and has provided alot on insight into alot of racing matters. Posters have also tipped alot of winners here and alot of info is shared here. I can't see this forum ever closing down and it will be silly if the moderators even think of it.

The moderators have no control over what is posted here. All they can do is hope that posters are mature enough to not use this platform for personal reasons.

Another topic that inspires some thought and deserves a response. The Sunday Times and the Fred Khumalo page ran an interesting story on the goings on between Helen Zille the uncircumcised boy comment which was aimed at Julius Malema. Fred Khumalo went to great pains to say that Zille had inadvertently joined Malema in the gutter by making these comments. He went on to praise Naledi Pandor for not commenting on Malemas outbursts. Khumalo felt that this was the best way to deal with a person like this. Khumalo made various references to Malemas inability to pass woodwork and his fear of un- crafted wood. I don’t want to bore you with too much more of this but you can find it in the Sunday Times. You may be thinking well what relevance does this have to the topic. Well here we go.

I must admit to being bitterly disappointed with comments made by some of SA’s most respected people involved in the sport of horseracing. In particular I felt that MDK’s comments regarding “shutting up the peanut gallery who do not deserve the platform they are given...” or something to that effect is a rash generalisation that infers that we all thrown together into a singular mould and have very little knowledge of racing. For all we know Lex or any one of the other unknown posters could be Mrs O, I doubt it, but who knows. Would it be fair to categorise these people as part of the peanut gallery. Would it be fair to generalise and say that people on this forum, owners or punters, should not voice an opinion? That is kind of Mugabe I would say. You can have an opinion as long as it is line with mine you may say what you like. I also find it quite a contradiction that Strydom can be bombed from the MDK yard for his comments made on Tellytrack post race yet MDK insults all and sundry on this forum. He can’t bomb himself but should consider his own actions.

This way of thinking reminds me a bit of the Charl P “halfwit” comment on Tellytrack. He also generalised and painted all of us with the same brush. Not everyone on the dark side of the spoon is off to the high IQ society neither I am afraid to say Mr P. Why should we all be in the above average IQ range in order to comment anyway. We live in a diverse society with varying thoughts and ideas. We know what we see and surely we should be allowed to express our thoughts.

I must add that I am in no way comparing the views of TS or anyone else to the uncontrolled baseless outbursts of Malema, as TS and others back their arguments with reason and how can I make my mind up whether it is fact or not when the other side remains silent.

Let me conclude in stating that I have the utmost admiration for what MDK and what he has achieved. He is a great South African ambassador, but I must say that I am disappointed that he used television as platform to generalise and insult. There is a lot of talk of negativity on these sites, no one ever mentions the positive comments. Makes you wonder, is this a negative site or are the people on the outside only focusing on the drops of negativity. In the words of Fred Khumalo MDK “welcome to the gutter”. I know that ABC will continue to go from strength to strength.

Well said Alcaponee

Racing at Heart

The fact that the average punter doesn't care what happens behind the scenes is a bit like saying the average poor South African does not care about the millions wasted on things like the arms deal as long as he has some bread to eat every day. The fact that nobody cares does not make certain things right. Perhaps if more people had cared a few years ago, we would still have been watching night racing from Newmarket tonight.

Thanks again Al for a great contribution.

I am not sure where you got the MDK input? however this site has always promoted his horses and what he has done for SA racing.

If he has a problem with the posts on the site asking the questions "why did he/we not know that JJ could not act in the going,(before the race)"? and why a "trip to Hong Kong was not planned correctly"?

I feel was fair comments and questions on the site.

It was a front page headline on Freeracer over the weekend I think.

I have eventually found it here www.freeracer.co.za/Horseracing/tabid/33...mID/871/Default.aspx

He does say "internet talk forums" which of course includes us so my comments stand.

Thanks AL, have to fly, off to the airport!