PHUMELELA MEDIA RELEASE - Charity mile

The draws could turn out to be the great leveller when the R600,000 Peermont Emperors Palace Charity Mile (G2) is run at Turffontein on Saturday 21 November.

The final field for this unique race over 1600m was announced at a function at Emperors Palace yesterday and the 16 runners were paired up with their respective charities and celebrities.

The bad news for the connections of Buy And Sell, Meet At Malamala, Seattle Ice and Senor Versace is that they landed the four outside draws. Captain Scott and El Padrino did not fare much better as they ended up with barriers 12 and 13 respectively.

There will be smiles on the faces of jockeys Anton Marcus and Piere Strydom though, as their two mounts have drawn most favourably. Marcus is aboard Imperial Gesture, one of three runners from the yard of champion trainer Charles Laird, and they are drawn at No 7.
The son of Al Mufti has won four of his six races and scored an impressive victory over Braggadacio last Saturday in his first run after gelding. He has also recorded two facile victories since being fitted with blinkers and is sure to be high up on the bookmakers’ boards.

Strydom rides SA Derby runner-up Magical for veteran trainer Ormond Ferraris and they are set to jump from barrier No 6. They could be even better positioned by the time they jump if there are no scratchings and the two reserve runners come out. Second reserve Aslan drew pole position while first reserve Fenerbahce is placed at No 5.

One trainer who was delighted with his draw was trainer Brian Wiid, who sends out last year’s fifth-placed Gliding High. The Rambo Dancer gelding came from last to finish just 1.25 lengths off winner Likeithot.
``We drew No 3 and if Aslan fails to make the field we’ll jump from draw two. That’s about as good as it gets,’’ said Wiid.

Paul Whitmore gets the ride on Likeithot, who bounced back to form last week with a victory over stablemate Senor Versace. At seven-years-old the Rakeen gelding has not lost his zest for racing and has peaked at the right time in his attempt for a Charity Mile double.

Marthinus Mienie is up on KwaZulu-Natal visitor Tropical Empire who has never performed at Turffontein. However, he has not run at the track since changing stables and could give a solid account of himself in the big race.

The Charity Mile is a normal horserace in every respect but it also offers the 16 participating charities the opportunity of a huge bonanza. The finishing position of the runners determines the amount each charity wins with R100,000 going to the charity represented by the winning horse.

No charity will go home empty-handed. A total of R550,000 will be given away with the breakdown as follows:
(should a runner be withdrawn, the relevant charity gets R20 000): 1st - R100,000; 2nd - R70,000; 3rd - R50,000; 4th - R40,000; 5th - R30,000; 6th - R29,000; 7th - R28,000; 8th - R27,000; 9th - R26,000; 10th - R25,000; 11th - R25,000; 12th - R20,000; 13th - R20,000; 14th - R20,000; 15th - R20,000; 16th - R20,000.

Below is the field, draw, sponsor, charity and the celebrity who will represent each charity.

Tellytrack's charity is listed as " The Trust" what noble cause is this ?

From a previous media release:

The Trust
The Trust aims to be the primary umbrella organisation in South Africa responsible for actively collecting and distributing donations to member charities approved by it. The Trust also monitors the utilisation of donations by member charities and aims to make it easy, affordable and risk free for individuals and corporates to contribute to reputable and accountable South African charities.

Very good then, thanks Hibby. I trust Horatio will make them proud.

I do love this meeting but I must say that the demograpics are wrong- The majority of charities are "black" but the celebs are mostly white(not trying to be political - approching as a business) but I'd rather see more black celebs especially from radio/tv so that we could intice more black punters into the game then more turnover hence more stakes etc. And no politicians on the list - if you want to increase your punter base go to the masses and in SA we know who the masses are so attract them to the course so that they can punt.

backing therealslimshady, as with its celeb that horse can run

Was there not someone political for DISA LEADER?

I have a problem most the horses are brown but the grass is green.

Sylvester,

Would that be the green grass..."on the other side"??

LOL

You should Know Tommy?

Reminds me off the Welsh immigrant that goes to the doc and says I cant stop singing "the green green grass of home"

Doc says you have Tom Jones syndrome

Welshman says, is it common?

And the doc sings "Its not unusual"