Scotia says welcome back

Good morning and I officially wish you all a good New Year and we hope 2010 will be great for South Africa.






I am sure everyone is now trying to get back to normal and feeling a bit down after all the festivities.

Must say we have had a great break and the family are all over the moon with the progress they have seen over the years in SA.
Plenty of perceptions of how SA should be and look, but all expectations were surpassed.

We did plenty socializing in great restaurants but one slightly different venture was when we became "boat people" for a few days
by hiring a house boat and travelling up and down the Vaal and stopping of at various places on the river.
To have sundowners on the roof of the boat on a still river is a sight to behold and would recommend you give this experience a try.

The StoneHaven is a must stop for a great vibe and food.



Its very important to keep good discipline on the vessel and I was the Captain and gave orders to the first mate (brother in law)
who passed them on to the cabin crew (the ladies) very simple duties keeping the boat clean and pouring drinks for the Captain.
The day it rained I promoted first mate to steer the boat.
Its plenty fun and worth a bash to all with a good sense of humour.

As far as the site we had excellent traffic and contributions and thanks again for keeping the wheels on during the festive season.



You may have noticed I removed the tote banners and was hoping to complete discussions before issuing a statement, but have received calls and emails over the last few weeks and update you with the following.

The standard contract was rather long and included "no posting of illegal's" on ABC, "illegal's" could be defined such as Betfair and on-line casinos. I wanted this removed as its rather contradictory if you consider joint ventures and agreements Phumelela have in place with "illegal's"

Reply: No problem it will be removed.

I am not happy with the explanation of "lucky numbers" with regards to comingling, I am suggesting we have a print out that shows the SA bets at the "off" and a separate print out "in running" which shows the co mingling and cancelled bets and highlight the source which causes the major discrepancies in final payout and take action.

Reply: "lucky numbers" was probably a bad choice of words, tellytrack show planned to feedback to the punters, will take place on Monday (see details on forum).

The ABC banner and links were removed from tabonline, bit unfair considering the prominence of the tote banners on ABC

Reply: still under discussion

I was not prepared to promote the Tote via ABC due to the above concerns.

In addition have not received one cent? possibly due to not signing contract.
However if and when ABC receive a payment from Phumelela this money will be used for a new competition, The first competition was based on an estimate of R500/month as I received a statement for Oct.only.

Reply: no excuse is being followed up

Will keep you posted with any further developments.




Kauto Star and Denman to fight it out at Cheltenham

On the racing front we hope 2010 is a year for records to be broken starting with Pocket Power and Kauto Star becoming one of the elite club to win the CGC for a 3rd year.

The Cheltenham build up has knocked by bad weather, however the "clash of the decade" between Kauto and Denman should ensure a full house on the final day March 19th.
Other festival highlights should be a very open Champion Hurdle, the Champion Chase going to a "fit"? Masterminded and Big Bucks having the World Hurdle in the bag.

As far as the new flat season, continue to hear good reports on St Nicholas Abbey, so maybe the 2000 gns and Derby double should be considered?


Dubai will soon be underway and we hope for a great show from the SA connections.

Just to end, there is a saying "life goes on" but sad to say that at this moment in time on our sometimes cruel planet this does not apply to the people of Haiti, (200,000 dead!) so bear a thought or give a contribution to try and make a difference. Its probably at times like this we can all think ourselves lucky and be thankful for what we have.
So all the best for a positive year for ABC and lets try and get our priorities right.

Good punting! and may your God be with you

Dave "scotia" Scott

Good man Scotia that soughts out the removal of the Tote banners,just not worthwhile.

Morning Zoro

Its not a case of not worthwhile, happy to put banners back, its a case of the concerns being addressed and much will depend on the feedback on Mondays show.

Intresting times ahead.

Lets sort out the myth(bullshit) about Betfair!
I spent a week with a fairly senior member of the gambling board a few months ago(senior enough to have had an involvement in drafting amendments to the act)
I have contended for ages that the warning in Computaform is misleading,and only forex is the issue.
My question to said person was"If I have money legally overseas,is there any other law which prohibits me from operating on Betfair.Answer: NO
So Dave,have the balls to tell them to take their threats elsewhere.....or quote the law which makes Betfair,per se`,illegal!
Who wants to have deals with people that are dishonest and incompetent...."If you eat with dogs,you will get fleas"

Hi Rob, this was "my" interpretation from the contract.

I might be wrong but my understanding is that Phumelela have always given out the message that Exchanges (punter to punter) are illegal as a SA punter cant lay a horse or gamble on line with casinos.

I did not want to sign the contract to prohibit me promoting either an exchange or online casino if the situation did arise in the future.

Plus it has been removed, so no longer an outstanding issue.