It’s famously the only occupation that requires an ambulance to follow you as you do your job.
Who’d want to be a jockey? There are clear positives to riding racehorses for a living – such as the exhilaration of travelling at high speed on a galloping steed; and being the centre of attention when your mount wins the race, looking across an excited throng and snapping photographers from the heights of the saddle. And then there’s the money – if you’re successful.
The word on horses and racing
To lift spirits after a gloomy week, here is a melange of quotes about horses and the Sport of Kings.
Meet Cape Town’s ‘young-gun’ couple
The most heartening thing in horse racing at present is the emergence of much young talent in the riding and training ranks.
Green Point a beacon of light in the gloom
Huddled in soggy gloom, South African racing fans have kept a candle burning, seeing in its guttering flame gallant gallopers going for it.
The sun is still rising on Japan’s racing
Japan is the future of horse racing. That’s the view of many knowledgable racing people and it’s undeniable that the game has been flourishing for the past few decades in the Land of the Rising Sun – unlike everywhere else in the world.
Up and down on the racing roller-coaster
Horse racing is a wild ride for the emotions – elation at winning is very quickly replaced by the sinking feeling of losing. The Gauteng Summer Cup race meeting at Turffontein on Saturday was no different.
What the history books tell us
History is supposed to teach us about how to best handle the present and the future – mistakes to avoid and wisdom to follow.
Dingaan remembered as shooting stars go into battle
What is 19th century Zulu king Dingaan doing on the programme for Saturday’s Gauteng Summer Cup race meeting at Turffontein?
No sex please, we’re buying a racehorse
There’s a clear sexual metaphor to gambling and horse racing.
Grasp the AHS nettle, says De Kock
When a midge about 3cm long bit a horse in Nietgedacht, north of Joburg, earlier this month, it set off racing’s latest crisis.
The topsy-turvy world of Summer Cup ante-post betting
You have a way better chance of winning than you do on the Lotto.
Mighty Melbourne moment for Vow And Declare
Jockey Craig Williams must have thought he’d won a movie Oscar: he thanked dozens of people – including his dentist – in the immediate aftermath of victory in the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday.
Warm hearts, starry eyes, beer … and winners at the Charity Mile
Everyone likes a good news story and there can be few tales more heart-warming than charities being handed lots of money.
Ready To Run Sale is in galloping mood
Racehorse sales around the world have been buoyant in recent times – despite adverse conditions in the broader economy.
Welcome back Superman
Punting is a hard game at the best of times.
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