Neil Andrews: The face of the Charity Mile

The chirpy TV sport presenter underwent a triple heart bypass operation this week and had to be “scratched” from the line-up of celebrities who annually add a touch of glamour to the Peermont Emperors Palace Charity Mile.

Andrews, 55, was understandably not taking calls, but his wife Hlohlo reported he was “doing really well” after the operation, was breathing on his own after being weaned off a ventilator and had nursing staff “eating out of the palm of his hand”. Over the years, Andrews has become something of “the face” of the popular charity day – a constant among the glitzy celebrities, acting as their “minder”.

A racing man to his bootstraps, he knows the game inside out and makes sure the gaggle of singers, soap stars, boxers and beauties know what’s going on, where to go and how not to make embarrassing blapses in front of the fans. Plus, he plays host in the VIP areas – dispensing betting advice, hot tips and corny jokes about his famous friends.

For good measure, he pops up on TV to chat to punters at home. For the Charity Mile, a Grade 2 race over 1 600m, R1 million is given away to deserving causes. Each of the 16 runners is linked to a charity and a celebrity via a random draw. Charities get prizes according to where their horses finish, with even also-rans getting R50,000 each – and a cheque handover picture with a smiley celebrity.

This year, the celebrity count was cut by half as lockdown rules severely limit the number of people allowed on a racecourse. However, early publicity for the 2020 event had the familiar name of Andrews among the stars of the show. Fate intervened. On Saturday, he booked himself into a Fourways hospital after suffering severe chest pains.

Doctors stabilised him and scheduled the triple bypass. Friend and media colleague Nico Kritsiotis kept the racing crowd informed, saying: “He’s in good spirits. Nothing seems to get Neil down. He’s always so vibrant, but perhaps this shock will get him to slow down a bit. I don’t know anyone who works as hard as him; he just never stops.”

Pepsi win like a baller launch with Melissa and Neil Andrews – Grand sports diner Dowerglen. 13 March 2019. Pic John Liebenberg

Andrews and Kritsiotis present Clocking The Gallop, a racing “infotainment” show on YouTube, launched in May after they and other Tellytrack stalwarts were dropped by the channel in the wake of the collapse of operator Phumelela.

Kritsiotis this week “reluctantly” stepped into the vacant Charity Mile celebrity role – and in grand Andrews tradition, promptly drew two outsiders to represent his charities in the race: Hero’s Honour and Orpheus. Andrews started out as a racing broadcaster but his personable, engaging manner quickly saw him snapped up by SuperSport to be an on-screen anchor for other sports, like football and rugby.

His hugely popular early morning chat show Super Saturday ran for a number of years. He said being asked to do rugby punditry with the likes of Naas Botha was “a hospital pass, but I tried to run with it” – which epitomises the positive, cando character.

One tough assignment was appearing live on air at 2.30am on a Sunday for a 2011 Rugby World Cup match between Fiji and Samoa – just hours after his co-owned horse The Mouseketeer had memorably won the old Emerald Cup before a festive crowd at Vaal racecourse.

“I had to go easy on the old celebratory champers.” He admits that, after the third World Cup match that morning, he “needed a lie-down”. His love of racing began with the 1973 Grand National in the UK, where he was born. Aged eight, he had a 50p each-way bet on Crisp, who finished second to Red Rum in the great one’s first National victory.

“And I’ve been backing seconds ever since!” In 1975, when he was 10, his family emigrated to South Africa and lived near Durbanville racecourse in Western Cape – which fuelled his obsession. While at Cape Town University, he started owning shares in racehorses, often “on the coat-tails of Robert Bloomberg”, the Cape racing luminary.

Notably, he and Bloomberg were partners in Eurovision, who won the Gold Bowl. He moved to Joburg about 30 years ago to help set up M-Net racing channel IGN, the forerunner to Tellytrack. Among the many successful racehorses he has owned over the years was seven-time winner Speedy Doll, in partnership with friend and footballing legend Terry Paine.

Another was eight-timer Howdoulikemenow. Like many in the Covid-hit sporting and racing worlds, Andrews has faced challenging times of late, but he is quick to offset any apparent problems with reference to the blessings of his family.

He has three children with Hlohlo: Elijah Gabriel, 10 months; Noah Benjamin, two, and Brighton Nathaniel, seven; and two older offspring: 23-year-old daughter Melissa Jade and a 19-year-old son Gregory Scott.

– news@citizen.co.za

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