Horse racing in South Africa would not be the same without racing writer David Mollett. Picture: Sydney Seshibedi
Racing man extraordinaire David Mollett once tipped eight winners on a nine-race card at Turffontein – despite being unconscious at the time.
As is often the case with journalists, it started with a long lunch.
Molly arrived at the offices of Business Day newspaper early one evening – after generous libation – to write up his selections for the weekend meeting.
Sports editor Jon Swift, facing deadline, told Molly to get a move on. Just then, nature called, and our hero nipped into the loo – where he promptly fell asleep inside a cubicle.
After a while, Swift declared Molly missing in action, snatched up the form guide and did the job himself, despite having limited knowledge of racing and the intricacies of selecting. He just bunged random horses’ names into the paper under the Mollett byline.
You can guess what happened next.
But Swift stayed with the script in the paper’s next edition, gleefully penning a glowing accolade to Mollett and his unheard-of near-clean sweep of winning tips.
Mollett himself relates this tale with relish and his characteristic cackle of laughter.
As he does one about famous trainer of yore George Azzie attacking him with swinging binoculars in the winner’s enclosure on the occasion of Elevation’s third Holiday Inns/Summer Cup victory in 1974. Azzie had taken umbrage at Mollett’s earlier criticism of the choice of jockey and lost it in the flush of victory.
There have been plenty of other lively moments in a long career, but they haven’t stopped Mollett from winning two Equus Journalist of the Year awards. All the while, he has owned a bar in Thailand, and made regular trips around the world for big race meetings.
It was reported this week that Mollett had been retrenched by Business Day after decades of dedicated and (mostly) diligent service.
He was the longest-serving contributor to that publication – having churned out millions of words from the moment of its inception in 1985. Business Day was started from the ashes of the Rand Daily Mail, where he had gloried in the nowadays seldom seen title of racing editor.
Molly being let go is a sad reflection on both the status of horse racing in South African society and the state of newspapers.
Believe me, he was never paid what he deserved for his scribblings, but he ploughed on, year after year, determined to get the word of racing out into the world.
Born in Yorkshire in 1947, his early training as a hotel manager ended when he skipped a cookery exam to go and watch his 12-1 fancy run in the Gimcrack Stakes at the Ebor Festival on the Knavesmire.
He came to South Africa in 1970 as salesman for his grandfather’s paper firm, but soon got into racing journalism on the Rand Daily Mail (where yours truly was once a sub-editor).
When racing television came along, Mollett was a natural as a presenter, giving viewers the insights of a hard-bitten shrewdy. He gathered a devoted following for his PA perms, roughie picks and good-humoured patter.
Despite the latest turn of events, one feels certain that Dave Mollett will continue to be part of racing’s landscape, with a column published somewhere and his UK racing tips on the telly.
Long may it be so.
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