Horses

Leaping for joy with number 29

I hate to say it but I think I might be on a bit of a roll.

Perhaps it’s because we’re in a leap year and our Gregorian calendar has to intercalate an extra day to ensure we stay in line with the Earth’s movement around the sun.

The fact that the chief protagonist in at least four of my February articles franked the exposure afforded them must mean that the planets are aligned.

It started on the first Saturday of the month when Sandringham Summit romped home in the Johannesburg Guineas. Thereafter Nigeria and Bafana Bafana obliged by drawing 1-1 in their AFCON semi-final before Lyle Hewitson rode a 400-1 plus double at Happy Valley the day after I had sung his praises.

The form continued when Wyfire, one of the horses I mentioned in my tribute to the dear and late departed Toby Keith, carried his silks into the third box at Oaklawn Park, Arkansas, and returned $3.40.
Out of my most recent contribution came Green With Envy who, as predicted, proved too classy for his rivals in last Saturday’s Cape Derby.

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Of course the problem with publicly flagging February’s good form is that I’ve probably bad-lucked myself for March month. In an attempt to counter that eventuality I am making full use of the extra day February receives in a leap year by writing this on 29 February.

I did some research on the number 29 and it turns out to be quite a fascinating number.

For example, the number repeatedly pops up across the breadth of The Bible. The Old Testament records that two rulers of Judah, King Amaziah and King Hezekiah, reigned for exactly 29 years and the New Testament scripture details that Jesus was 29 years old when he miraculously walked on water having earlier fed the 5 000 on the northern shores of Galilee.

The holy book of Islam, the Qur’an, also features the number. Indeed my writing schedule was stalled when I found myself engaged in a YouTube video that spoke to the astrological significance of the number 29 and the deeper mathematical dimensions within the Qur’an.

The number 29 is also a significant angel number as it is associated with spiritual enlightenment.
To be honest I’d never heard of angel numbers so I tackled a few more YouTube tutorials on the ancient esoteric science of numerology.

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I discovered that angel numbers are a set of numbers originating from your birthdate or your name. It turns out some folk believe that every angel number has a specific meaning within the universe and carries a message from a higher power.

I’m somewhat of a sceptic on these matters but in attempting to keep an open mind it suddenly dawned on me that the date for Classic Day at Turffontein this Saturday is 02.03.24 and that 2 + 3 + 24 = 29.

Having just been told on the web by practicing numerologist Novalee Wilder that all numbers give off energy, intention and vibration you can probably understand why I allowed myself a spot of wishful thinking and wondered whether the Universe was indeed delivering me a message from the angels.

Even if I have ‘received’ the number 29, what am I supposed to do with it?

The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once said: “There are no facts, only interpretations”, which makes sense because I don’t see any horses with a saddle cloth of 29 in Saturday’s Computaform for Classic Day.

Angel numerology instructs that one must break down one’s number until the meaning reveals itself.
As such I dismantled the number 29 and got the individual digits 2 and 9, added them together and got 11. The final deconstruction was completed when I added 1 plus 1 and got 2.

This is my final article for the month of February so it would be remiss of me not to point out that in Saturday’s Grade 1 Wilgerbosdrift H F Oppenheimer Horse Chestnut Stakes the 25-1 outsider Sugar Mountain is drawn 2 and his saddle cloth number is 11.

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By Neil Andrews
Read more on these topics: horseracing