No sex please, we’re buying a racehorse

It’s not only the prospect of winning that lures one into having a bet, it’s also the thrill of anticipation in waiting for the race result. Okay, the actual winning is pretty cool – and a rather large incentive to have another wager; just so you can feel that tingling expectation explode into ecstasy all over again.

A pro punter once commented to me: “Betting is one of two activities in life that everyone thinks they can do without any proper training.”

I’m reliably informed by a woman of the world that most men are rubbish at both. But that doesn’t quell their enthusiasm for either task.

If there’s one thing better than waiting for your winning bet on a horse to actualise itself, it is owning the beast yourself and imagining how good he’s going to be at running.

The late Graham Beck, a no-nonsense coal-mining magnate known for being tough and frugal in the business world, once found himself in the winner’s circle with a nag that had just won a race in his brown and white colours.

“This feeling is better than sex!” he yelled at the TV interviewer, before going out and buying scores more very expensive horses over the next few decades.

Indeed, the ranks of our racehorse owners are filled with hard-nosed chief execs who keep a close eye on the paper clips back at the office but are transformed into incontinent spenders at the merest whiff of horse poo.

These moneyed men and women will be out in force at Durbanville Racecourse in the Cape on Friday for the 2019 CTS Ready To Run Sale, where 160-odd young horses come under the hammer.

The secret to the success of this type of sale lies in the title. These horses are just about ready to hit the racetrack – removing the lengthy wait for action that owners must endure if they buy on a yearling sale, for example.

As mentioned, anticipation of victory is a major part of the fun, but waiting for a year or more to see your new horse compete can test both patience and wallet. The oats go in, dung comes out, invoices land in the inbox, but not a cent arrives in return. But, with a Ready To Run, you could be babbling to the world about sex being over-rated within a matter of weeks.

To show how race-ready these two-year-olds are, they will gallop on the Durbanville track prior to the bidding. And watching all that muscled potential in full flight can only add to the anticipation and the inclination to buy.

Another huge incentive at Friday’s sale is the chance to have a runner in the Ready To Run Stakes, a multimillion-rand race in a year’s time, open only to graduates of this auction.

This year’s Ready To Run Stakes, with a prize of R2.5 million, was due to be contested on Saturday 23 November at Kenilworth – to coincide with the sale they were bought at last year – but it has been postponed to 14 December because of the African horse sickness outbreak in Gauteng.

Several horses high on the race log are trained at Randjesfontein on the Highveld and have been temporarily banned from travelling under AHS quarantine protocols.

This is unlikely dampen the enthusiasm of bidders on Friday. CTS brags that the 2019 R2R catalogue is the strongest it has published, with much progeny of in-demand stallions such as Gimmethegreenlight, Twice Over, Var and Oratorio.

Perhaps the most notable offerings are the last two unraced offspring of late great sire Captain Al.

Normandy Stud offers lot 68, Captain’s Drift, a filly from the family of Argonaut. “She’s as racy as you’d expect from the sire, with strong hindquarters,” noted Normandy’s Oscar Foulkes of Normandy.

A colt, lot 123, comes from Drakenstein Stud. He is from the mare Trip Poker, by Trippi, and has been named Royal Flush. “He’s a typical Captain Al, very smart, lots to work with,” said Drakenstein’s Kevin Sommerville.

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