Nourished horses turn to face the winter storm

This week’s announcement of a 14% increase in stakes for this year’s winter race programme on the Highveld is just one more indication that the horse racing industry continues to recover from its dice with death in the early 2020s.

This is pretty astonishing, given the terrible state of the South African economy. It suggests an industry growing, albeit slowly, under prudent and canny management. We haven’t seen the books of operator 4Racing, but the signs are good.

In recent days, the International Monetary Fund revised its forecast of economic growth in South Africa downwards to 0.1% – and many experts say that’s optimistic. Even our own Reserve Bank can’t envision anything more than 0.2% growth for the year.

Recession

Manufacturing production in the country declined by a whopping 5.2% in February and it’s likely the country will fall into an official recession when economic stats for the first quarter of the year are revealed soon.

Business and household finances are under severe pressure, yet the stakes pot for 405 races, from the beginning of May to the end of September, at Turffontein and the Vaal racecourses, has been shoved up to R33.3-million, from last year’s R29-million. It’s not a stupendous amount, but it’s not going backwards like most of the country.

Cash injections

This comes on top of the R52-million sponsorship by bookmaker World Sports Betting for feature races in Gauteng and Eastern Cape over three years. And, of course, the large injections of money from rival bookie Hollywoodbets into Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal – not to mention hefty contributions of money and expertise by certain individuals which effectively rescued the game in South Africa.

Schemes to give stable workers a stake in the game and ever-more winning bonus payments are further proof racing is doing something right.

In truth, 4Racing needed to up its game in the face of Cape Racing’s recent significant upgrade. Once the undisputed top level in the country, Highveld racing risked falling behind in terms of purses – and, as a consequence, quality.

The media release reads: “The increase in stakes was made possible by a budgeted increase by 4Racing of 8% in stakes for the season, plus an amount carried forward from lost meetings and races to date this season.

“The stakes increase has focused on beefing up 4Racing’s most common handicap racing types, with stakes for the 26 races for horses with a merit rating of 72 going from R55,000 to R70,000, for the 26 races with horses with a merit rating of 76 going from R55,000 to R75,000, the 33 races with a merit rating of 80 going from R60,000 to R80,000 and for horses with a merit racing of 88 going from R80,000 to R85,000.

“For fillies and mares in the handicaps division with a merit rating of 68 stakes have increased from R55,000 to R65,000, for horses with a merit rating of 72 stakes have increased from R55,000 to R70,000, and for the 23 races for horses with a merit rating of 76 stakes have increased considerably from R55,000 to R75,000 and from R70,000 to R80,000 for horses with a merit rating of 84.

“For juvenile races, stakes have gone for maidens only from R70,000 to R80,000 and from R80,000 to R90,000 for winners and maidens.”

Hundreds of so-called “small owners” have been forced out of the game in the past decade by escalating costs of stabling, training and veterinary care – not to mention the price of horseflesh.
This latest move might help keep some such people involved in a bleak mid-winter for the country.