Racist anti-Diwali tirade leads to claims of widespread racism in horse racing

The horseracing world has been rocked by claims of racism after a KwaZulu-Natal horse trainer, seemingly upset by Diwali fireworks, allegedly referred to Indians as “a piece of sh*t race” and “stupid and childish” on social media.

The National Horseracing Authority (NHA) has confirmed that an inquiry into the alleged racist comments by trainer Frank Robinson is under way.

Following “careful consideration” of the post and the “prima facie evidence”, the regulatory, licensing and governing body also slapped Robinson with an interim suspension pending the outcome of the inquiry. The suspension prevents Robinson from entering or declaring horses under his licence until the inquiry was finalised, NHA said in a statement.

But this has all been cold comfort to African Democratic Change (ADEC) president, Visvin Reddy, the first person to publicly take issue with Robinson’s alleged racist comment.

He has not only called for Robinson to be permanently removed from the sport, but has also described NHA and Golden Circle, organisers of horse racing in KwaZulu-Natal, as inherently racist and not transformed.

“There is blacks, Indians included, they put on token faces, who do not have guts and courage to make radical changes in the horse racing industry. Gold Circle and NHA executive do not represent the demographics of the country nor the roleplayers of the racing industry, of whom the vast majority are punters and who support the industry,” Reddy said in a video posted on his Facebook page on Wednesday.

He said white executives were busy depleting Gold Circle of its resources, claiming key assets were sold off in poor business decisions.

Reddy said by remaining silent, they were allowing these “racist whites to trample all over us” and that they will do everything to expose racism at Gold Circle.

“We will go as far as to call all people of colour to boycott the race course and racing in general, to show these racist whites that we have had enough…,” Reddy charged.

Vee Moodley, NHA Chief Executive, explained that they are responsible for conducting race meetings and that racing operator Gold Circle was issued a Race Meeting License by the Provincial Licensing Authority to conduct these meetings, abiding by the rules and regulations of the NHA.

He said if any alleged racial incidents do occur, they as the regulator handle these on the basis of their rules.

“As a general statement, I am NOT in a position to further expand on this issue… Each Racing Operator are issued licenses to operate by their respective authorities and there are conditions that are attached and have to be met from a transformation perspective…,” Moodley said.

He said NHA was on track in terms of transformation and would limit their involvement to the rule book, particularly the conduct of the race meetings and the welfare and integrity of the sport.

Stephan Marshall, Gold Circle’s marketing executive, said Robinson has never been their employee and that Gold Circle and the company has distanced itself from him.

He said, “Gold Circle vehemently denies any allegations of racism, is very proud of, and has been praised for its achievements in transformation”.

– siphom@citizen.co.za

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