The sport of grooms comes of age with a R100,000 bonus

Racehorse grooms are finally getting a share of the limelight, after centuries of being the forgotten, downtrodden people of the sport of kings.

Nothing signifies this change of heart, in a reborn South African racing industry, better than Lucky Bubushi collecting total winnings of R100,000 after his charge Royal Aussie won the R7.5-million WSB Gold Rush on Cape Town Met day at Kenilworth on Saturday.

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World Sports Betting, sponsor of surely the most richly endowed race in the country – albeit a subscription race – put up R50,000 for the winning groom, while the winning owners handed him another R50,000 (being 10% of the winning stake).

On the winners’ podium Bubushi, natty in jacket, tie, chinos and straw hat, jammed his giant 50-grand cheque under his arm and dashed off.

‘Lucky, Lucky …!’

“Lucky, Lucky…!” called presenter Vicky Minott, eager to gain insight into the world of the son of Royal Mo. But Lucky only had time for his pride and joy.

Trainer Justin Snaith revealed that Bubushi had worked for his yard for 20 years and said there could not be a more deserving recipient of what must surely be the biggest groom bonus South Africa has seen.

Grooms nowadays get a lot more acknowledgment in cash and post-race interviews than they did a decade ago, and several companies have groom reward initiatives in various parts of the country.

Overdue

A groom called Maurice charmed the tens of thousands of Cape Town Met spectators when he expounded on his job and boss Dean Kannemeyer after their speedster Gimme A Prince flashed up to claim the Grade 1 Pongracz Cape Flying Championship.

It was all a far cry from scenes of a few short years ago, when stable workers staged strikes, racecourse sit-ins and even resorted to violence.

And it is, shamefully, well overdue. After all, grooms spend far more time with individual horses than their owners, trainers or jockeys do – so their input into equine performance is vital.