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News & Events
Chairman's Report - 10th December 2007
Fellow Members:
2007 has been a year devoted to continuing to mould the background and environment that will allow live harness racing to showcase itself in South Africa. This, I feel safe to say now will finally occur by the end of the first half of next year - 2008. Limitations in terms of funding, personnel and other resources have dictated slow progress for us to date, whilst the accommodations and significant support afforded us by Gold Circle have ensured good measurable overall progress. The demise of racing at Newmarket and our interleaved Tuesday night Swedish screenings precipitated a dramatic 75% decrease in revenues badly needed for the development of harness racing.
Achievements over the past twelve months include formal approval to our application for a "Racecourse Operators Licence" (which carries a parallel tote license permission), the staging of a number of rural equine clinics and workshops, ongoing media publicity, development of a close relationship with government and particularly the Department of Sport and Recreation (DSR) and the Office of the Premier, attendance at the 2007 World Trotting Conference in New Zealand, membership to the World Trotting Association - the world controlling body, and, most importantly, increased in-house standardbred knowledge.
Our media partnership with The Daily News and Isolezwe newspapers is awaiting signature, and we are expecting significant mileage as a result of this in the new year.
We have also initiated exploratory talks with a leading KZN based Premiership Soccer League team as a conduit to a larger black urban support base. The benefits to us of a formalized relationship here are incalculable.
I remain more convinced than ever that harness racing has a major role to play in transformation and broader South Africa. Added personal exposure for me recently to the psyche and anatomy of the standardbred horse confirms its many attributes over other breeds of race-horse.
There remain prospects of added overseas harness racing simulcasts and a second television channel. Together with live local harness racing, the potential to draw a 15% market-share of total tote betting turnover in the next 5 years is not at all unrealistic for us.
Membership numbers as at 1/12/07
| Hon Life Members | 2 |
| Members | 35 |
| Rural Associate Members | 594 |
World Trotting Conference (WTC)
Your chairman had the pleasure of attending the 2007 WTC which was held from 5th - 9th November in Christchurch, New Zealand. South Africa has now been formally admitted as a full member to the world body, subject to an affirmative report on our ability to manage and operate the Standardbred Studbook of South Africa in a responsible manner and in line with other jurisdictions. Mr Ulf Hörnberg will be visiting us in early April 2008 to conduct this audit. The WTC is staged bi-annually and in conjunction with the World Driving Championships. It proved to be a valuable educative and networking forum. The next World Trotting Conference is to be held in Norway in 2009.
Racing
Without any existing hard-surface trotting track we are reliant on the good offices of Gold Circle to facilitate a showcase and start-up. It is planned that the first professionally regulated harness races will commence in Durban on 7th June 2008. This is the date of the running of the Daily News 2200 at Greyville. Following a request by the Premier personally, and subsequent agreement by Gold Circle, we are planning to stage the KZN Premier's First Harness Challenge series of 10 races to be run as fortnightly add-ons to current thoroughbred races. Although turf surfaces are not ideal, it is felt that a start has to be made somewhere. The stakes structures, dates and track venues still require agreement and finalization with Gold Circle. We are aiming at a R50,000 sponsored stake for each of the first 10 races. The infield at Scottsville has also been surveyed for the possibility of constructing a dedicated 1000m hard-surface trotting track there, and other options for track locations elsewhere in KZN do also exist.
We continue to support and co-organise rural bush racing, monté style, at Dundee and elsewhere in rural KZN. The ongoing Umzinyathi/Endumeni municilalities' political infighting, together with levels of incompetence and inexperience, cast major doubts on our ability to establish regulated racing at the Dundee venue in the short term. DSR has meanwhile allocated R2m to the Dundee track upgrade project. On Saturday, this past weekend, we staged a race-meeting and barrier trials in Dundee. Despite a rain-soaked track and bad weather we paid out R6,000 in stakes, six trophies and R400 in betting vouchers to some well-deserving rural horse owners.
Regulation
Whilst your association carries the responsibility of keeping the Studbook, licensing of participants, programming races and recording form, stipendiary stewards of the NHRA will perform the function of 'policing' harness races in South Africa. We have to date had excellent co-operation with the National Horseracing Authority and Mr Rob de Kock, and it has been agreed that an experienced official from overseas be brought in for a (3) month secondment (April - June 2008) to provide dual-code harness training to current NHA stipes.
Acquisition of Standardbred horses
We have asked Svenske Travsportens Centralförbund (STC) in Sweden to commence selection for us of initial horses for import to SA. We hope to bring the first ten (10) in by air in March next year. It is thought that 3 - 6 year old fillies/mares in training will be best suited for this function, considering that later broodmare potential can be realized.
A nice trotting horse in Europe or Australasia will cost around ZAR50,000 and airfreight to Johannesburg including quarantine has been negotiated down to ZAR 30,000. This means that we can participate locally with an imported horse at a total outlay of only R80,000.
We should as well be aiming towards a future standardbred breeding industry. With immediate availability to us of imported frozen semen and permitted artificial breeding through AI, it will theoretically be possible for us to breed world class bloodstock locally in only one generation.
In line with USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK, your association intends to cater to the future racing of both trotters and pacers.
We still await final registration of the standardbred as a recognized breed with the department of agriculture, and Prof Alan Guthrie of Onderstepoort's Equine Research Centre is assisting us with the slow bureaucracy there.
Training
Your association has partnered DSR in providing a number of equine training programmes over the year to rural horse-riding association members in Dundee, Utrecht, Ladysmith and Umzimkulu. This is likely to be ongoing and expanded in 2008 and we are hopeful that next year we can send 3 previously disadvantaged individuals overseas to Sweden and Holland on scholarship for training.
The South African Jockeys' Academy has funds committed to the training of harness racing drivers and other industry participants for 2008. The training/driving of trotters will provide a natural working-life extension for heavier and older thoroughbred jockeys.
Simulcasts
Revenues to harness racing are currently derived from a 3% royalty payment by Phumelela Gold Enterprises on locally screened Swedish harness racing turnovers. It is unfortunate that with the demise of Newmarket racecourse, we are benefiting only from Monday lunchtime racing. Harness racing from New Zealand and Australia is additionally now being screened in the mornings, from which we derive no monetary benefit, but gain from in terms of profile and exposure. Local betting is in the order of R70,000 per Swedish lunch-time race. Popular opinion is that the (English) commentaries of Swedish harness racing are dull and unexciting.
Detailed Swedish harness racing form is on the brink of being published in South Africa by the Formgrids Organisation, and discussions with ATG Sweden and PGE are taking place to hopefully bring in the big V75 pool bets in 2008.
Board appointment
I am delighted to announce that Mr Patrick Salvage, head of the South African Jockeys' Academy has been appointed to the board of HRSA. Patrick brings to us a wealth of training expertise and connections in government, and I am sure that his contribution to the training of future harness racing trainers and reinsmen will be significant. It is also with gratitude to Patrick that we receive accommodation of our benchmark trotting horse El Gloriousa (AUS) at the Summerveld academy. Welcome Patrick!
NSPCA
Despite some early ugly correspondence and objections to harness racing from the NSPCA, we have through Dr Alan McLeod managed to placate the NSPCA to some degree of current silence. It is critical that we inculcate kindness and the highest of animal welfare practices and standards in our industry.
Frozen semen
We have 30 doses of frozen semen from the famous European performer Calvin Capar kindly donated to us by Travkompaniet in Sweden. The now deceased French stallion Foreign Office has also a sperm legacy available to us. Anyone with early designs on standardbred breeding should contact our offices in this regard.
Equipment
As a result of the Swedish "Sydafrika Insamlingen", a project of Mr Peter Jansson in Stockholm earlier this year, we have a number of harness sets, race-bikes and jog-carts available to members on a loan basis. Extreme thanks to Mr Jansson are due in this regard.
In closing, I wish to pay special tribute to the solid support of Gold Circle and STC in our start-up endeavours. The personal contributions of Michel Nairac and Ulf Hornberg deserve very special mention. Sincere thanks to you both. Thank you also to Karel Miedema for the ongoing space afforded us in Sporting Post.
Thanks also to the other members of the board, the many people in and out of South Africa who have assisted in so many ways, and lastly to our members. Thank you for your patience - let's hope 2008 will finally bring our dream to reality. I look forward to getting to know, and enjoying the company of all our members on the grandstand, when we can shout home the winner of the first trotting race.
A very merry Christmas to you all, and may 2008 prove to be a momentous year for harness racing and all of us.
D.A.Latimer
Chairman
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