WHAT A DISGRACE!

I hope that there are newspaper journalists that read this post, and I hope they feel embarrased by their efforts. I cannot believe that there is not one mention of any of our champ horses in the Sunday Tribune. I do realise that the races were run late but I bet that if there was a late rugby result, it would have made it into the papers.

How is the industry to grow if major events are not reported on and I dont mean a few words in the usual spot that disaapears into oblivion, I mean at least headline on the front page referring to the full story on separate page.

There are to many in this industry that rest on there laurels. I've said it before, you do not need to sell racing to us we're in it already. Sell it to those who are not in it.

Im very dissapointed - another waisted opportunity!

Went on the Sunday Times website, no mention and headline either.

The world spotlight was on Dubai yesterday, apparantly no one told the SA journos. Not surprised really...

Typical of the apathy that pervades our horse racing industry.
So much for the marketing of our sport !
Utter disgrace !!

thank goodnes for Charl & freeracer to fly the SA racing flag.

Yes, its a disgrace...but not attributed to the general media. Its a disgrace that after all these years the Horse racing authorities have not managed to succesfully elevate the image of the sport of kings to rank alongside that of even the minor sports in the country. This "sport" is still seen as a game steeped in treachery and conniving where one can only participate if you have lots of money to own horses or need to gamble a few bob and hope nobody outschemes you. The lotto seems for many the safer bet.
The beauty of the thoroughbred racing down the track at breakneck speed, the hours of hard work put in by trainers and jockeys and the risk taken by owners is lost in all this suspicion. A disgrace...for sure!

The record needs to be set straight here guys.

I wrote a 700 hundred word report that appeared in the Independent Titles this morning. The last Dubai race was at 19h30 our time and besides doing the copy for the three Gauteng features and working at Greyville during the night meeting , I got the Dubai story in by 21h00- the cut-off time for the late final editions of amongst others The Sunday Tribune and Sunday Argus. We also designed a congratulatory strip advert that features at the base of our racegoer page with old pics of Jay Peg and Sun Classique.

I bought my copy of the newspaper at O9H00 this morning in Umhlanga Rocks and the Dubai Story is in.

I had also arranged to get some nice pictures from Charl Pretorius and Andrew Watkins in Dubai but unfortunately these came through after midnight.

We will be doing a further full report in the Monday papers.

This was while you guys were enjoying a braai and beers and genuinely savouring the racing.

I am not pointing fingers at anybody and I will not respond to any mudslinging or character assasination that may follow further but we can now see how often incorrect pereceptions are created with the wrong info!
I am in this for the racing only!
Regards and keep the passion going.
Lance Benson
Gold Circle

I bought my copy of the Tribune at around 12h30. I do live on the coast though and probably do not have access to the late edition.

I was merely trying to highlight that this a major achievement for SA sport and this achievement should receive the credit it deserves. A front page spot no matter how small I beleive would be the minimum for such an achievement.

Non race goers or followers would generally skip the racing section of the paper. This achievement should surely be highlighted and not stuck away in amoungst the days racing form guide.

Thank you for your efforts and time in writing your article. Maybe we should be placing pressure on the editors to place these articles in a more prominent position in the paper i.e the front page.

I would love to read your article. Please could you post it on this site as I will not be purchasing the same newspaper twice.

Alan Hall

Thanks Al.
I will arrange to have it posted tomorrow at the office. It was a real pressure rush job so was more emotion than breaking edge news etc. I got hold of Mike Bass who gave me a comment - interestingly he appeared a bit irritated that the Jocks were getting all the praise in the spotlight and said that MDK and HBJ had done an unbelievable job.

Believe me when I tell you that we made every effort to get the stories in to the mainstream news section and on to the front pages. Unfortunately the timing was not in our favour at all as much of the paper is arlready laid out by that time of the evening. Charl also couldn't get the pics through in time through no fault of his own- he is a good mate and source of help to me professionally.

When I read some of the criticism that goes on against the media, I realise that nobody has any idea of the behind-the-scenes effort that happens daily.
Not perfect by a long shot but we are trying.
Cheers

A quote by MDK in the Sunday Times (uk)..De Kock was gracios in defeat and accepted Asiatic Boy was always likely to be beaten by Curlin. "the best horse won" said the SA handler."I was always honestly aiming for second but dreaming that we might win. Curlin would have had an off day for us to win. Second is as much as I could have expected">

Perhaps we could get a spot in Mondays mainstream section of the paper? I will be contacting our local papers to do astory on this as a local businesman has an interest in Jaypeg. Its not about bragging rights but about how great this industry could potentially be if more get involved.

By way of a 'weekend round-up' Al?

A good idea mate, all the best - Jim.

It might be worth contacting Carte Blanche to do a story on the people involved. It would be a nice change for Carte Blanche to bring something positive to their viewers instead of conitinually bringing us these "leave SA quickly" stories.

Worth a shot. I will email them tonight.