No. 2050 ISSN 1023 / 6996
MONDAY 9th - THURSDAY 12th JUNE 2014
Billy Jacobson is all smiles as he canters winner Lord Rose to the start of the first polytrack trial on Tuesday
FLAMINGO PARK 12:20pm (Monday) p.3
VAAL SAND 12:35pm (Tuesday) p.11
GREYVILLE POLYTRACK 11:45am (Wednesday) p.23
VAAL 12:00pm (Thursday) p.31
MR84 DIVIDED HANDICAP at Greyville on Wednesday Greyville Racecourse has enjoyed a long and colourful history in the 170 years since the first official meeting there in July 1844. From Royal visits to groundbreaking Sunday racemeetings and innovative floodlit action, a new chapter is set to be written when the first Polytrack meeting is held at the course on Wednesday afternoon.
A
rather low key nine race meeting, headed by a modest MR 84 Handicap, marks the deceptively momentous occasion and hopefully signals another important step forward for racing in KZN. The course has certainly hosted some varying landmarks over the years.
Grand History
A memorable day in Greyville’s history was Saturday 22 March 1947 when King George VI, Queen Elizabeth and their two princesses visited Greyville. The King’s Cup was run on that day for the first time and King George VI presented
the trophy to the winning connections. On 25 March 1995 Queen Elizabeth II, a princess when she had first set foot on the turf of Greyville, now visited as Queen. South Africa’s very first ever Sunday racemeeting was held at Greyville on 25 May 1995 when more than 8000 people visited the track.
Light Fantastic
In 1996, history was made once again when it became the first track in the
TFR 119 at 2yrs (USA) Distorted Humour – Visions of Clarity by Sadler's Wells
Undefeated
t “He was mos e th at ve impressi rs de ee Cape Br ing!” Stallion even
• Champion Irish 2yo • Gr1 winner
country to install floodlights. And now it celebrates with a polytrack, some eight months after Fairview opened a similar facility in the Eastern Cape. Whatever the varying opinions about the surface, they call this progress and changing with the times. Meydan and Keeneland may have moved on already and are going back to dirt but the real benefits of the new Greyville surface will be felt in the containment of lost meetings.
In The Dark
Punters will go in rather blind in this first meeting and the comments of the jockeys from Tuesday’s trials may be worth noting. Cont. p.2
Our Best Adverts Aren't Written They Are Running!
Tel: Mike Sharkey 082 372 2682 www.highlandsfarmstud.co.za