SOME lucky ones use January to ease into the new year but there is no chance of that happening if you are involved in horse racing in Nelson Mandela Bay.
It is a very busy month, full of highlights, at the Fairview track in Greenbushes. Two meetings on the Polytrack are already behind us and the racing is as competitive and exciting as ever.
There are still four Fairview meetings left in January, three of them on the turf track. Yes, finally, the horses will see the grass surface for the first time in a long while and it is most welcome.
Some horses don’t like the artificial surface and, for them, it has been a tough time on the poly. The turf track is in splendid condition and track manager, Charles Newcombe, and his team certainly did a fine job.
To celebrate the return to the grass, it will be the Lady’s Bracelet race for fillies and mares over 1 600m that will be topping the bill at this Friday’s meeting.
The Cape Town visitors have been dominating this race in recent times and the locals will have their work cut out for them to keep the silverware in the Bay.
As usual it is a race packed with quality and one the local racing fans won’t miss.
Taking a quick look at the statistics for the season; it is still an enormous battle for the lead on the East Cape trainers’ log between the two giant stables of Alan Greeff and Gavin Smith.
They were on song in December with fine performances of horses like Cruise Control, Sound Check and Global Drummer.
The first meeting of the year was dominated by Zietsman Oosthuizen, though. He is not threatening the top two for the trainers’ title but is also enjoying a great season.
Zietsman has set himself a target of 62 winners for the season that ends on 31 July. If he reaches that, he will also have saddled 100 career winners, indeed something to aim at.
Juan Nel is also performing consistently well and we can expect some fine showings from the stables of Sharon Kotzen and Jacques Strydom, who are in a battle to stay in the top five on the log.
Remember that fully vaccinated spectators are allowed at the Fairview meetings but must contact Nelson Mandela Bay Racing beforehand to secure a spot.
Racing fans are also enjoying the action in the Western Cape. It was a great Queens Plate this past Saturday and the build up to Met Day at the end of the month has started in earnest.
Fairview meetings for the month:
January 14: Turf Track – Lady’s Bracelet
January 21: Turf Track
January 28: Turf Track
January 31: Poly
