BEAUTIFUL, fantastic, amazing.
South Africa’s champion jockey, Richard Fourie used these words to describe the Fairview Polytrack after last Friday’s meeting.
Racing at the venue in Greenbushes will take place on the synthetic surface for the rest of the year while the turf track is getting its annual treatment.
The only other polytrack in the country is at Greyville in Durban but the jockeys clearly prefer the Gqeberha surface.
“Thank goodness for the Poly and the maintenance thereof. The Fairview track managers are doing a fantastic job,” Fourie said in a television interview.
Although Fourie is enjoying the Poly, he will be ready to shine at the next Fairview turf meeting. That will only be on Friday, January 3.
“I see the work has started with the grass, so I’m also looking forward to riding on that,” Fourie added.
Fourie rode three of the four winners saddled by East Cape champion trainer, Alan Greeff, at the last meeting. It was a great training feat by Greeff if one considers that lots of rain leading into the meeting made it very difficult to properly prepare the horses.
“I was blown away by the four winners. In training conditions like that you can easily lose your way a bit,” Greeff explained.
The most impressive victory was by the three-year-old filly, Splicethemainrace, in the Fillies’ Guineas Plate. She has now won six of her seven starts. All her other victories were on the turf, and it is exciting to see she also has no problems with the poly.
Two very interesting feature races are coming up on the speedy Polytrack over the next two Fridays. This Friday we will see the running of the November Stakes over 1400m. On the 22nd the Glendore Sprint over 1000m will be the highlight.
Luyolo Mxothwa is one of the most successful jockeys at Fairview but will unfortunately be out of action for a while. He cracked his collar bone in a bad fall in the fifth race last Friday. Mxothwa is a popular jockey at Fairview, and we wish him a speedy recovery.
The pace is not only picking up on the poly but also in the splendid Bold Silvano Room at Fairview. It is that time of the year when companies and clubs combine their year-end party with a day at the races.
It was the guests of Hollard Insurance who had a wonderful time at the last meeting. There should be a few more festive race days like this to look forward to with eight Fairview meetings still left in 2024.
