Owning, breeding and training doyen George Rowles passed away last week much to the sadness of the racing community who reminisced about his enormous contribution to and achievements in the sport.
Racing owner and Gold Circle ambassador Bill Lambert said, “George and I were lifelong friends as we had a family cottage when I was growing up at Isipingo where the Rowles family lived. We also used to race together and had successful partnerships in horses. Wave Blaster was the best of them. His father was a trainer and while at school George used to help mucking out, grooming and riding work. He was tall but thin and became a leading amateur rider at the Gymkhana meetings. Later he had stables and a training track on his farm in Waterfall and after owning a lot of horses he also began breeding. He eventually had a big breeding operation, Ivanhoe Stud, in the KZN Midlands.
He also made commercial developments on his land at Waterfall and this was hugely successful and includes the present day Watercrest Mall. He achieved all this from humble beginnings. A few years ago he led the successful campaign to save Clairwood racecourse from being sold but was supportive of the sale this decade at a much greater price. I was invited to present him with his lifelong achievement award at the KZN Breeders Awards in 2014 and that was a great honour. We have lost a real stalwart. George was a real maverick and a wonderful gentleman.”
Vodacom Durban July-winning owner Nick Jonsson, part-owner of Do It Again, also paid tribute, “My father Ben and George were great, lifelong friends and we became family friends. George was legendary and we loved him. He had a wonderful training facility in Waterfall. We had great fun at the races and also at the amateur races in which both he and my father used to ride. He also pulled off some interesting betting coups. Dennis Durant was his trainer at Waterfall but George was very hands on and I remember on one occasion he had a runner called Ring The Changes who he fancied strongly. We were all sitting in Des Scott’s box that day and George sent us youngsters down to the bookmaker area armed with cash. We waited until we saw the planned signal from the box, George’s waving of the white handkerchief, and then all moved in and backed her simultaneously. She won easing up by three lengths and we made a fortune. George loved sport and he and my Dad played tennis every week. He was a great character and a wonderful storyteller. But he would often collapse in so much laughter he was unable to finish the story!”
George was in fact greatly sought after as a rider in the Gymkhana meetings and on more than one occasion rode six winners in a nine race meeting. He also represented Natal southern districts at both rugby and cricket.
The Rowles family had a dairy at Isipingo and after school George moved to the Transvaal to open a dairy there. However, racing was in his blood and he had soon purchased two mares. He bred one of them to Black Cap and the progeny Shanghai gave him his first winner as an owner-trainer at Newmarket ridden by Charlie Barends.
He moved to Waterfall in 1959 where he bought a tract of land in what is known today as Linkhills. He developed his training facility, complete with starting stalls and swimming pool, and also established Ivanhoe Stud in the KZN Midlands.
He was one of the first in the country to bring in imported mares of any quantity.
In 1973 he imported a successful English-bred stallion called Caerdon, who became the leading Natal-based stallion for a number of years.
He also stood probably the best horse he owned and bred, The Eileen Bestel-trained Sabre, a classic winner of 12 races who established an 1800m world record time of 106 seconds flat when winning the Grade 1 Clairwood Winter Handicap in 1974.
He later stood another successful sire in Rocky Marriage, whose reach was felt beyond racing and this stallion once had a representative in the Olympic Games eventing competition.
Ivanhoe at one stage occupied fifth spot on the national log, an incredible achievement considering the competition in those days.
From his El Dorado yard in Waterfall, George campaigned a lot of his Ivanhoe home-breds in his familiar red and grey colours.
In recent times he bred the winner of the inaugural KZN Breeders Million Mile run at Greyville in 2012, the Ormond Ferraris-trained Muhtafal gelding Knock On Wood.
He was a Natal Owners and Trainers committee member for 15 years and a steward at Clairwood Turf Club.
He was a regional representative of the Thoroughbred Breeders Association council and was instrumental in starting the Newmarket yearling sales in “the stables” near today’s Jonsson Kings Park rugby stadium. Today this sale is known as the KZN Yearling Sales and is held at Sibaya Casino.
George was always guided by the belief that the best course of action is that which will be of ultimate benefit to the game as a whole and he cared about the small man.
He is going to be sorely missed by the racing community.
His funeral will be held at Highbury school in Hillcrest on Thursday 31 January at 15h00 and family have requested no flowers and instead, in lieu thereof, have suggested a donation to the Coastal Horse Care Unit in Cato Ridge ((031)7821434 or 0735503061).
By David Thiselton
