DAVID THISELTON

SANELE MCHUNU has made giant strides as Race Coast’s Zulu horseracing commentator and has already commentated two Hollywoodbets Durban Julys with the feed going live on Supersport as well as on to the normal Gallop TV stream.

It all started for him when he landed a job as a cameraman for Gold Circle back in 2015. He said, “I was so privileged when I started my job as I was working closely with the presenters Kevin Shea, Warren Lenferna, Deez Dayanand and Sheldon Peters. They were sending me to

take their bets, so I started learning about betting and about the horses and I started grasping all the information related to punting. I couldn’t always rely on them to give me tips, so I started studying form so I could take my own bets. I would say I am an average punter. I do have my good days and I do have my bad days. “My best moment was when the Candice Dawson-trained filly Sentbydestiny won the Gr 1 Premiers Champion Stakes. She was running against big horses like Tempting Fate, who was the short-priced favourite, but I liked her and picked her and she won paying R25.20 on The Tote.”

Sanele was given an opportunity to be the first Zulu commentator in the country last year and jumped at it.

He said, “I had to teach myself, there was nobody to teach me, but I studied the Zulu commentaries in other sports to find a model that would appeal to a Zulu audience.”

He continued, “I had a number of practice commentaries using my phone to record myself, so I could see if I was doing well. I sent those videos to a couple of people to critique me and

they gave me some pointers. Sheldon and Deez were two of the critics. They gave me some good feedback that I learned from because it was a new thing for me. The critique made it a little bit easier, because I was doing it for the first time and so could afford to go wrong and I was going to learn from that.”

Sanele’s first live commentary was in May last year and a couple of months later he was doing his first Hollywoodbets Durban July.

He does his commentaries from the old SABC box at Hollywoodbets Greyville, which is directly below the main commentary box used by Craig and Sheldon Peters and is next door to the judge’s box. He said, “It’s the biggest racing event in the whole continent, so obviously you have to be nervous. Doing it for the first time and knowing that for the first time you’re going to an audience that has never heard you before, like the Supersport audience,which is a big platform, it was nerve-wracking.”

However, the commentary went very well, particularly as he screamed “ORIENTAL CHARM!”

in the final stages and his last words were that Oriental Charm had beaten Cousin Casey, the

one-two in a typically frantic July finish.

“I received some good feedback after that,” he said. However, he was sweating on the result and explained, “The most challenging aspect of the race was there were two horses with the same silks and the same caps, except the one had a little white pom-pom on which you couldn’t see. They were Cousin Casey and Future Swing and I did manage to call Cousin Casey second, but after the race I jumped up to look at the results board because I was thinking what if it was actually Future Swing and I was calling Cousin Casey? I was relieved I got it right.” By the time the next Hollywoodbets Durban July had come around commentating was starting to become second nature. He is no longer a cameraman and is now dedicated to his knew role as commentator and studio presenter as preview shows for all meetings are also done in Zulu.

He said, “I give it more time now and I study more colours. I follow the horses all over the

country to make it easier when it comes to the Champion’s Season, because there are raiders from Cape Town and from Jo’Burg, so you have to follow racing in the whole country. I also know the colours from around the country now.” In the 2025 July he once again emphasised the name of the winner in the closing stages. He rattled off the top five in the running at the 200m mark and correctly called the first five past the post, The Real Prince, Eight On Eighteen, Selukwe, Royal Victory and Madison Valley, despite their being some small margins between some of them. Sanele emphasised the name of the winner in true Zulu soccer-style commentary fashion, a deep guttural roar that makes it very exciting for the listeners. He said about this year’s Hollywoodbets Durban July, “I think it went well this year, it was for the second time and yes I had to improve. There were two good horses battling each other in the finish, so it was a very nice race to commentate.”

Sanele is fast becoming an institution in KZN racing with his commentaries on Gallop TV for

every meeting and other platforms for the big ones. He has become one of the most recognisable faces in KZN racing and is going from strength to strength. He looks to be a fine role model and there are sure to be some potential future commentators who have been inspired by his exciting calls.