Raymond Rogers, the stalwart KZN racing TV Producer, passed away suddenly on Monday in Johannesburg where he was to film Ready To Run gallops. Tributes poured in for the affable giant who will be a great loss to the industry.

Gold Circle’s Racing Executive Raf Sheik said, “To fill his shoes will be impossible.”

Sheik was referring to Raymond’s renowned passion and dedication to his job. He used the recent introduction of the green screen studio at Gold Circle to highlight these sentiments.

Green screen technology has the ability to superimpose any image required on the green background, giving the impression that the studio presenters are either in an ultra-modern room or even outside.

Rogers and Sheik attended a meeting in Johannesburg a year ago to speak to the suppliers.

“Raymond was so impressed I had to drag him away kicking and screaming,” recalled Sheik. “He mastered the technology very quickly and basically ate and slept it. I would regularly receive phone calls at 8 o’ clock at night to tell me he had discovered something else the technology could do.”

The green screen studio was soon up and running and remains an impressive feature of Gold Circle Racing.

Raymond was also known for arriving at the course on race days at 6:30 a.m. sharp and sending sms’s to all of his staff telling them what time they were to start work.

“Nothing was ever too much for Raymond,” said Marketing Consultant to Gold Circle, Graeme Hawkins.

Raymond approached every task he did with high professionalism and mastered his role as TV Producer. On race days this involved the visual mixing, communication with the on course presenters and Tellytrack simultaneously, and at the same time he was producing the race replays to be available as soon as possible. He never delegated the teaching of new staff but instead showed them the ropes himself and in this way had full faith that they knew exactly what was expected of them.

Raymond was the son of former Kingsmead cricket groundsman Roy.

The Sport Of Gentlemen rubbed off on him and in 1968 he became the first pupil of Westville Boys High to ever make the Natal Schools cricket team. He must have only been in standard eight at the time, because two years later in 1970 he made the South African Schools team.

Dave Pearse, an old boy of Kearsney College who played both cricket and rugby for Natal, remembers Raymond as being “a very quick” opening bowler at school.

He recalled him having a long run up, almost from the boundary, but remembers him being quiet and always respectful to batsmen.

The only time he remembered him having anything to say to the opposition was in a club game for Marist when the known powerful batsman Keith Hosken of Durban University was smashing him all over the park. Eventually an exasperated Rogers stood in the middle the pitch with hands on hips and shouted, “Where the @#$!% am I going to bowl it next!”

Rogers played under the captaincy of renowned Natal and South Africa seam bowler Pat Trimborn at Marist, but his club cricket career did not last too long.

His new sporting passion became football refereeing. He rose to become one of the most respected refs in the National Football league and reached the pinnacle of achievement by refereeing the biggest Derby match in the country, “the Soweto Derby” between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates.

Paul Lafferty, a former Durban City Player and current Gold Circle director, remembers Rogers being very active as a referee in the South African premiership and being highly respected. He said, “He was fair and could take a chirp.” Lafferty later enjoyed a fine partnership with Rogers in the production of the Tellytrack magazine program Winning Ways, which Lafferty co-hosts with James Goodman.

Raymond continued to follow South African soccer after his refereeing days were over and was an avid Pirates fan.

However, he will probably be best remembered for his friendly demeanour and his enjoyment of some banter during his tours of departments in Gold Circle to discuss work matters.

Gold Circle staff were left reeling with the news on Monday and it was hard to believe the big man’s loud voice and quick wit will never be heard again.

Farewell Ray.

By David Thiselton

The meeting tomorrow has been switched to the Turffontein Inside track due to ongoing problems with the Vaal Classic track.

The introduction of Assessment Plates have been making the Pick 6 easier to catch, but tomorrow’s ninth race over 1450m is potentially tricky as a number of the contestants are returning from layoffs. However, Sean Tarry said about Redberry Lane, “She is obviously not at 100% but she does a lot at home so might be closer to her peak than I think she is and she could win it even if she did need it.” She is second best in at the weights on official merit ratings, being 2kg under sufferance with Green Top. Alec Laird said about Green Top, “She never shows much at home and horses who beat her on the training tracks she beats them in her races. She is an exciting prospect. This is a preparation run but I expect her to run well although she is not a banker.”

Redberry Lane has her first start after her famous victory over Snowdance in the Grade 1 Garden Province Stakes over 1600m on VDJ day and has a tricky draw of six out of eleven considering her preferred front-running style and her big weight of 61kg. However, this ultra-consistent mare overcame a wide draw to win her penultimate start over 1600m in the Listed Syringa on the Standside track when carrying second top weight of 58,5kg and in the Garden Province she proved she doesn’t have to lead. Green Top is never one of the stand outs on the way down to the start but she has proved she can deliver when it counts by finishing third in the Gauteng Fillies Guineas and then a short-head second in the Grade 1 SA Fillies Classic. She does have a tough draw of eleven but her class should pull her through.

Tarry also runs Chariots Of Gold but said he was going to seek permission to run her on Saturday instead, where she is better drawn, and considering the meeting was moved he should be granted permission. The rest of the field are three-year-olds and despite some of them being promising they have tough tasks at the weights according to official merit ratings. Mazari finished a close second in the Golden Slipper over this sort of trip and has had one run this season already, so should be fit. However, she is officially 11kg under sufferance with Green Top. Running Brave is well regarded and was just 2,75 lengths behind Mazari in the Golden Slipper and is now 4kg better off and better drawn so there is not much in it. Elusive Butterfly also looks promising but she and Running Brave have their first runs of the season. Redberry Lane and Green Top should be enough to get punters through the exotics although the risk averse can include the three latter mentioned three-year-olds as they have the potential to still rise above their current merit ratings.

The eighth race is a Pinnacle Stakes event with some good horses but most of them are returning from layoffs. Rocky Valley is the class act in the field and the race could set up well for him from draw four as there will be a lot of pace up front. Kissable is capable of blitzing fields and came back to her best at the end of last season so she will be dangerous from pole position. Frederico’s Dream is also very speedy and is officially the best weighted horse but has a tricky draw of five out of seven. Rebel’s Champ is rated only one point lower than Rocky Vally and can’t be ignored as he can run on from off the strong pace. Isphan is the other speedster in the field and he is well drawn although he has a tough task at the weights. Fillipo looks promising but also has a tough task at the weights and Brigtnumberten has a lot to do at the weights.

In race seven Copper Jay will be hard to beat from a plum draw but Alpine Glacier will be dangerous from pole position, Pillaroftheearth is coming into his own, Keyboogie looks promising and Galactic Warrior is a well regarded sort who has been disappointing so he could pop up from a good draw with a 4kg claimer up.

Race six is an Assessment Plate and here the best weighted horse New Zealand and the up and coming Gift For The Gap should be enough to get punters through.

In race five Earth Sky and Aeronautical should fight it out.

The first leg of the Pick 6 is a tricky maiden but Pink should enjoy the step up in trip. Traffic Jam has a fine chance if settling better than she did on debut when running on well and Nandi’s Vision looks capable and should have come on from her first two runs.

In the first leg of the PA Seneca Falls and Sea Venture should get punters through.

In the first leg of the Bipot Monopolize, an Elusive Fort half-brother to his talented stablemate Maximizer, looks a Bipot banker, although the Sean Tarry pair of first-timers Slay The Dragon and Vontreo have to be considered.

By David Thiselton

The World Sports Betting Grand Heritage scheduled to be run at the Vaal on Saturday will be replaced by the World Sports Betting Grand Series at Turffontein – effectively splitting the field in two with both races offering stakes of R500,000.

Following a track inspection late afternoon on Monday, the decision was made that the track will not be race ready come Saturday.

The track inspection was organised by Clyde Basel, Racing Executive for Phumelela, who invited stakeholders to join him at the 2000m mark and to walk all the way to the winning post in order to ascertain first-hand the current condition of the track.

After the long walk, the stakeholders involved met for close on two hours after which it was decided to move the Heritage to Turffontein and to run it as two separate races.

“The decision has been taken to move the Grand Heritage and all the other races carded for the Vaal on Saturday, to the Turffontein Inside Track,” Basel said on Monday night. “All the nominations for Saturday’s races have been reopened, but the original declared Heritage runners will get preferential treatment when it comes to elimination stage.”

According to Basel the two races will now be called the World Sports Betting Grand Series Leg 1 and 2, both being run over 1475m.

The winners of the two races will qualify for a match race early in December at the Vaal to determine who carries the title of Series Champion. “It will give new meaning to the phrase two-horse race,” Basel said on Monday night. The stakes for that race will be announced in due course.

According to Basel prize monies will be paid up to 10 places in both the Grand Series races.

The Heritage was originally scheduled to be run on 29 September, but was postponed to this coming Saturday due to the track not being race ready.

Basel said the stakeholders who joined in the walkabout on the Vaal track on Monday were in agreement that although a marked improvement in the racing surface is evident, the track needs to improve further.

“Our estimate is that the track will need another couple of weeks to return to racing standard.

“Our main concern is for the safety of the horses and the jockeys and therefore a unanimous decision was taken to move the Heritage.

“Our sponsors, World Sports Betting, support the decision and are excited about the match race to come.

“We tried our best to accommodate the Heritage, but we are not prepared to take unnecessary risks and we don’t want to delay the Heritage any further.”

National track Manager Dean Diedericks said: “It’s been a very trying winter for Vaal racecourses but we are slowly but surely overcoming the issues.”

Earlier on Monday, Phumelela issued a media release in which the JSE-listed company announced that Andy O’Connor, former chairman of the NHA, will lead a commission mandated to review the track management systems for Phumelela.

Phumelela Group CEO John Stuart last week announced the review in light of various race meetings at the Vaal having been moved to Turffontein while last Thursday’s meeting was abandoned after only three races had been run owing to an “uneven and inconsistent track”.

According to Stuart, O’Connor’s independence and integrity is above reproach, making him the perfect candidate to lead a team tasked with making recommendations to Phumelela.

Part of O’Connor’s mandate will be to investigate current track management processes and the ways in which they could and should be improved, to draw up Standard Operational Procedures regarding the implementation of improved track management processes, and to ensure the alignment of the maintenance of training and racing tracks, with the feature race calendar at the various racing courses.

Apart from serving as chairman of the NHA, O’Connor also has a five-year stint as director on the Racing Association on his CV.

– TAB news

Winter Five looks the business in the TAB Telebet Maiden Plate at Durbanville today when Bernard Fayd’Herbe rides her for the first time.

Forget her last start. It was in a work riders’ race when the form is usually about as reliable as last year’s rainfall. Look at her previous two runs and the fact that Paul Reeves is taking off the blinkers is hugely significant.

“She gets a bit uptight and I am hoping that she will be more relaxed without them, enabling her to save more for the finish,” says her trainer. “In any case she doesn’t need them and she has good gate speed.”

She was an 18-10 chance yesterday with World Sports Betting which makes Mumtaz favourite at 9-10. Richard Fourie’s mount is rated 1.5kg behind the selection although it is worth noting that she got stirred up in the pens when a warm favourite here last time and that may well have had something to do with her managing only a four-length fifth. The Joey Ramsden newcomer Skidaddle (by Do It Again’s sire Twice Over) at 4-1 is the only other priced at less than 10-1.

Ramsden and Donovan Dillon may win the first with Apollo Ace who was reported to be making an abnormal respiratory noise after finishing only fourth when favourite here last time. Dillon said that the horse was choking during the race. The colt’s form in his previous Kenilworth start was good, he is reasonably drawn at six and he has already been backed from 33-10 to dispute favouritism at 28-10.

Augustina (another by Twice Over) is the other joint favourite but few Justin Snaith newcomers win first time and Rob Roy (9-2) is probably the main danger after two good runs here – despite his double figure draw.

Trippi’s Express first caught the eye when second to Pleasedtomeetyou in that celebrated August 11 maiden when the third and fourth were also newcomers and both went on to win. He was almost unbackable at 2-10 here a fortnight ago when he led a furlong out and came away under hands and heels to score comfortably from Rob Roy. The Betting World Handicap (race four) will be a much tougher proposition but the Brett Crawford runner looks a bit special.

He shouldn’t really be odds-on – particularly with Captainofthesea and Photocopy in opposition – and he has eased from 17-20 to evens.

Harold Crawford is really striking while the iron is hot and his Spectra Force appeals at 11-2 in the Interbet Handicap.

By Michael Clower

Andy O’Connor, former chairman of the NHA, will lead a commission mandated to review the track management systems for Phumelela.

This follows after Phumelela Group CEO John Stuart last week announced the review in light of the meeting held on Thursday, October 4 on the Vaal Classic track being called off owing to an “uneven and inconsistent track” as well as other recent track inconsistencies.

According to Stuart, O’Connor’s independence and integrity is above reproach, making him the perfect candidate to lead a team tasked with making recommendations to Phumelela.

Part of O’Connor’s mandate will be to investigate current track management processes and the ways in which they could and should be improved, to draw up Standard Operational Procedures regarding the implementation of improved track management processes, and to ensure the alignment of the maintenance of training and racing tracks, with the feature race calendar at the various racing courses.

Apart from serving as chairman of the NHA, O’Connor also has a five-year stint as director on the Racing Association on his CV.

As far as the Vaal course is concerned, Clyde Basel, Racing Executive for Phumelela, yesterday invited stakeholders to inspect the course ahead of this weekend’s Grand Heritage.

The inspection was to be held late afternoon.

“We will walk the course from around the 2000m mark to the winning post to ensure that it is track ready,” said Basel.

“We will give feedback after completion of the track inspection.”

– TAB news