The horse racing business moves along at a gallop, allowing little time for thoughtful assessment and reflection – especially in big-race season. The hurry-up is catchy, too.
A few days ago, we were hit by publication of leader logs for the annual Equus Awards in August, before many of the country’s biggest races have been run (See It Again tops the HOTY log, yet he is not even contesting the country’s biggest race, the Hollywoodbets Durban July. Go figure, as Yanks would say.)
However, it would be remiss not to pause to record a sad week in the history of the racing game in South Africa. Two significant things happened that were largely lost in the swirling news cycle of “July fever”: the death of doyen of trainers Ormond Ferraris and the warning-off of former champion jockey S’manga Khumalo for 10 years for shady shenanigans.
First things first. There is old skool and then there’s old school. Veteran trainer Mike de Kock might fall into the former category, but he is a callow youth alongside Ferraris – indeed, MdK learnt a lot of his early trade at the old man’s knee.
Mike Ferraris
Ferraris was born in 1932 and was bewitched by thoroughbreds early on, riding work and becoming an assistant trainer at Turffontein in 1950 – before most current racing old-timers were born.
A press release last week said: “Mr Ferraris took out his licence and started training under his own name in May 1954, saddling his first winner, Shenandoah, at Gosforth Park on 14 August of that year. He trained out of Newmarket, the Vaal and finally Turffontein (where he occupied the same barn for 40 years), forging a reputation as one of South Africa’s most respected trainers, loyal to his horses and loyal to his owners, who repaid him in kind.”
There’s a great old photo of trainers inspecting yearlings on sale at Milner Park in the early 1960s, intently studying every detail of the animals’ conformation, and Ferraris is the most ferociously focused of all and that epitomised the man: mighty competitive and deadly serious about his job.
People who worked closely with him all speak of his generosity and kindness, but fellow trainers at Turffontein over the decades were rather scared of him, to be truthful. He didn’t suffer fools gladly and was rightly suspicious of anyone he didn’t know well (racing is full of chancers, “not serious people”, as the TV series Succession put it.)
Those neighbouring trainers were chuffed to get what became known as the “one-finger” as the elder statesman (always “Mr Ferraris”) lifted a digit from his steering wheel in passing greeting as he drove through the training complex on his way to the gallops.
Leaving a legacy
Ferraris let deeds do the talking: 10 SA Oaks victories, eight Derbies, two national trainer championships, Summer Cup and Triple Tiara successes – all from a string of never more than 60 horses.
Perversely, he’s well remembered in some quarters for a horse that placed second – Distinctly in the controversial finish to the 1975 Durban July.
Ormond Ferraris’s legacy has been evident in the success of his trainer son David and grandson Luke, who rides in Hong Kong. Others he helped develop include De Kock, Wiechong and Weiho Marwing, Paul and Tony Peter and Sharon Kotzen.
He handed in his licence in 2019, after 2,600 career winners, including Pretty Border, St Just, Sabina Park, Cherry On The Top, Distinctly, Sandfly, The Monk, Travel North, Sizzling Sun, Wagga Wagga, Rakeen, Tracy’s Element and Overarching.
He died aged 94 on 10 June, surrounded by his family.
S’Manga Khumalo
Then there’s last week’s other sorry tale. Known as “Bling” for his peroxided hair and crystal earrings, S’Manga Khumalo was racing’s transformation poster child – the first black jockey to win the Durban July (on Heavy Metal in 2013 and again on Sparkling Water in 2022) and the first to win the national championship (in 2014). He represented South Africa at many prestigious international meetings, such as the Shergar Cup at the UK and the Longines Championship in Hong Kong.
Khumalo’s gilded journey came to an abrupt halt when he was hit with corruption charges earlier this year.
To the shock of his many fans, he pleaded guilty to two of the three charges and eventually copped an effective 10-year riding ban from the National Horseracing Authority (NHA).
He admitted “improperly” communicating to Noor Iqbal – an “unlawful/unauthorised betting person and/or associate” – “non-public information relating to a race and/or a horse … for betting purposes and/or to undermine the integrity of racing”.
He also admitted to corrupt receipt of money, with a sum of R128,000 cited as payment for passing on info … “and/or riding, or agreeing to ride, in a manner intended to affect the performance of a horse and/or the outcome of a race for betting purposes”.
The incident has dimensions of a Shakespearean tragedy with the golden child destroyed by vaulting ambition and hubris – not to mention greed.
As with all tragedies, there are painful lessons to be learnt as the system undergoes purging and purification. The game’s protectors will be quick to point out that the policing works: crookedness was uncovered and punished in short order.
Still, Bling’s folly will long remain a deep wound to racing’s reputation.
