Days of heavy rainfall have once again disrupted South Africa’s racing calendar, with Turffontein’s meeting pushed to Sunday and a scheduling pile-up looming.
Weather forecasting is an occupation that must carry little job satisfaction, with the worker’s end-product so often at odds with reality.
It’s even less rewarding than the wildly inexact science of punting, which at least has the occasional bonus of a lucrative, if lucky, win.
Schedule disruption
Horse race schedule planning is right up there as a thankless task – certainly this summer and autumn in South Africa, with a storm of fixture shuffling and abandonment.
The latest disruption was the postponement of yesterday’s Turffontein meeting to Sunday, due to a waterlogged track following days of deluges.
This means it will follow, at the same venue, immediately after Saturday’s Big T meeting – the Championships Finale, one of Joburg’s biggest race days of the year.
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It will also clash with a Sunday meeting in KwaZulu-Natal, bringing the complication of jockeys being double-booked.
Uncertainty due to rain
And what if Saturday’s Finale is also washed out? Will it displace Sunday’s already displaced programme or will it move to Wednesday – or perhaps next Saturday, when the prestigious KZN winter kicks off, and bring an even greater jockey and trainer traffic jam?
Of course, this Sunday’s meeting at Scottsville might be washed out itself, given rainy skies down that way – which would solve some problems but not help the betting turnover.
What does the weatherman say? On second thoughts, don’t answer that.
At this stage, Saturday is still on, with an 11-race card due to bring the curtain down on the Highveld feature season.
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