Unlike half of Jozi, I came down to warm Durban this past weekend like a tonne of feathers; quietly, quickly and without much fanfare. Our lovely hosts Heineken organised a nice automatic Mercedes-Benz C-Class for us to drive while down at the races for the weekend, which was very nice of them. However, I have not tasted a Heineken. More on this later.
Durban people aren’t used to temperatures in teens so as soon as the air drops to under 20, Durbanites run for the nearest Eskimo import shop to stock up. Goodness gracious me, I had left a Jozi reeling at 12 degrees on Friday evening!
Most people (read “famous”) showed up in creative outfits as expected. Businesspeople, famous people, politicians who are both, plebs trying to spot a celeb or three, overalled workers making sure everyone got their horse on the track on time, traffic staff etc. Of course yours truly got a chance to rub shoulders with some of these prominent folks, most notably my old friend Ms Unathi Nkayi, her partner Thomas Msengana both of Metro FM, and Lupi the hot-shot producer of Thomas’ breakfast show. Gang of Instrumentals, DJ Tira, Dineo from Yfm… Wait. I’m falling for it now. Let me talk about the horses.
The winner was Hunting Tower, a 4-year old gelding (I understand “gelding” means a castrated horse, which basically means no one thought he’d have the balls to win) owned by Bridgette Oppenheimer of THE Oppenheimers. It made me wonder when black people especially, will ever get to a stage where they aren’t just feeding and walking the animals but they own them to race as well. Always the usual suspects. It reminds me of something asked by someone while we were walking around Greyville – that is the name of the race track folks – which went something like this: “I wonder where xxx xxxxx is. He doesn’t come to these things anymore, maybe he wasn’t invited.” To which I replied “see that’s what happens when you’re a celeb. The minute someone decides you’re not so hot anymore you’re off their lists. No more cool freebies, no more VIPs, no more.” Ayi, how cruel this world is! But can xxx xxxxx not form a consortium, buy a horse and race it instead of waiting for a free VIP invite to attend the Durban July? I mean, who spent and who made money off this race? The usual suspects of course.
So anyway, Hunting Tower draped in the number 5, under veteran jockey Anthony Marcus, took it by a head. Hunting Tower really came out of nowhere and was only prominent from the last 150m or so. He was on 8:1 odds, which if I’m not mistaken, means if you put in R5 on him you would have walked away with R40.
Back at the Heineken marquee Dineo from Yfm hit the dance floor hard, almost literally too as she moved to the live sounds that were provided for the guests. Some people thought she’d had a bit too much Heinie. Who cares, it was a party and it was the Vodacom Durban July man! I still have not drunk Heineken. I reckon there was a fair amount of overbooking there by Heineken, either that or a good number of gatecrashers, ‘cause when we got there and asked for the complimentary drinks vouchers as suggested, there were none to be found. “Sorry sir, we’ve run out” said the two angels at the gate. Strange enough the latecomers who sauntered in after us got their drinks on without a problem. See, it’s really WHO you know man, not WHAT you know! Normally the invited guests are counted and matched to their vouchers so that such things don’t happen. Otherwise the voucher tags are included with your air ticket pack before you leave the Jozi and so on. We had a lovely supper at the marquee, lots of different curries – Durban duh – and left ever so swiftly, thirstier than ever. Still no Heineken for me.
Overall a great occasion won by the best horse of the day. Vodacom has done very well after taking over from Rothmans as the sponsor of the Durban July races. It also makes it even more difficult to choose between the Vodacom July in Durban and the J&B Met in Cape Town. At least there I had the privilege of having some J&B at the J&B marquee. Mmhh…
Durban people aren’t used to temperatures in teens so as soon as the air drops to under 20, Durbanites run for the nearest Eskimo import shop to stock up. Goodness gracious me, I had left a Jozi reeling at 12 degrees on Friday evening!
Most people (read “famous”) showed up in creative outfits as expected. Businesspeople, famous people, politicians who are both, plebs trying to spot a celeb or three, overalled workers making sure everyone got their horse on the track on time, traffic staff etc. Of course yours truly got a chance to rub shoulders with some of these prominent folks, most notably my old friend Ms Unathi Nkayi, her partner Thomas Msengana both of Metro FM, and Lupi the hot-shot producer of Thomas’ breakfast show. Gang of Instrumentals, DJ Tira, Dineo from Yfm… Wait. I’m falling for it now. Let me talk about the horses.
The winner was Hunting Tower, a 4-year old gelding (I understand “gelding” means a castrated horse, which basically means no one thought he’d have the balls to win) owned by Bridgette Oppenheimer of THE Oppenheimers. It made me wonder when black people especially, will ever get to a stage where they aren’t just feeding and walking the animals but they own them to race as well. Always the usual suspects. It reminds me of something asked by someone while we were walking around Greyville – that is the name of the race track folks – which went something like this: “I wonder where xxx xxxxx is. He doesn’t come to these things anymore, maybe he wasn’t invited.” To which I replied “see that’s what happens when you’re a celeb. The minute someone decides you’re not so hot anymore you’re off their lists. No more cool freebies, no more VIPs, no more.” Ayi, how cruel this world is! But can xxx xxxxx not form a consortium, buy a horse and race it instead of waiting for a free VIP invite to attend the Durban July? I mean, who spent and who made money off this race? The usual suspects of course.
So anyway, Hunting Tower draped in the number 5, under veteran jockey Anthony Marcus, took it by a head. Hunting Tower really came out of nowhere and was only prominent from the last 150m or so. He was on 8:1 odds, which if I’m not mistaken, means if you put in R5 on him you would have walked away with R40.
Back at the Heineken marquee Dineo from Yfm hit the dance floor hard, almost literally too as she moved to the live sounds that were provided for the guests. Some people thought she’d had a bit too much Heinie. Who cares, it was a party and it was the Vodacom Durban July man! I still have not drunk Heineken. I reckon there was a fair amount of overbooking there by Heineken, either that or a good number of gatecrashers, ‘cause when we got there and asked for the complimentary drinks vouchers as suggested, there were none to be found. “Sorry sir, we’ve run out” said the two angels at the gate. Strange enough the latecomers who sauntered in after us got their drinks on without a problem. See, it’s really WHO you know man, not WHAT you know! Normally the invited guests are counted and matched to their vouchers so that such things don’t happen. Otherwise the voucher tags are included with your air ticket pack before you leave the Jozi and so on. We had a lovely supper at the marquee, lots of different curries – Durban duh – and left ever so swiftly, thirstier than ever. Still no Heineken for me.
Overall a great occasion won by the best horse of the day. Vodacom has done very well after taking over from Rothmans as the sponsor of the Durban July races. It also makes it even more difficult to choose between the Vodacom July in Durban and the J&B Met in Cape Town. At least there I had the privilege of having some J&B at the J&B marquee. Mmhh…
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