Not everyone brave enough for trials, triumphs of racing

Punters' Pal

THE sport of horse racing is not for the faint-hearted!

Everyone who has been involved with horse racing in some role will agree with that. A day at the races is usually an emotional roller coaster ride.

Horse racing can drive you to tears, be those tears of joy or sorrow. This was evident last Friday at Fairview, with two of Port Elizabeth's women trainers in tears after their horses won their respective races.

Dorrie Sham could not hold back the tears after the victory of the mare Daffodil Day. Sham has decided to retire Daffodil Day and it was indeed an emotional last race.

Where it was a last for Dorrie that brought along the tears, it was a first in the case of Renate du Plessis. What a dream victory for Du Plessis with the filly Lielums. To win a listed race, the Lady's Pendant, in your first month as a trainer is huge and worth a lot of tears.

What can also drive you to tears is the difference between first and second places. A horse can beat a rival by a whisker, but in prize money and punters' money it is usually much bigger. It helps if you have a strong character and a good sense of humour.

In this regard, race horse owner Wimpie Kruger certainly ticked the boxes. Wimpie took the tongue-in-cheek remarks that he is the undisputed king of the number-two box in his stride.

His horses, trained by Jacques Strydom, have constantly been running second places but victory seems to have been eluding Wimpie for a while now.

We all agreed with Wimpie when he said he was sick of the number-two box after Tetelestai ran second for the second time in a row. The next horse in action for Wimpie was Gianduja and it was yet again a nail-biting affair. After the race Wimpie was striding around Fairview. "This feels much better. For a change we did not run second. I am very happy with third place," he remarked.

Wimpie will no doubt survive in this hard game!

Punters' Pal tips for Fairview:

PA R96

1/1-12/2-3-5-9/5/3-6/3-5-7/ 3-12

PICK6 R1350

1-2-12/1-2-3-5-8-9-10-14-19/5/3-6/3-5-7-9-15/3-5-7-8-12