A True Champion

Lessons from a horse race

I watched the 2009 J&B Met with my dad at the Kenilworth Race Course. He loved horse racing. I enjoyed placing a few bets and drinking cold beers in the sun amongst pretty people on what was often the best day of the Cape Town summer. 

Ahead of big race days such as The Met, The Queen’s Plate and The Durban July, we would go and visit my Oupa in his retirement home in Rondebosch. We’d swap the weekly broadsheets amongst ourselves with at least one of the official racing form guides, The Computaform, while Supersport played in the background.

Pocket Power had won the Met in 2007 and 2008 and my Oupa wanted his money on the champion. Not for me. I was looking for a “roughy” — a horse with long odds that could swell my “entertainment budget” as I was in my first month of my first job after finishing my studies.

The Computaform is filled with an array of data about every horse and horse race for that day. If you had The Computaform in your hands, you had to at least appear to know what you were talking about. You had to say something insightful, whilst dunking a rusk in your coffee, such as:

“Dancer’s Daughter came second to Pocket Power last time they raced, but was carrying more weight. But 2000m is definitely Pocket Power’s distance.”

There’s nothing quite like a few old men talking enigmatically about a sport that, if we’re honest, they didn’t really know all that much about. 

I remember settling on River Jetez, which my dad agreed was a great horse. So over the course of the day, I placed several hundred rands across a number of bets including River Jetez, Dancer’s Daughter, even Quick Millions. Not one rand was laid on Pocket Power.

Like many, I wasn’t at the Met to double my money, I was hoping to leave with a 10-20x return on investment… Or just a hangover. 

As the horses came around the final straight I was hearing good things as the beat of the racing announcer’s voice moved up an octave: “On the outside is River Jetez coming home strong. Dancer’s Daughter is beautifully placed to have a crack at him…” 

My dad and I were both running hot until the final ten seconds of the race when Pocket Power came bolting through to spoil every bet I placed that day. I was pissed. I then noticed that my dad kept celebrating through to Pocket Power’s formidable finish. Had I missed something? He must have been putting money on Pocket Power all along behind my back?

After the hysteria died down I turned to my dad wearing a puzzled look: “So you did have some money on Pocket Power in the end then?” He said: “Not one single cent. But I saw a true champion racing today.”

He had often said that you didn’t need to gamble on a horse race to enjoy it, but he always did gamble on the horse race, and he didn’t always enjoy it. So I never believed him until that day.

I think about that day at the J&B Met on beautiful days when I am convinced that I’m watching a true champion in full flight. I also think about that day when I’m thoroughly entertained, despite the result not going my way. 

Watching the Springboks this year has conjured up this memory many times. There are people that say that Lukhanyo Am is the best player in the world right now. Others say that Eben Etzebeth is on track to be remembered as the greatest Springbok of all time and Frans Malherbe the greatest tighthead. 

I agree with them and steer the conversation to how I think that Damian Willemse may be best of them all. It’s breathtaking stuff to watch him run at full speed, step off both feet and throw 30m bullet passes each way. We’ve also seen him take games by the scruff of the neck for both the Stormers and the Springboks this year showing the steely temperament required at the top level.

Even the Springbok losses against the Welsh and the All Blacks in the respective second tests provided even the Springbok fan with some memorable moments. The highlight for me was watching the All Blacks — with fourteen men, two points down and ten minutes to play — run the ball the length of the field against the World Champions to score the match-winning try.

Which brings me to the Wallabies’ 25-17 victory over the Springboks in Adelaide last weekend. Was I entertained? God, no. That was awful to watch.

This Saturday, though, we get to watch Damian Willemse start a Springbok test at flyhalf for the first time. I’ve got a feeling that I might have something insightful to say about this on Saturday morning, while I dunk a rusk, talking to my Oupa.