David Mollett
2 July 2009
Johannesburg — IN THESE tough economic times, horse racing is coming to the rescue of KwaZulu-Natal's economy, with Saturday's Vodacom Durban July set to inject R500m into the province's coffers.
Figures extracted from an economic impact study following last year's Durban July showed the event generated expenditure of R292m- R537m.
Perry Moodley, acting CEO of Durban Tourism, believes evidence is pointing to similar figures this year. "The current economic slump has not affected us," he said. "Last year's Durban July saw about R70m-R80m spent directly in the city, and that excludes money generated from betting.
"With this year being the precursor for 2010, and (given) the number of tourists staying in the city because of the Lions tour, we are confident we will break the R100m mark."
The survey showed that 60% of the 55000 spectators visiting Greyville on Saturday are likely to be visitors to the city. A total of 26% of race-day patrons fly into Durban specifically for the event.
An out-of-town visitor spent an average of R8333 around the event last year, while the average Durbanite attending the event spent R1300 on the July.
Vodacom took over as the July sponsors from Rothmans eight years ago and Gerhard Patzer, chairman of the Federated Hospitality Association of SA, credits them for much of its success. "Since Vodacom became the sponsors, we have seen a big improvement. The current climate may be restricting individual spending, but it has certainly not affected our luxury hotel bookings in any way."
Bookmakers won't be booking any flash hotels if Pocket Power, who dead-heated with Dancer's Daughter 12 months ago, wins the 2200m race this time. They have SA's top horse as the strong 2-1 favourite with his stablemate (and sister), River Jetez, quoted at 9-2.
"We've also had steady interest in Piere Strydom's mount, Kapil, who is now a firm 6-1 chance," said Gauteng bookmaker Lance Michael yesterday.
It is astonishing that six-year- old Kapil, trained by Stan Elley, has made it this far as he fractured his leg in 2005. "He had two pins inserted and then had to stay in his box for three months," said Elley. "It's an operation that has a reasonably high rate of success."
So it proved with Kapil, who returned to the track after a break of eight months and won his comeback race.
Kapil spent his earlier career in Dubai, Hong Kong and the UK. He has earned a cheque in all of his six starts since returning to SA, but, as pundits are quick to point out, has not won any of them.
Although pundits seem divided on whether Kapil will stay the July's 2200m, the six-year-old did run on to finish fourth in the 2000m J&B Met at Kenilworth in January.
The major reason for the late support for Kapil is his fast-finishing second behind Pocket Power in the recent Gold Challenge. On Saturday he will meet Mike Bass's champion on 5,5kg better terms and also has a favourable draw.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 Business Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
