PHUMELELA has announced that the Gauteng Tourism Authority (GTA) is to partner the Sansui Summer Cup with the aim of transforming the race day into a mega event with national and international appeal.

The GTA’s partnership with the race was announced at a media conference at Turffontein this afternoon, an apt occasion in light of today being World Tourism Day.

“It’s wonderful that the Gauteng Tourism Authority has recognised the importance of the Sansui Summer Cup and its potential to enhance tourism,” said Phumelela Sales Executive Clyde Basel. “I would like to thank everybody who has played a role in the GTA partnering the event, in particular Qedani Mahlangu, the Gauteng MEC Economic Development, and GTA chief executive Dawn Robertson.

Ilha Da Vitoria, 2005 Summer Cup winner.

“We look forward to a long and mutually rewarding partnership with the GTA that we believe will take the Sansui Summer Cup to a new level,” Basel added.

The Sansui Summer Cup offers many national and international branding opportunities and is an ideal vehicle to promote Gauteng as a tourist destination. South African horseracing is currently televised daily in more than 20 countries to an estimated global TV audience of about 10-million people.

This year’s Sansui Summer Cup will be run over 2000m at Turffontein Racecourse in Johannesburg on Saturday 26 November and the GTA is putting its weight behind several initiatives to enhance the experience of everybody who comes to the event.

These include linking SA Fashion Week to the raceday, a Celebrity Challenge race, a sensational sound experience between races and an after party.

The Summer Cup, which currently carries total prize money of R2 million for the runners, has long been one of South Africa’s major horseracing events.

The race is nearly as old as Joburg and it’s fitting that it takes place at a venue, which overlooks the city’s landmark mine dumps.

The first horseracing in Joburg took place in December 1886 and the inaugural Summer Cup was run the following year as the Johannesburg Handicap.

No one could have imagined that from its humble beginning the Summer Cup would become one of SA’s greatest horseracing events.

Many famous horses have won down the years including Java and Elevation, who both won the race three years running. South African champion trainer Mike de Kock has won the race a record nine times.