MIKE de Kock has urged racing fans to attend Sunday’s Sansui Summer Cup meeting at Turffontein, postponed from Saturday due to rain.

Mike was still at the track late on Saturday afternoon and said: “Lots of guests stayed on to have lunch and a few drinks and most will be back tomorrow, we’re hoping race goers will return as well because it will be a fantastic meeting with top horses and the track should be perfect!”

Mike said that several trainers, jockeys and officials had debated the situation on Saturday morning and well into the afternoon.

“The reason it took so long is that everyone wanted to race. We looked at the matter from all angles and that’s why the call was made so late.”

As it turned out, the track down the straight was fine and good to race on, on Saturday, but there was a problem in the pull-up area. 

“From around the winning post onwards there were problems for about 300m. Jockeys galloped horses across the track and felt the pull-up area was not safe. We also inspected the track and agreed with their assessment.”

Mike said that Phumelela’s Racing Executive Clyde Basel had made the right call.

“The decision was made in the interest of safety. Nobody wants to be responsible for injuries to horses or riders, especially at the end of a race. There should be no debate and criticism is unwarranted. The meeting goes ahead tomorrow and we can all have a wonderful race day.”