This season sees a number of hyped young sires represented by their first runners. Whilst Black Minnaloushe and Daylami are represented by their first local runners, both stallions have proven track records and as are known quantities.

Go Deputy was a top-class performer in the US. Winner of the Gr1 Sword Dancer Invitational, Go Deputy won over $1 million on the race track. A son of champion racehorse and sire Deputy Minister, Go Deputy is half brother to Dare And Go. The latter ended champion Cigar’s 16 win streak when he won the Gr1 Pacific Classic. This is the family of champion sires Fappiano, Honour and Glory and Quiet American, as well as Vodacom July winner Hunting Tower.

Greys Inn was a champion in South Africa. A handsome son of Zabeel, Greys Inn proved a real globetrotter. He was champion at 3 in South Africa, where he won all of the Gr1 SA Classic, SA Derby and Vodacom July. Sent to Dubai, Greys Inn won the Gr3 Dubai City of Gold, and ran second in the Gr1 Dubai Sheema Classic to champion Vengeance of Rain, defeating a host of world class racehorses in the process. A son of champion sire Zabeel, Greys Inn’s yearlings have proved very popular at both the Cape and National Yearling Sales respectively.

Miesque’s Approval is the only Breeders Cup winner currently at stud in South Africa. Voted Eclipse Champion Turf Male after his remarkable Breeders Cup Mile win, Miesque’s Approval won over $2.6 (R19.5) million in prize money and nine stakes races. His half-brother, Revved Up, also won over $1 million during his racing career.

Albert Hall is a son of Danehill with impeccable credentials. Winner of the Gr2 Beresford Stakes at two, he was second to subsequent Derby winner Motivator in the Gp1 Racing Post Trophy. By a truly great sire and sire of sires, Albert Hall is from a powerful, Darby Dan family. This family has produced a host of champions including Kentucky Derby winner Monarchos, champion racefilly Ryafan and top turf performer Memories of Silver. Most importantly, it has produced leading sires Brian’s Time, Offlee Wild and outstanding North American sire Dynaformer.

From an all too brief racing career, Eyeofthetiger was a very impressive 3yo. Trained by Dean Kannemeyer, the handsome son of Royal Academy won his first three races on the trot. Stepped up in class, Eyeofthetiger stamped himself as a leading July contender when he ran third in the Cape Derby. Latter in the season, Eyeofthetiger pulled off an impressive win in the July to stamp himself as the best of his generation. One of more than 100 stakes winners for his sire, Royal Academy, Eyeofthetiger, sadly deceased, is out of the top-class racemare Indian Chris.

Other exciting young prospects with their first crop reaching the racetrack this season include Overlord (a close relation to top sires Storm Cat, Royal Academy and Goldkeeper), Fort Wood’s ¾’s brother Hinton Wells and Tiger Dance. The latter is a full brother to champion US sire Giant’s Causeway.

This racing season promises to be a cracker, and it will be interesting to see which of these young stallions fare best.

Photo: The ill-fated EyeOfTheTiger might yet do The Alchemy Stud proud.

READ ALSO: First crop stallions tops!

He writes:

I am disappointed that (Racingweb) never gave me the courtesy of a call, email or sms before publishing your article. As you know in life there are always two sides to a story and sometimes a third side. I would certainly have expected more from you Alec, who consider yourself an esteemed journalist. I am sure my response will remain hidden and unreported!

Unfortunately I am not gifted with the pen as you are, but I do know how to ship! As you by now know I shipped 104 horses between January and June 2010 into South Africa, shipments which all fell foul of SARS. Had I not come forward to SARS at the end of July 2010, this fact would have remained unknown and undetected!

Probably my one major fault (and it is not guzzling wine as I hate the juice! - food and driving fast on a race track are my stress busters) was the same as any alcoholic in not recognizing that I had a problem, a serious cash flow problem and a lack of suitable accounting or financial skills. My main concern was to continue delivering horses into South Africa on time and at the right price.

At the end of December 2009 I was owed in excess of R8 million by the same “wonderful” people we all deal with in the horse industry. Some have issued death threats. I stupidly (in retrospect - hindsight being an exact science) continued to ship.

After the first charter of horses arrived in Cape Town undetected in January 2010 I always intended to sort the VAT payment out to SARS as soon as I was paid. However no past due payments came in and my situation continued to go from bad to worse. This went on until the end of June with no significant improvement in my cash flow or payments made. As a result I was unable to pay the SARS VAT bill.

Rationally, this is a very poor excuse to continue my “smuggling” of horses into Cape Town, but my blind pride in always delivering horses on time for the past 31 years came into play. Today, I regret shipping horses for non-paying owners.

To add insult to injury, some of the charters operated at a severe loss with too few horses thanks to the criminally uncompetitive actions of Racing South Africa. In this respect Kevin Connolly of Connolly and Turner could fill you in, in full, and supply transcripts of the our intention to take Racing SA to the Competitions Board.

The VAT amount involved in the shipments completed January thru June 2010 payable to SARS was in fact just over R10 million plus penalties and not R40 million as stated. It only applied to the period January thru June 2010!

I approached individuals in South Africa  to assist and clearly laid out my SARS/Customs predicament and that I had “owned up” to SARS. (Bernard Kantor & Larry Nestadt in this instance excluded - more details later).

No help was forthcoming. Markus Jooste, for whom I have great respect and who himself cannot deny my good performance for always delivering his personal and Klawervlei’s imports and exports, was approached, but he never even returned my call. His staff contacted me for more SARS details, but instead of any form of assistance or acknowledgement of my problem, they went the legal route.

I have not cut any deal/s with SARS/SA authorities and I await my fate with fear. I did, on a very low day, threaten to expose all the holier than thou’s in this industry, but I have not stashed or spent R40 million! If I had,I would certainly have,

a) skipped the country for good or
b) Paid SARS to avoid this ungodly mess!!

However, SARS during my process of hand over, or coming clean, informed me they would be inspecting all past shipments and if any monkeys were shaken out of the tree, so it would be…

I admit to loving sports cars but these were always on a lease. All my worldly goods, cars, mortgaged home etc., have been repossessed by the banks, credit cards were frozen and I am now like a street corner beggar, maybe slightly better dressed.

I have unfortunately dragged my family down into this mess. They had absolutely no knowledge of my SARS issues and are now regretably living my self-made nightmare with me.

I request that you contact the liquidators of BBR Bloodstock Shipping for the list of horse debtors whom to date still owe BBR millions. You will find this an eye-opener!

As for Bernard Kantor and Larry Nestadt: I have indeed dealt wonderfully for the past 30 years with Messrs Kantor and Nestadt for whom I have the utmost respect and I have always treated them as my mentors (along with the late Graham Beck and Laurie Jaffee)

I have always felt part of their numerous international racing/stallion successes and they have over many years supported me and in the past generously helped me out of cash flow holes.

Earlier this year I approached Bernard and Larry for assistance for my critical cash flow situation and agreed to form a partnership to improve the quarantines in South Africa for Imports and Exports, enter into workable agreements with Racing SA and to team up with their administration to sort out my dismal admin and book keeping.

This was in order to generally improve the horse shipping industry and revenue flows which we acknowledged as disastrous to say the least. The sum involved was R10 million which was urgently needed to release a DC8 Charter aircraft stuck in Europe about to begin a horse delivery worldwide!  (Route EU/CPT ARG/CPT & AUS to CPT).

At the time I omitted to inform Bernard and Larry of my SARS Vat problem, which is something I now deeply regret. They were greatly concerned about the depth of this “black hole” and decided to cut me loose.

One makes mistakes in life and this has certainly turned out to be my “life ending” mistake which I will forever re-play in my mind. I also deeply regret the “double VAT” which had to be paid by clients who previously respected and supported me.

Brian Roux
2 September, 2010

READ ALSO: The Bloodstock Shipping War!

LISTEN TO PODCAST:

INTERVIEWS WITH MATHEW DE KOCK (MK) AND LOUIS GOOSEN (LG)

RACE 1: JOYFUL has been working at Randjesfontein for a while and of our three runners I expect this one to take to the sand best. He is by Hennessy whose offspring do well on sand. He should fight out the finish. (MK)

RACE 2: LET IT BE and WOROOD travelled from Durban on Monday, both are very well, were not affected by the trip from Summerveld. Let It Be failed badly on a wet track once, but I don’t believe the sand can be compared to a wet grass track, she should go well, I’d banker her in the P/A. They sprinted up on Tuesday and there were no problems. (MK)

RACE 3: I’m surprised that JACK ROCK is as short as 11-10, I’ve said a few times he needs further, but I’m keeping him ticking over with a view  to the feature season, his aim is the Dingaans. They’ve backed the Paul Matchett runner SAINT PIERRE, he goes into my Pick 6 with stable mate CAPTAIN BLUSH, and I’d throw Jack Rock in too, he should be involved even though he needs morfe ground. (LG)

RACE 5: I don’t know much about WOROOD, but the guys in Durban do rate her. She needs further, but showed good enough pace on her 1200m debut win to be a serious factor here. Candy Cotton is perhaps the danger. (MK)

CANDY COTTON needs further, as I said last time, but she is classy, a Graded-placed Maiden in this company and she’s not out of it, include her. (LG).

Phumelela’s Racing Executive Patrick Davis commented: “The Flamingo Park track hasn’t had a major refurbishment since it was first laid in 2005 and one is now due. The sand needs to be topped up by 110mm.”

“We are laying natural sand unique to the area, sourced from a nearby property. Before the track was first laid, samples from the area were sent to the USA for testing and the results showed it to be among the best racing sands tested. It was found to be both horse-friendly and resilient.”

Phumelela’s two other capital projects at Flamingo Park will be the relocation of the infield control tower to the outside of the track and the expansion of on course accommodation for grooms. - from tabonline.co.za, edited.

He’s one those faces that I’ve nodded at over the years when we walked past each other at functions. A chubby chap whose greatest threat would seem to lie in coming between his person and his dinner plate.

Yet this week that smiling cherub of a man, Brian Roux of BBR Bloodstock,  rocked the horseracing industry when it became apparent he has stolen tens of millions of rand from thoroughbred owners. The money he stole from me is a tiny fraction of Roux’s looting. He pocketed something around R40m in cash by pocketing invoiced VAT and customs duties on imported horses. Money that never made it to the taxman and must be paid, once again, by those who believed their bills were settled.

What makes this even harder to swallow is high-living Roux has apparently cut a Glenn Agliotti-type deal with the authorities. He has turned State’s witness, apparently spilling his guts about the bigger fish he helped to illegally export capital from South Africa - breaking all kinds of Exchange Control and income tax laws in the process. So this man with a penchant for fancy sports cars, who boasted of his home in London and never said no to an expensive bottle of wine may end up avoiding the consequences of his thievery.

But I’m running ahead. Let’s start at the beginning.

Earlier this year I took a small stake in a partnership which bought three Australian colts for re-sale in South Africa. Magnificent animals and with the kind of pedigrees that will appeal more to local tastes than to those of Aussies, these three offer a potential arbitrage opportunity. So they were bought at a sale in Melbourne in March, brought to the Mooi River district and are being readied for sale in November.

My share of the customs VAT on these three potential stallion imports came to exactly R12 833.40. As most of us do when settling with the taxman, I paid it over dutifully if somewhat reluctantly. My contribution, and those of my partners, were part of our bill from BBR Bloodstock, the market-leading transporter of racehorses into and out of South Africa. After we our bill was settled and the quarantine period ended, , the horses were subsequently moved into their new home where their physical development has exceeded all expectations.

I’ve always presumed that as with any civilized country, goods that are subject to customs duty are only cleared once all taxes have been settled. A presumption reinforced by those lengthy waits in the warehouse that doubles as the customs house at OR Tambo. Clearly, not every part of our country is exactly civilized.

Rumours have been circulating over the past few weeks that Roux’s business was in trouble. It now transpired that were it not for the intervention of two of racing’s leading personalities, Investec co-founders Bernard Kantor and Larry Nestadt, the last shipment of BBR transported horses would never have made it to SA. The horses were in danger of being euthanized, so Kantor and Nestadt met the R10m costs involved in getting them here. At the time, they believed their cash was helping Roux over a temporary cash flow issue, assisting him to stabilize the business. They had no clue that their R10m would disappear into a black hole.

Now that the truth is emerging, it’s clear Roux has for years been running his own version of a crooked pyramid scheme - crooked in that he understated the true value of horses to customs and pocketed the difference between that and what he charged owners; and a pyramid in that he’s been using income from future shipments to pay the costs of previous ones.

Kantor admitted from London his losses through Roux’s thievery makes mine chump change. Apart from the “stabilizing” capital injection, Kantor has already paid SARS another R2,5m for the VAT and customs bill on his recently imported stallion King’s Apostle - the first R2,5m included in Roux’s bill never hit the SARS bank account.

Says Kantor: “What I don’t understand is what the hell he did with all the money. Brian has cost people tens of millions. It’s very disappointing. I go back decades with Brian. We’ve all got to learn something from this. People involved in racing should realize they have a huge responsibility to act morally and ethically, and to pay their bills.”

Some good may yet come from Kantor’s involvement: “Larry (Nestadt) and I will be moving into the breach and will be offering the service of importing and exporting horses as Brian Roux did for decades. At least in future, people will know that when they’re told their taxes have been paid, SARS actually has the money.”

Another of racing’s big names who is livid about being robbed by Roux is industrialist Markus Jooste, Steinhoff’s CEO who was South Africa’s leading owner last year. Jooste tells me between himself and his partners at Klawervlei Stud, more than R5m in VAT which they’d paid in good faith went into Roux’s pockets. Now SARS wants the money so Jooste and his partners are having to cough up again. His comments about Roux are unprintable.

Roux’s victims stretched far and wide. Among those I know who have been swindled are veteran trainer Ormond Ferraris and his Hong Kong-based training son David; Summerhill Stud’s Mick Goss; Champion trainer Mike de Kock; former RA chairman Bruce Gardiner; even racing’s matriarch Bridget Oppenheimer. All of them, in good faith, paid Roux the taxes he included in his invoices. Only now are they being told the funds went no further than the thief’s own bank account. As the authorities had been releasing the horses from quarantine - presumably with the assistance of a Pretoria Salute* - nobody had been any the wiser.

In times past, such events would trigger calls to people in Joburg’s southern suburbs with names like Frankie or Galiel, urging them to exact some (illegal) rough justice. When crooks walk free because they promise to rat on even bigger scoundrels, few can blame those who long for the old days. - alec@moneyweb.co.za

# Alec Hogg is the founder and editor in chief of Moneyweb. He now lives on a small stud farm in Mooi River where he breeds thoroughbreds and presents his business show on SAFM every weeknight at 6pm.

Pretoria Salute - a term widely used under Apartheid rule to describe bribes paid to public servants; the practice did not end in 1994.

ALSO BY ALEC HOGG ON RACINGWEB:

Billionaire Beck will rule, benevolently, from the grave

A visit to Summerhill’s School of Excellence

Travel well, Des Irwin

The ‘Mooiste’ Life in the world

They were among the 36 nominations for the richest sand race run on the African continent. Alimony has done well by winning in 2008 and then finishing a 1.35-length third to Phunyuka last year.

However, the race is becoming more popular every year and this time there will be a strong challenge from the Mike de Kock pairing of Storm Crossing and Braggadacio. Phunyuka pulled off the Listed August Stakes and the Emerald Cup double last year and Storm Crossing will be attempting the same feat this year.

The Western Winter gelding won the August Stakes by 6.25 lengths and certainly laid a claim to the Emerald Cup title. Braggadacio finished second to his stablemate but the champion trainer has added a further string to his bow with the nomination of Immelman, who is ideally distance suited.

Roy Magner will be laying down the gauntlet to De Kock with the likes of Phunyuka, Eastern Cobbler, Fuzzy Cuzzy and top-class filly Cinnamon Sugar. She has won six of her seven starts at the track and is unbeaten over the course and distance in four outings.

Geoff Woodruff has his stable in excellent form and he has entered Don’t Tell Titch and Flybyme, while Sean Tarry has nominated two course specialists - Incomodo and Sayadaw.

Supplementary entries close at 11am on Monday 6 September after which the Weights will be published. Final declarations take place on Wednesday 15 September at 11am and there will be a live draw on the evening of Wednesday 15 September.

Photo: Queen’s Bay, one of three entries from Mike Azzie’s stable.

NOMINATIONS

EMERALD CUP (G2) R600,000 1450m

ACRISIUS (D Zaki); AL FELON (W H Tolmay); ALIMONY (S J Gray); BOY OH BOY (J S Roux); BRAGGADACIO (M F De Kock); CINNAMON SUGAR (R R Magner); CLUB VICTOR (T Lowe); COMEDY CARAVAN (G Paddock); DEEP WATER (C Laird); DON’T TELL TITCH (G V Woodruff); EASTERN COBBLER (R R Magner); EMIR (G M Alexander); EXHILARATION (D Zaki); FEARLESS GUN (M N Houdalakis); FENERBAHCE (G M Alexander); FLYBYME (G V Woodruff); FUZZY CUZZY (R R Magner); ILIAD (R R Sage); IMMELMAN (M F De Kock); INCOMODO (S G Tarry); IRON CURTAIN (R R Sage); JET TYCOON (G V Woodruff); LITTLEREDCORVETTE (MDC McLachlan); LOCHLORIEN (M G Azzie); MAHOGANY (P F Matchett); OZZIE DUDE (B O Wiid); PHUNYUKA (R R Magner); QUEEN’S BAY (M G Azzie); RAGA MUFFIN (B D Botes); ROYAL EXPRESS (R P Lerena); SAYADAW (S G Tarry); SHARKS BAY (D R Drier); SONIC BARRIER (C Laird); SPEED FOR GOLD (D R Drier); STORM CROSSING (M F De Kock); WATCHFUL (M G Azzie).

LISTEN TO PODCAST:

While the Board has been successful in cutting operating costs to a significant degree over the last two years, the release suggests imminent cuts in stake monies to be paid out in races to be held in KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape, which fall under Gold Circle’s jurisdiction.

The release states:

As with all sectors of trade and industry, the past year has not been an easy one for the horseracing industry or for that matter Gold Circle. It has required greater levels of commitment and professionalism in all sectors of the business in order to maintain the standards and traditions that we have all grown to expect and love.

Some difficult and far reaching decisions have had to be made which have not always been without contention and discomfort to some, yet unquestionably necessary to ensure the survival and more importantly the sustained growth of the Company as the upturn in the economy materialises.

It is pleasing to report that the Board has been successful in cutting the Company’s operating costs by more than R14 million in the past year, before extraordinary items which includes severance costs, and at the same time it has been able to maintain stakes levels, when most jurisdictions throughout the world have had no alternative but to cut these substantially.

As indicated at the last AGM, one of the inherent flaws in the Gold Circle model is that no mechanism exists to enable stakes to track income derived from bets struck, thus leaving the Company seriously exposed in times of recession. The Board announced its intention to address this latent defect by introducing a stakes formula which, whilst subject to regular review, will initially have the affect that stakes will simply represent a percentage of the annual total of totalisator bets struck.

In order to achieve this consideration is being given to eliminating the stakes paid on the fifth place. Marginal decreases of between 1 and 2,5 % for the other four places are under consideration and the exact detail will be the subject of a separate press release.

Additionally, the Board seeks to exploit all opportunities to derive income streams and alternative sources of revenue, which will be used as far as possible to mitigate the negative impact on the stakes paid by the Company. This, the Board believes will ensure the Company’s sustainability, as well as its commitment to pay competitive stakes.

Another positive development is that the Executive Directors are in the throes of putting the finishing touches to a strategic plan, initiated by the Board in March this year, which will see the creation of centres of excellence and a refocus on the primary aspects of our business, namely the sport of thoroughbred horseracing, and the reengineering of our wagering business.

This plan includes the need to rethink our racing surfaces, the upgrading of our broadcasting to HD and the upgrading of our tote machines to accommodate new bet types.

All of these initiatives are directed towards improving the racing experience, growing the wagering product and ensuring the continual wellbeing of the Company with the correct reserves and structures in place to embrace the challenges of the future. Naturally this will require extraordinary capital resources which will require us to relook at our asset utilisation in order to best realise the growth and opportunities available.

More recently, the media and the racing fraternity have been made aware of the tensions that have developed between certain Board members. Whilst it is not the intention of this communiqué to comment on this matter, it is important to record that, at a Board Meeting on 26 August 2010, a decision was taken by the Electoral Committee to appoint Mr. Kim Labuschagne and Mr. Ashraf Mohamed as Chairman and Vice Chairman respectively.

The Board would like to take this opportunity to thank both Messrs Adams and Bescoby for their considerable contribution as office bearers, having served Gold Circle unselfishly during exceptionally trying times. We express our thanks and appreciation to both for their past efforts and look forward to their continued support in the future.

The Board has appointed a subcommittee, made up of delegates from both regions, to address the issues surrounding regionalisation which have been a source of much discussion in both regions of late. This will undoubtedly be a lengthy review process and entail due consultation with the various stakeholders, which once finalised, will be for the long term betterment of racing in both racing jurisdictions.

As in the past, the Board assures all stakeholders, the racing public, Club members and the staff of Gold Circle that it is unequivocally committed to seeing the Company prosper and maximise its potential to be a meaningful racing and wagering force in the global racing arena. With the input and the continued support of all, this is not only possible but within arms reach.

Piggs Peak operations director Lew Saul Koor writes on the Piggs Peak website: “As you are aware we lost our application in the Pretoria High Court regarding the legality of South Africans playing on our Swaziland licensed internet casino which has serious implications for South African players. We are in the process of applying for leave to appeal the judgement and felt that we could continue operating in the interim.

“We have since been advised that we should stop operating for South African players until the matter has been resolved.

“In your interests we have taken a decision to stop operating from midnight Saturday August 28 until application for leave to appeal has been heard and decided upon, which we feel should take no longer than a week or two,” he added.

He added that client would still be able to withdraw their existing balances from Piggs Peak by e-mailing the support centre.

Piggs Peak has been at the forefront of a legal scrap with South African gambling regulators. Local authorities are attempting to clamp down on foreign casino operators who market their offerings to local clients without being licensed to do so.

Recently the High Court ruled that Piggs Peak and other online casino operators should cease operations. - extracted from fin24.com, edited.

Caesour filly Vestral Virgin started the day with a runaway win in Race 1 over 1200m under Derreck David and then Donovan Mansour booted home a double for the stable, winning smartly on well-fancied Forest and Parade Prince, who both have chances of getting into the forthcoming Emerald Cup.

Mansour rode his double from off the pace and commented: ”It’s a pleasure to ride for Mr Wooodruff because he doesn’t tie you down to instructions and he always arrives with a smile, which takes half the pressure off before the race.”

Woodruff thanked his team for their hard work and punters will be happy too because when a top stable like this comes to form racing is always more exciting and it’s easier to bet with confidence and to find reliable exotic bankers.

Photo: Geoff Woodruff (left) and Lawrence Wernars lead in Forest (Donovan Mansour up).