A Horse race and my couch

NOT NECESSARILY SPORT by MARC POZZO

My week always starts on a Sunday. So this last Sunday I was on duty at Borrowdale Race Course to do the TV presenting for Tellytrack. It also happened to be the Commissioner General of Police Charity Horse Race Day. It was heartening to see a decent partisan crowd in for a change, for a sport that is really running on empty and hanging on by a shoe string. It is very sad to be aware of how dramatically the horse racing industry has suffered in recent years. That is where it all began for me, many years ago, when it was a thriving industry. It really is a crying shame that it is falling apart, mainly due to some seriously inept decision making. Sunday belonged to the “blonde bomb” Trainer, Bridget Stidolph, who saddled four winners on the day including the feature race, the ZRP Fillies Mile, with Mia Finola. This filly has now won three on the bounce and looks a decent sort in the making. Stidolph also won with Christofle in the second race of the day, Coastal Torrent in the third, and Wolves Among Sheep in the fourth, to complete her four winners for the day.

With the shortages of fuel again in our beloved country, I decided to limit my traveling around and save my precious liquid, except for a short trip to the gym and to the races. The rest of the weekend was spent firmly on the couch, watching sport, as is compulsory in my profession! I even lowered my standards to watch Manchester United play against Chelsea. Even I must confess, United were robbed with that 96th minute winner. The Currie Cup semi-finals were also exciting matches, and well played to Western Province in their game against the Bulls which went to extra time and with a Province penalty seeing them through to this Saturday’s final, where they will host a home final against the Sharks from Durban. Liverpool, were up next and they ground out three points against Huddersfield Town with a Mo Salah strike. I must say it was a very frustrating gameto watch. Then the USA Grand Prix in Texas. Five points. A seventh place. That is all Lewis Hamilton needs to clinch a fifth world title, and he has three races to do it now. Many expected it would be in the bag by now, and on Sunday morning at the United States Grand Prix it looked a good bet, with the Mercedes driver starting on pole and title rival Sebastian Vettel fifth, but needing to finish second if Hamilton won to keep the championship alive. Well, the championship is still alive.

Just. It is hard to imagine that Hamilton, who has won nine races so far this season, will not be able to achieve what he needs over the remaining races in Mexico next weekend, and then Brazil and Abu Dhabi. But Austin proved the folly of taking anything for granted in this Formula 1 season.

Hamilton toiled, despite another brilliant pole position, and Kimi Raikkonen broke the mold by taking his first victory since the opening race of the 2013 season. So the Briton has to wait for his historic moment. Overall, it was a chastening race for Mercedes. The performance advantage they have shown since Singapore four races ago was gone, and in a season in which the narrative has been dominated by errors from their rivals, this time it was their turn to make mistakes. So we wait another week as we head to Mexico this weekend and it should be wrapped up there. As we know, anything can happen, like our supermarket and general retail prices, well, some of them that is. I could not believe what I was seeing when someone sent me picture on WhatsApp of seven Amstel beers costing $16,00 each, at a well-known fish restaurant. Then another curry house that I frequent on a regular basis selling a curry for $120,00 swipe. The profiteering that is occurring in our market is simply insane.

Together with one particular supermarket chain that I and my peers will be boycotting from now on, these establishments will join the banned list. Pretty sad is it not? What do they think they achieve by charging such exorbitant prices? Social media is powerful tool these days, and businesses can be made or ruined overnight.

The month of October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and as always there are a number of planned events for the month. On Thursday I will conduct the prize giving and auction at the annual Think Pink Golf Day, and then on Sunday I have been roped into doing a Think Pink Triathlon. I hope I survive long enough to pen this article next week!