Grooms’ tournament proves a big hit

Grooms’ tournament proves a big hit

4Racing and Kaizer Chiefs joined forces recently to stage a soccer tournament for horseracing grooms on the Highveld, which proved a huge success.

The tournament, held at Turffontein Racecourse, was in recognition of the massive role played by grooms in horseracing and featured grooms’ teams from the horse training centres at Turffontein, Randjiesfontein and Vaal, as well as a 4Racing team.

On a day that will live long in the memory, South Africa’s biggest football club Kaizer Chiefs pulled out all the stops to support the event, painting Turffontein gold and black and sponsoring playing kit for all four teams and plenty of Chiefs merchandise as prizes throughout the day.

The grooms were treated like the superstars they are with the teams competing for a prize pool of R20,000 in front of a big, passionate crowd. Kaizer Chiefs’ delegation was led by Marketing Director Jessica Motaung, an avid horseracing enthusiast and racehorse owner, and club legends Shane MacGregor, William Shongwe and Derrick Spencer were also on hand.

In the first semi-final Turffontein beat a 4Racing staff team 4-1 with Randjiesfontein defeating the Vaal grooms 5-2 in the other semi-final. In a pulsating finale, Randjiesfontein came from 2-0 down against Turffontein to equalise with two late goals, and then won the penalty shootout 3-1 to claim the R10 000 first prize and a floating trophy.

“It was a cracker of a day. We’ve always said the lifeblood of our horseracing industry is the grooms and it was important for us to celebrate them. We are truly grateful to have partnered with Kaizer Chiefs on what was a truly memorable event,” said 4Racing Chief Executive Officer, Fundi Sithebe.