Off the Record #1

Come rain or shine

Distinguished South African horseman John Kramer, the pedigree and conformation expert, breeder, owner and yearling selector is well into his 80s. He is still active in the horse business and sound of mind, though minus the pipe he so frequently lit up that was part of his persona in his younger years. Perhaps better so. There are certain pleasures a man has to do without, late in life.

Kramer’s former travelling companion Tobie Spies, fellow expert and co-selector for the TBA in the 1990s and much of the early 2000s, is also in his eighth decade. He is active too in assisting his son, Corné, at their Randjesfontein training operation. Tobie’s lifelong affection for the thoroughbred is the closest he has ever got to an obsession, but that he is still on the move from 4.30 am every morning speaks to the inspiration that love continues to provide.

In the thoroughbred industry, John and Tobie insist, one never stops learning and you’re never too old to learn. Both started their long careers on stud farms and their views on conformation were never far apart – John relied on his eye and the overall impression of a yearling; Tobie used a points system he’d put successfully to the test for decades.

Year on year, both were captivated by the environment they explored and John once said: “We were struck by the natural beauty that surrounds the horse industry. I am grateful to have lived so close to nature’s gifts.’’

With their deep respect for nature and animals, the intrepid pair should have known, then, not to challenge the natural rhythms of the Great Mother. They were into their 60s when, one fine day in thoroughbred country, they decided to ignore advice and life experience and almost paid what would have been a tragic price.

Kramer recalled: “We visited Maine Chance Farms near Robertson, Western Cape, on our inspection rounds one day. It was on 7 November 2007, a Wednesday afternoon. We’d been invited to spend the night at Dr Marianne Thomson’s Ambiance Stud on the other side of the Breede River, but we were delayed and, as sunset approached, we considered our journey to Ambiance.

“In those days the conventional route from Maine Chance to Ambiance went around the river but I knew a short cut across a bridge not far from our location, so I suggested to Tobie that we save an hour by taking the short option.”

Other visitors to Maine Chance that afternoon told of a radio report that carried warnings about dangerous conditions around the Breede River. The river was coming down due to heavy rain and they’d opened the sluices on the Brandwag dam. Travelling on the conventional road was advised.

The two inspectors, tired after a hard day’s work, decided to press on, regardless. Tobie remembers: “John had taken the short route to Ambiance on his own a few times and he reckoned there was nothing to worry about. We packed up and headed down a gravel road, the alternative route to Ambiance, where dinner would be served before sunset.”

The TBA’s Toyota Camry stopped at a low-water bridge on the river, near Skerpenheuwel, John Kramer at the wheel. There was light rain in the area, accompanied by a billowing wind. The water level seemed unusually high; it was flowing over the bridge so that only the top ends of the supporting pillars were visible. But a few trucks had passed over it without much fuss, and the Camry was ready to follow suit.

Tobie said: “We were sheltered from the strong wind by a bed of reeds on the river’s edge. But when John engaged first gear and we approached the bridge, we could feel sweeping gusts and it was blowing down-river. We hesitated, then pushed on!”

John told: “When we reached the middle of the bridge, the car’s engine stopped reacting to the fuel pedal. The level of the bridge had dropped. Suddenly there was a lot more water and the car started floating. I tried to get the vehicle going and moving forward but my efforts were in vain and by then Tobie was shouting that there was quite a lot of water around us.”

“As the car drifted towards the edge of the bridge, the front wheels got stuck on a pillar and we managed to get out. It all happened before we had a chance to consider what to do. I got out, opened the boot and pulled out a few files containing our essential inspection notes taken from many farms. Tobie was hanging bravely on to his door, trying to drag the car back against the flow, but he had to let go after a while. The force of the water drove the car over the bridge and into the river!”

“We stood there for a while, watching in shock as the car floated down the river and into a bank some distance away from the bridge. The car’s hazard lights were on, they gradually faded while it was sinking, then disappeared. And there we were, up to our knees in water and perhaps 30km away from Ambiance Farm.”

In a region known for poor mobile reception, the ordeal ended well. A single reception bar appeared on John’s phone. He called Dr Marianne Thomson at Ambiance Stud and she drove along to save the drenched inspectors from sharing a rather uncomfortable night stranded on the ridge at Skerpenheuwel with hungry hyenas and baboons for company.

Marianne Thomson chuckled at the memory: “I took the two stranded souls home, fed them warm soup and put them to bed. The next day, they hired a young man with a tow truck to pull the car out of the river. We recovered their luggage, which had to be unpacked and dried back at the farm. The official inspectors’ documents were dried in my oven, they survived. The right yearlings got to the sale that year!”