Storyteller Selwyn Elk Takes the Mic
Selwyn Elk has lived and breathed horse racing for most of his adult life. His journey through the sport has had many thrills and unforgettable moments. With a treasure trove of memories, Selwyn (75) has become a captivating storyteller, drawing in friends and fellow enthusiasts with his vivid recollections of racing and its characters from yesteryear.
George Croucher recognised Selwyn’s ability to bring racing history to life, and invited him to host Call Back The Past on his new podcast service, racingradio.net. The podcast will be airing every Friday from 7 to 7:30 PM, starting on 7 February. It promises to transport listeners on fascinating trips down memory lane, while Selwyn showcases his talent for spinning tales that capture the essence of the sport.
Before we share a taste of some of his stories, here’s a glimpse into Selwyn’s background as a racing fanatic.
Selwyn’s father David, an SA Airforce Gunner, owned a small share of C’Est Si Bon (Sadri II), who won the Durban July Handicap in 1954. That was a joyous occasion for the family, but Selwyn’s mother, Hetty, grew to dislike horseracing intensely due the old man’s addiction to its many charms.
Selwyn also joined the Airforce, based at Valhalla in Pretoria. He met fellow service member, Anthony Dell, the son of Archie Dell (breeder of the great Hawaii), and they started going racing at Turffontein.
“We were paid a salary of R15 per month, which came to about R8 after deductions. But that was enough to spend at the racetrack, where we won most of the time and went home with more than our monthly wages,” Selwyn recalled.
Auntie Hetty was keen to welcome her son on what was scheduled to be his first weekend pass, and his second, and his third, but Selwyn phoned every time to inform her that his pass had been cancelled. He went off to the races on Saturdays, until his mother threatened to phone the Sergeant Major on duty to find out why the young serviceman was not allowed to come home!
Towards the end of his National Service in November 1967, Selwyn also started visiting the old bookmakers’ ‘Rooms’ at the Tattersalls in Loveday Street, Johannesburg. One Saturday, he was having a haircut with a barber in the Tattersalls building and met a punter who said, “I am friendly with jockey Gerald Turner. He gave me a tip for today. It’s a two-year-old colt called Home Guard in the first at Gosforth Park. ‘GT’ said it cannot possibly lose.”
Selwyn recalled: “I took all the money I had and put it on Home Guard (Penthouse II) at 3-1. He won by six lengths over 800m and I collected a wad of notes. I was smitten with racing, learning more every day. At that early stage I was thinking of becoming a professional punter. This looked like an easy game!”
With his parents, however, keen on a more conventional career, Selwyn joined a shipping company as a junior administrative assistant in Durban. He indulged in his racing hobby on the side and snuck away to the tracks as often as he could.
Selwyn met jockey George Davies, who rode mostly for trainer Herman Brown (sr) and one day received a true insider’s tip from his friend. Brown’s runner Full Stretch (Michael Roberts up) was the hot-pot favourite for a Maiden Juvenile Plate at Greyville on 13 February 1971. Davies was booked for the first-timer, In Full Flight (New South Wales), from the stable of a new, young trainer, David Payne. George had ridden Full Stretch in a race and had also sat on In Full Flight in work. He said that In Full Flight was a champion, Full Stretch was not.
There was some 9-2 available on the Payne runner, and young Selwyn was excited. During his lunch hour, he broke away to the course and lumped on. In Full Flight, inexperienced, only won by a quarter-length, but the result was in the frame and Selwyn collected what was the equivalent of almost one year’s salary at his shipping company.
“The race was at 13:50,” said the man with an elephant’s memory. “My lunch hour ended at 2pm and I only arrived back at my office at 2.20pm. My manager was waiting and he let me have it. He got nasty, warned and threatened me with dismissal. But I had a pocket full of cash and got brave. I said, ‘Take your job and shove it where the sun doesn’t shine!’ and walked away.
That was Selwyn’s first and only 8-5 job for a boss. For the next several years, he bet on horses and made a good living. In 1974, he founded the form guide, Racing Mirror, with attorney Tony Dumas and pharmacist-come-photographer, Philip Goldkorn.
Above: The Racing Mirror was a hit with punters and advertisers
Racing Mirror was an excellent alternative to the market leader, Duff’s Turf Guide, published for many years by Durban’s race caller, Ernie Duffield. “We used Philip’s colour photographs in Racing Mirror and had some great race analysis. Ernie’s publication only carried black-and-white pics. He started losing readers to us. Racing Mirror sold very well and we even gained advertising support. The adverts on the front cover paid for the printing bill!”
Racing Mirror was sold to Computaform in 1977. Selwyn stayed on as a consulting editor for a few years. In the early 1990s, he was signed as consultant to CallNet, who ran a highly successful racing advice service during the boom of the 087 Premium Rate tipping lines. He concluded his career owning a number of high-traffic totalisator agencies in Durban’s Plowright Avenue, Hunter Street, Morrison street and the old Club Med at Kingsmead Tattersalls . These agencies suffered the devastation caused by Covid-19, forcing closure.
Above: In the headlines: Selwyn Elk's 087-venture
Below, a few of Selwyn’s interesting stories:
The original Totalisator:
Some older punters will remember the totalisator of the 1960s and the early 1970s.
There were only a few scattered branches in each of the old provinces. They closed at 11am, and punters had to place any further bets on the racecourse itself.
Punters filled in their betting slips, of which carbon copies were handed back to the attendant tote staff to be processed once the results were officially announced on radio at 7.30pm.
Winning punters were required to return their tickets to the tote every Monday, where they were stamped as "claimed" and subsequently checked for validity against a list. Payouts were processed on Tuesdays. When there was a small payout on the P/A, for example R2,50, the tote queues were long and it took ages to collect because of the many winners having to be ticked off the checklist.
In the meantime, those punters eager to continue betting before their winnings were paid out, had to sell their tickets at a discounted value to cash-flush friends. Selwyn noted: “There was a lot of wheeling and dealing going on!”
The origins of Computaform
Ernie Duffield’s Duff’s Turf Guide was the go-to form guide in Durban for more than 25 years until Racing Mirror came along. In the old Transvaal the race book of choice was Rand Racing Roundup, owned by Johan van der Schyff.
Above: Duff's Turf Guide
The Rand Racing Roundup was produced in Johannesburg by printer Martin van Niekerk, who saw an opportunity to buy the publication when Van der Schyff fell behind on his payments. Van Niekerk saw the bigger picture in a prosperous time for the industry, partnered with businessman Chris Gill and also bought Duff’s Turf Guide from a then battling Duffield. In 1977 they created a new form guide Computerform, which was named Duff’s Computerform for a while, as a clause for its changing of hands.
Not long after that, Van Niekerk and Gill flew to Durban to make Racing Mirror an offer for their business. Selwyn remembers: “Racing Mirror was doing well enough for us to plug on, but Van Niekerk and Gill were wily businessmen. We also had some internal issues when our partner Phillip Goldkorn expressed a wish to return to the pharmaceutical industry. They offered us R30,000 for the business on condition that we cancel the next due edition of Racing Mirror, and we agreed. They pounced swiftly on the market and gave away free copies of Computerform outside the gates of the racecourse for the Clairwood meeting that followed.
Above: Selwyn Elk and former trainer Dean Latimer with an album of Racing Mirror turf guides
Computerform was rebranded, Computaform, as a result of pressure from trademark lawyers who protected the 1970 buzzword, ‘computer’ – but the publication became a roaring success all the same. It was sold to Times Media late in the 1980s, then changed ownership again to Caxtons in the early 1990s before Phumelela acquired the publication in the early 2000s. The technologically advanced Computaform is almost 50 years old and still the form guide of choice for most South African punters. It is now owned and managed by 4Racing.
Monty’s Bright BMW:
Monty Labuschagne, who, along with bookmaker ‘Sonny’ Chislett, was implicated in the 1966 shooting of Sea Cottage, survived the allegations due to what was considered a lack of evidence. Their alleged ‘hitman’, Johnny Nel, was sent to prison.
In 1976, Monty had closed his notorious Monaco Cards Club and opened a used car lot on Point Road in Durban. Selwyn said: “In December 1976 I backed Basil Marcus on Gigantic to win the Holiday Inns and it arrived at 11-2. It was one of those great days that don’t come around too often. I won a pocket full of cash. I needed a car, so I went to Monty’s establishment in search of a good deal. I was able to put a nice deposit down.”
Monty’s car lot was named "Trust Motors," proudly showcased with an on-site advertising banner that read, No Rust at Trust. The slogan addressed a common issue in Durban, where vehicles were often plagued by rust.
Selwyn said: “There were rows of cars, most of them in what can only be described as dubious condition. But I came across a BMW that looked beautiful. It was silver grey in colour, shiny, bright, well-kept and with new tyres on it. I was standing there admiring the car when a hand slapped my shoulder. It was Monty, who was apologetic and said, “Selwyn, I am so sorry. You cannot have this car, anything else, please. I promised this BMW to my son, Mark. It’s a great car and he has his heart set on it. Pick another one, I will give you a good deal. I am sorry, man!
“I tried to convince Monty to sell me the BMW, but he insisted it was about to leave the lot. ‘I tell you what,’ he said. ‘You are a good man. I will ask Mark if he is prepared to let it go. I can tell you now, he won’t, this is the best second-hand BMW in Durban. But phone me after 5pm, I will try my best for you’.
“When I phoned later that day, Monty appeared to be in a state of shock. He said: ‘My wife wants a divorce. My son won’t speak to me. Not sure what I’m going to do. But you can have the car, it’s a deal.’
“Monty had played me, and I blissfully fell for it. I signed for the shiny BMW. It gave me headaches from the second I drove it out of ‘Trust Motors’. There was an unusual sound coming from the engine. I went back, reported it and he told me I was imagining it, the car was in mint condition.
Above: All that glitters isn't gold. The shiny BMW.
“Of course, it never was. After a few weeks it broke down, and continued to malfunction. I heard along the grapevine that Monty had given the vehicle a ‘haircut’. He’d turned back the odometer to reflect just a fraction of the mileage the BMW had actually completed. After a while I stopped paying my monthly premiums. The car was repossessed and later scrapped.”
The ‘good things’ don’t always win:
For every winner there are perhaps twice as many losers, and Selwyn remembers a day in 1974 when Herman Brown’s star colt Gatecrasher was odds-on favourite at 6-10 to win the Bull Brand Jockeys Invitational Stakes, a flagship event at Scottsville.
The line-up included the ‘Who’s Who’ of international talent – the UK stars Lester Piggott, Willie Carson and Pat Eddery, Secretariat’s regular rider Ron Turcotte and Hall Of Famer, Fernando Toro.
Up-and-coming US-based jockey, Michael Hole, had drawn the lucky ride on Gatecrasher, but things went wrong. Jockey Tommy Cheng, on the outsider Soda Fountain, attempted to pinch the race but got his fractions wrong and set a pace that was just way too fast. There was a mad scramble for the line at the end. Hole chased the early leader on Gatecrasher, who ran out of steam and finished unplaced. The race was won by South Africa’s Garth Puller, who used his knowledge of the Pietermaritzburg track and flew up on 33-1 outsider, Caption, an emergency acceptor also trained by Brown!
Above: Racing Mirror - Caption (33-1) wins the Bull Brand International
“There were many unhappy punters that day. We’d all lost a lot of money on Gatecrasher, but there was no indication that Gatecrasher was ‘pulled up’ to run out of the money. We realised again that racing wasn’t easy. It was like playing ice hockey, barefoot.
“Interestingly just a year or so later, jockey Michael Hole was found dead in his car from an apparent suicide and the Los Angeles Times suggested that he may have been murdered by what could have been a shady betting ring. They reported: "The theory lingers that Hole, a reluctant race-fixer, was a victim of foul play."
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For queries and suggestions, mail Selwyn Elk on rene.selwyn@telkomsa.net