The Final Frame - Part 1
HF Kenney Reflects on a Lifetime in Racing
Above: The inimitable ‘Mr K’ – HF Kenney (image: supplied)
Older racing fans all know the name, and the younger generation has seen his work – the colour photographs that have long adorned the walls of trainers, jockeys, and owners across South Africa. From 1971 until his retirement in 2021, HF Kenney was the Highveld’s racecourse photographer, recording five decades of South African racing history.
Herman ‘Pops’ Kenney was a pioneer of colour race photography in the early 1970s and into the 1980s, a period many regard as the sport’s golden era. Now 85 years of age and enjoying retirement in his adopted Portugal, Kenney speaks warmly of the industry that occupied most of his life. He admits that, after all those years behind the camera, he still misses being part of the action.
While everyone in racing became a friendly acquaintance, Kenney maintained a quietly professional demeanour. Few people know that he actually started out as a jockey, and worked as a sales representative and riding instructor in his younger years.
Born in 1939, at the start of World War II, Kenney and his older brother and sister never got to know their father, who was called up to serve in the armed forces and never returned. They were placed in Nazareth House, an orphanage in Yeoville, Johannesburg. Kenney entered the home at the age of three, but after the war, when he was nine, the children were reunited with their mother and moved to Durban.
“I spent time with my uncles, Ray and Victor Marlin, who were both prominent jockeys in Durban, and discovered a love for horses. I was given a rocking horse as a present and rode it day and night,” he recalled.
School? Well, that never happened. Thanks to his uncles, 10-year-old Herman was sent to a Free State farm near Odendaalsrus to join racehorse trainer Chris Bouwer as an apprentice jockey. Bouwer and his son managed stables with more than 20 horses and raced every fortnight on a ‘bush’ track in the neighbouring town of Welkom.
“Mr Bouwer imported a stallion, Calamate, from Ireland, and bred several good horses on his farm. The Welkom track was not bad at all and drew crowds from around the Free State. I started riding in races for Mr Bouwer at age 12 and had a nice run of winners. Nic van Tonder, who later became a top trainer on the Highveld, worked on a neighbouring farm. We were rivals on the track but forged a friendship that lasted until his passing in 1995,” Kenney recalled.
Chris Bouwer was often urged to compete on the official racetracks in and around Johannesburg, but only did so twice. Kenney added: “He had a brilliant horse called ‘Gerrie Hoek’ by Calamate, who raced at Newmarket twice and won both his races. On one of these trips to the old Transvaal I went along and was spotted by Mr Pullen, the starter. He urged me to move to the Highveld to start an official riding career.”
Despite his mentor’s unhappiness with his proposed move, Kenney left the farm to join trainer JBK Cooper as an apprentice at a stable yard near Rose Acre, Turffontein. They later moved to premises near Kyalami, where Kenney rode a number of winners for Cooper, a colourful character who wore an eye patch and would later become known as “Falconetti,” nicknamed after a TV character.
“I wasn’t the best around, to be honest, and I also struggled with weight problems, like many others from that era when the bottom weight was still set at 45kg. I had to hang up my boots early, but I thoroughly enjoyed my short time as a jockey in a booming industry,” said Kenney.
In the early 1960s, he joined a large Vereeniging-based wholesaler, Alf Feldman & Co., as a sales representative, dealing in everything from food products to cigarettes. “During this time, I saw an advert placed by Mrs Adams from Lewison Riding School in Salisbury, Rhodesia. They needed a riding instructor. I applied, and got the job!”
Lewison was a massive operation where Kenney was able to indulge his love for horses and people, and he also got to ride in harness races. “I drove a sulky – not the easiest thing to do – but I won more races than I did as a jockey,” he quipped.
Above: Herman and Michelle Kenney on their wedding day in 1963 (image: supplied)
Kenney was back in South Africa in 1963, where he met Michelle Collett (Shelley) – the love of his life. Over the next few years, three daughters, Ingrid, Rae, and Kari, and a son, Mark, were born.
He also rekindled a friendship with professional photographer Corrie Butler in Vereeniging, and recalled: “Corrie was a genius at what he did, and I took an avid interest in his work. He started showing me what to do and how to do it, and after a while I bought my own camera.”
Above: Kenney behind the camera, 1970s (image: supplied)
During this time, when the Kenneys went racing, he began snapping photos at the track. “Photography was forbidden, with warnings posted at the course and printed in the race programmes. We adored the horses we saw there, I felt the adrenaline pumping and took sneaky shots whenever I could.”
One day, however, Kenney was caught in the act, and he and Shelley were marched off the course by an official who stopped just short of confiscating his camera. “That was embarrassing and upsetting,” he said, “but things were about to turn for the good. I mentioned what had happened to my friend, jockey Armando Freddi, and he told me to approach Jack Patience, who was the chairman of the clubs that managed Newmarket and the Vaal.”
“I didn’t want to waste my time, but Shelley encouraged me to see Mr Patience, who was surprisingly accommodating when I asked if I could take photos at his two racetracks. He said, ‘Mr Kenney, be my guest, we need someone,’ and I was on my way!”
Kenney soon befriended Gordon MacIntyre, the official course photographer at Gosforth Park and Turffontein. “At the time, racing photographers were shooting only in black and white, but I kept wondering why. I started experimenting with colour. My colleagues around the country said it wasn’t a viable exercise – the developing process was too cumbersome, and nobody would want to wait for photos,” he recalled.
Next week: HF Kenney’s career milestones, and stories from the coalface.