The Final Frame
HF Kenney Reflects on a Lifetime in Racing
PART 2
From last week: (Read Part 1, here.)
Above: HF Kenney, reflective at 83 (image: supplied)
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.
However, Kenney persisted, and in 1971 became the first racecourse photographer to shoot exclusively in colour. “The business was growing fast but, as I’d been warned, colour photography was a time- and labour-intensive process. My wife Chelley was a driving force and kept encouraging me to find solutions, so I approached a few banks for finance. After several rejections, as a last resort I went to a branch of Boland Bank – the smallest financial institution in the market. To my surprise, the manager was willing to help.
“Their media adverts read, ‘Who do you have to thank? Boland. Boland Bank.’ That was no lie. They financed my high-end equipment, including a fitted darkroom, a processor, and mini-printers, and we set up business in our family home. By the mid-1970s, my kids were old enough to help in the office, and everyone got involved in processing and framing photos. We often worked through the night to meet demand, and we never backed down.
“Before long, we had a thriving business, and all my kids became good photographers. Ingrid and Rae assisted me on the tracks, full-time, and we were also the first to start shooting from right next to the track. The established way was for photographers to shoot from a distance away, on the grandstand. We had one camera on the grandstand too, but we also placed cameras on the trackside rail opposite the winning post, on both sides of the track. Ingrid started helping Mr MacIntyre, whose eyesight was fading, and we eventually took over his business. Racing was booming, and while I initially focused on owners and trainers, jockeys soon started ordering framed photos too. They loved the colour images.”
In 1988, Kenney achieved another historic first, this time not in racing, but in legal circles. He became the first photographer to take a copyright case to court. The matter centred on a photographic laboratory that had copied his original images and reproduced them in a distinctive montage mount bearing his name.
Journalist Carol Posthumus reported: “Even though Kenney held the copyright and the work bore his legend, a legal technicality meant he could not obtain an injunction to stop the copying.”
Kenney reflected at the time: “I didn’t do it for financial gain. I took a moral stand. As a photographer, my work is my livelihood. The use of it – directly or indirectly – without my permission, is theft. My advice to anyone facing the same situation is to go straight to the police’s commercial theft unit.”
The landscape of photography shifted dramatically with the arrival of the digital era in the late 1990s. “That was a big blow to our family business,” he recalled. “A few years into the digital boom, I had to dump all of my equipment – once the pride of my darkroom – and couldn’t get a penny for it.”
Above: Mr Kenney with the JC Photos team. “They were my opposition, but they all cried the day I left." (image: supplied)
Kenney’s extensive archive of photographic negatives, meticulously catalogued in ledgers and stored in boxes, currently resides at 4Racing’s Turffontein premises. With significant historical value, there is hope that an agreement can be reached to have the collection digitised and preserved for future generations.
KENNEY’S CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
Above: Mr Kenney with his daughter, Ingrid (image: supplied)
It is not often that a question about career highlights receives such an answer:
"My entire career was one big highlight. I loved every moment of my 70+ years in racing – the horses, the people, the races, the many big events. Photography gave me a front-row seat to history. I couldn’t have asked for more. That I could perform my professional duties working closely with my wife and my children Ingrid, Rae, Ursula and Mark was a wonderful bonus. As I sit here, far away in Portugal today, I wish I could be at the track, taking photos," said Kenney.
The best horse he photographed:
“That was undoubtedly Jet Master, the best runner and best-looking horse that ever crossed my path. I was working at the Vaal when he made his debut in September 1997. When I saw Jet Master in the parade ring, he took my breath away. His owners, Henry and Pat Devine, attended the meeting. When they walked out of the ring before the race, I said to Mr Devine: ‘Henry, this horse is a champion. He looks like a star. He will win today!’ He replied, ‘You think so, Mr K? I’m not too sure about that; he’s 12-1. We’ll see.’
“Jet Master was the horse that Pat Devine fell in love with as a yearling, but he was said to be ‘knock-kneed and bewildered,’ and she had to beg her husband to bid on him at the Pietermaritzburg sale. They bought him for R15,000. But he had obviously grown into a magnificent beast, and after he knocked me out with his good looks, I decided to take a bet – one of only a few bets I ever placed in my career. The money started pouring on Jet Master. I thought I’d get 12-1, but when I got to the bookies he’d shortened to 8-1 and I bet R100 on him. He started 7-2 and won by six lengths, Stuart Randolph riding.”
For the next few years, every time I saw Henry Devine at the track, he said to me, ‘Your horse is doing very well!’ – in reference to Jet Master. One day, late in 1997, he said, ‘Your horse has been entered for the Cape Guineas.’ I replied, ‘You must remind Mr Woodruff (trainer, Geoff) to show Jet Master the left-handed bend at Kenilworth before the race. Many visitors have come unstuck when they go there for the first time!’
“I am sure Mr Woodruff would have done that anyway, champion trainer that he was, but when Jet Master got up to win the Guineas from Classic Flag, I felt that I was part of the win. I was overcome with joy!”
A Cheeky Encounter: The ‘Ringer’ Scandal
When trainers WF ‘Barney’ Barnard and Neels van Baalen were investigated for what became the Vaal’s infamous ‘Ringer’ scandal, two similar-looking horses both sporting distinctive white stars between their eyes, were at the centre of the controversy. Neels’ runner, a Maiden, was swapped for an almost identical other, a top-division horse. The ‘Maiden’ went on to win easily, following a betting coup in the hour before the race.
Kenney bumped into Barnard at the track a few weeks later. In reference to the stars on the horses’ foreheads – which proved to be key evidence in the case – he quipped, “Barney, why didn’t you put blinkers on yours? Nobody would have known!”
Barney stopped in his tracks, gave Kenney a sharp glare, and walked away.
An Awkward Moment
Then there was the time in the 1970s when Kenney arrived at the winner’s box after a big race to snap the lead-in photos. Bridget Oppenheimer was already there, waiting for her horse. A photo finish had occurred, and someone asked Kenney, “That was close. Who won, Mr K?” He named the winner – which was not Mrs Oppenheimer’s horse.
Kenney recalled: “Mrs O heard me and said, ‘What? Are you daft, young man? My horse won the race!’ But it didn’t, and after the judge announced the official result, Mrs O had to move to the second box. I didn’t mean to embarrass her. I was just answering a punter’s question. Fortunately, she didn’t see it as an embarrassment. The incident was long forgotten by the time her next winner came around. I always had a good professional relationship with Mrs O, Mrs Slack, and young Jessica.”
A Memorable moment:
Above: 'Mr K’ , keen golfer (image: supplied)
A keen golfer, Kenney was a regular at the popular Mmabatho Masters. This novel two-day tournament was held at Leopard Park between 1994 and 2009 and gave racing personalities a chance to compete for the amateurs’ version of the ‘Green Jacket’.
He recalled: “One year I got to play in a four-ball with Piere Strydom, who was just starting to play golf and was a proper hacker, but he found himself in contention thanks to the handicapping system. I’d broken my glasses, so I couldn’t focus too well, but I was able to help Piere. The wind was blowing hard that day and he was battling to get his balls in good, playable positions, so I told him to go two clubs ‘down’ when the wind came up. For example, on holes where he’d normally hit a seven-iron, it was best to take a five-iron. Piere managed to play a few surprisingly good shots after this. He fought out the last few holes with Lucky Houdalakis and won the tournament!”
Mr K, the ‘trainer’:
“Listen, I was a jockey for a while and I saw and experienced a lot of things. So let me tell you this. All those years ago, when I was riding on the farm for Mr Bouwer, I said to him one day, ‘Why do we let the horses work so hard, so early? They are used to racing in the afternoons. Why don’t we change their routines? He actually listened to me and started experimenting. We walked his horses through the farm fields in the mornings, sun on their backs, and they loved it. Then we saddled up around 1pm and did the track work.
“There was a noticeable difference in their demeanour and performance, and we saw better results when we took them to the bush racing track at Welkom.”
“Years later, my friend Nic van Tonder trained this way on his farm near the Vaal. His horses walked in the morning, worked in the afternoon. Some of Nic’s owners joked that he employed this method so he could sleep in every day, but of course his results proved otherwise. He was right up there with the best of trainers in the 1970s and 1980s.”
Saddest moments:
“Without a doubt, the worst day of my career was the Hennenman disaster in April 1988 in which 13 jockeys and a number of officials were killed when their plane crashed on the way from a race meeting in Bloemfontein. I knew everyone on that flight, including Douglas Roper, who was a regular golfing partner. I was also friendly with jockeys Martin Schoeman and Michael Cavé, great riders who had died a few years earlier; and Kelvin Haarhoff, a good friend who ran the Winner’s Pub at Turffontein. I often worked in a corner of his pub between races, downloading images.”
Proudest moment:
“I guess that will be outside of racing. In the early 2000s, Chelley and I staged four successive golf days for The Hamlets, a foundation for disabled children. Those events were all fully-booked and well-supported. We were able to make good financial contributions.”
Messages of thanks:
“I saw many decades of racing and many people come and go. I am able to thank individuals like Larry Nestadt and Zackey Nassif who are still active in racing. I watched Mr Nestadt over the years, an unassuming man who did an enormous amount for racing on the quiet. I truly admire him. Mr Nassif and his many syndicate members brought me exuberant joy in the last part of my career, with their unbridled spirit in the winner’s enclosure. Their excitement took me back to the years when this kind of emotion was common at every race day, and was witnessed by thousands of racegoers.”
In retirement:
Earlier this week, the 83-year-old ‘Mr K’ went to the driving range at the Boavista Golf Estate near his daughter’s home in Portugal’s Algarve region, for the first time in a while. “My swing is still there. I hit a bucket of balls and it felt good. I’ll be coming back to play more, it will keep me occupied and maybe take my mind off racing. I miss the game so much!”
Chelley (81), his partner through every phase of the journey, remains by his side.
Above: Mr and Mrs Kenney, jointly aged 164 years, still living it up on the Algarve in Portugal (image: supplied)