Great news that Dubai Racing Channel is further broadening its portfolio of international racing by adding 85 of South Africa's Group 1,2,3 and Listed races. Racing enthusiasts can follow the exploits of the principal South African horses at the Dubai Racing Carnival and Dubai World Cup before the mounts put their reputations on the line in the UAE.
I’m delighted to see South African racing getting coverage beyond its shores. Last year S’manga Khumalo become the first black jockey to win at Durban. Despite a blistering finish in front of 50,000 roaring spectators and a terrific post-race quote from the jockey -- ‘I dedicate this race to Nelson Mandela because were it not for him I would not have been in that race’ -- the story received little media attention outside South Africa.
The Guardian journalist, Davy Lane, summed up the problem nicely: ‘The story of Khumalo's remarkable achievement has not been the global racing or sports news it should have been. The racing press in the United States and Europe regularly debate the respective inertias of their jurisdictions. Racing needs to do more to reach out and promote itself, they say. Yet here was a story it seemed they have spectacularly failed to tell.’
Crossing the boundary from racing-specific to general interest, this is a story that not only deserves to be told; it is the type of story that can help broaden racing's appeal.
