Howard Hamilton

I have been travelling quite extensively over the last couple of weeks in Cape Town in South Africa, after having spent some time in Paris and Madrid.

Paris still remains my favourite, and the fact that this is my third trip there for this year attests to my love for the food, wine, history, culture and people.

This is my third trip to Cape Town. My initial was with the first West Indies Tour which we all want to forget. I have been spending the time visiting farms and exchanging views on the racing industry with a number of interesting people. So much has changed here in the last five years or so, and there is so much that we can learn from their experiences.

The two breeding farms which I visited were quite different in their concept and operation.

Avontuur in Somerset West is primarily a vineyard with its own wine production. The place is absolutely beautiful and boasts a top-class restaurant that caters to the public who come to do wine tasting and tour the outstanding facilities.

The breeding operation is equally top class. They have just purchased a Forest Wildcat stallion - VAR - who has already served ninety-six mares. Their season is almost at an end, running from August to December.

An interesting observation is that only mares owned by the farm are kept there. Visiting mares are served on arrival and leave immediately thereafter. No mare is served more than once, and the mare had better be ready, because there will be no second chance, since bookings could include two or three mares for the day.

The owners are quite proud of their new stallion, especially since they out-bid two top-class breeding operations in the United States, who desperately wanted to add the blinding speed which this son of STORM CAT had exhibited during his racing career in Europe.

Of interest for us is the amount of time we waste in serving mares that are not ready to be served. Our veterinarians have to get better experienced in this area, and our own management will need to improve their knowledge of the mare's readiness for service.

The other farm visited, Vasfontein Stud, is even more expansive, located in an extensive grape-growing area called Paarl.

This farm stands no stallions of its own, but opts to take shares in the top-quality stallions of other farms. They keep very few mares for other owners, and in fact, discourage their presence.

First-class operations

This is a first-class operation, and they pride themselves in consistently producing champions, not only for South Africa, but also for Hong Kong and Australia.

An interesting observation is that they have approximately 250 acres under computerised irrigation. They are able to regulate the wetting process very scientifically, deciding how many inches of water are needed when and where.

Their paddocks are sized at five acres, and interestingly, only three mares with their foals are kept in each paddock. Both farms visited feed their stock in the fields, using containers spaced at even distances. The feeding process is all manual and the farm-hands ensure that all are fed their correct proportion. The stables are only used for a short period, when the yearlings are being prepared for the sales that are held in March and May.

Of interest is the fact that yearlings have already been chosen for their select sales, which will not be held until May next year - almost six months prior to the sales.

I next visited the stable area which is attached to a major training centre. (No horses are stabled at the race track). This training centre was built around an old race track and has stabling capacity for 1,200 horses.

While a groom has responsibility for three horses, there are certain grooms that have special respon-sibilities, e.g. bandaging, poultice and icing, etc. and they do this for all horses.

It was remarkable how clean the stable area was - the yard area is all paved with concrete bricks, the very deep bedding is wheat or oats straw.

The stalls are picked twice a day and bagged for removal by farmers who process this for further use. The straw is sprayed with a weak solution of Jeyes fluid as a disinfectant, and most importantly, to keep away the flies.

I'll be spending more time with racing personalities, and hope to be at the races on Saturday. There is so much we can learn from the practices here, and I am looking forward to advising on the implementation of some of these on my return.

Howard Hamilton CD, JP, is a former chairman of Caymanas Track Limited and is currently president of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association of Jamaica. He can be contacted at howham@cwjamaica.com.