NIC CLAASSEN : THE LAST POST

Nic Claaseen with Geepee S
2008 Allan Robertson Fillies Championship (Grade 1)
(Photo : Gold Circle)

NIC CLAASSEN
1926 - 2010

Mick GossThere are many who will tell you that racing is character building. Whether or not that is true, one thing is for certain : it’s not short of characters. Nic Claasen was one of them.

My personal association with this colourful man goes back to 1969, when I was doing my basic training in the South African Defence Force. In those days, we used to make reverse charge calls when we were short of money (which I always was) and Nic Claasen was a telephone operator. Those that knew the system of collect calls, will remember that we were required to give our name to the operator, so that when he connected you with the number you wished to speak to, he could enquire whether the receiver was willing to accept the charges. Upon disclosure of my surname “Goss”, Nic enquired whether I was related to the Gosses of St Pauls fame, and hero of the 1946 Durban July.

This was my grandfather’s horse, remembered still as the smallest ever winner of Africa’s greatest horserace. Nic proceeded to tell me that in the year of St Pauls, he was an operator in the former Lourenço Marques, capital city of Mozambique. In those days, the big bookmakers (and we mean the really big ones) used to frequent the Polana Hotel, one of the African continent’s most famous hostelries. These men lived in spectacular luxury, and ran their Johannesburg-based businesses by telephone, remembering that in those days telephones were crank jobs, and nothing could be achieved without a connection through the operator.

Booking a trunk call meant sitting around waiting for it to come through, in some cases for hours. In the event, Nic became the “messenger” laying their bets and accepting odds through his exchange. For a modestly rewarded telephonist in the civil service, Nic was at once elevated to a position of unusual power, privy to all this remarkable information about the chances of horses at the races.

It turns out, as much as anything, that my grandfather Pat’s reservation of the Kew Hotel for the victory celebrations some 3 months before the race, was fuelling the frenzy, and every nanny and granny it seems, was on board. Imagine Nic’s amazement then, when he witnessed the odds on a former “pony and galloway” handicapper (as St Pauls was,) firming from 66/1 to 10/1, despite his outside draw, and history’s reminder that no horse had ever won from there.

Nic’s plunge on St Pauls was the stuff of a titan. The proceeds bought him his discharge from the Post Office; he acquired his first house and he funded his beginnings as trainer with what was left.

Nic distinguished himself in his field in both Johannesburg and the Eastern Cape. He and Stanley Greeff (another dear friend, who is stricken with illness as we write) are the doyens of East Cape trainers, and between them, they could probably tell more stories than the rest of the industry coupled together. Apart from his training talents, you knew when you dealt with Nic Claasen, that a deal was a deal, and that his word was his bond. Our association goes back to a R5,000 purchase by the name of Mount McKinley, who was 2nd for Andre Macdonald in the South African Derby (Gr.1) of 1983. Other standouts included Grade One winners, Forest King, Forest Fantasy and Geepee S.

Racing has its share of characters. Nic Claasen was up there with the best.

SHADES OF THE FIFTIES : MORE LEGENDS

St Pauls - 1946 Durban July Winner
(Photo : Summerhill Stud Archives) 

“TICKETS TO IMMORTALITY”

Speaking of my upbringing, it was a time long before the advent of TAB and Tellytrack, when every self-respecting country village still staged a race meeting of some stature, under Jockey Club rules.

In fact, when a village was first settled, as a priority the farmers chose for themselves the best piece of “dirt” they could lay their hands on, and made sure they were accompanied by a willing publican who set up the local watering hole. Only then did they turn their minds to the lesser things, like schools, clinics, roads and sanitised water.

On race days, Father Eric, local, Catholic and inevitably Irish, would bless the course in his brown habit, and then exchange his attire for something more appropriate in his role as the Gold Ring “bookie” or turf accountant, as he preferred to style himself. A bet with Father Eric had its benefits, but it also had its downside. He held the monopoly on all bets, which meant he, and he alone, called the odds, but what you lost on the swings, you made up on the roundabouts. Father Eric never knew the meaning of betting tax. Highlight of our local meeting was the Lusikisiki Club Handicap, and visitors to Hartford House will know this grand event for its fine trophy, a rose bowl which stands proudly at the entrance to South Africa’s Number One restaurant of 2009.

Goss family heroes of the Club Handicap included Dan and Giant, third and fourth in the Durban July and the Cape Metropolitan respectively. On that same track, did my grandfather’s ticket to immortality, do his final work on his way to July glory. Diminutive St Paul’s last gallop was inspirational enough to prompt the booking of the Kew Hotel on Durban’s Berea for the victory celebrations, four months before the July was ever run!

The rest, as they say, is history, but it’s worth a mention that this faith, this inspired belief in his horse, is the foundation of the “disease” that drives this farm today. Much like the odds when we started at Summerhill, St Pauls opened at 60/1, but he finished at 10/1. A significant plunge by an adoring public, that left him one of the most popular winners in history.

MEMORY IS THE LANE : “DUFF” IS THE RACE CALLER

Please click above to load a little Durban July history.
The presentation can be paused at any point using the navigation controls, bottom left.
It can be viewed full-screen by clicking the view button, bottom right.

(Photos : Summerhill Stud Archive)

OF ERNIE DUFFIELD AND THE 1946 DURBAN JULY

My earliest days in racing were ignited by the gravelly voice of the enigmatic Ernie Duffield. A jockey by trade, he was strongly opinionated as he was a great commentator, and Duff was never shy to put his name on the line. We speak of course, of the days before television, when a listener’s only connection to a horserace if he wasn’t on the course proper, was the race call of Ernie Duffield. This was a man who could stand his own with the best in the world, especially if he had a few quid on the outcome.

He was also a publisher in his time, founding the famous Duff’s Turf Guide, which I recall being an avid reader from the time I commenced “potty training”.

Robin Bruss is the unofficial custodian of South African racing history, and he dug out two issues of the 1946 July Duff’s Turf Guide, the one a preview of the July field, and the other a commentary on the aftermath. For those who choose to revisit history, we’ve appended some exercepts from both (click the play button above), and in the process we’ve attempted to capture the era with one or two of the adverts which appeared in the guide. Remember, it was the year after the Second World War, and there were 100 000 people on the course.

When you’ve read Duff’s exercepts, it’s probably worth knowing this as well. My grandfather Pat was a reputedly larger than life character. I’m proud to say he shared my own obsession with horses, and he had a true sportsman’s outlook on the game. He knew how to win, and importantly, he knew how to lose.

In his preview of the July, Duff describes Pat Goss as an optimist, which was something of an understatement. Just recently, we hosted a notable horseman by the name of Alistair Stubbs for lunch at Summerhill, and he related to us that he was a junior farm manager in East Griqualand in 1946. He happened to be at Midgley Halt (the local railway station), when grandfather Pat rode up in his horsebox and his horse, St Pauls alighted. At less than 15 hands, St Pauls was about to be loaded for Durban, and his date with July destiny. In an almost throw-away comment, Pat turned to Alistair and said, “You’re looking at the July winner”.

Backing his judgement Pat booked the Kew Hotel, the smartest hostelry on the Berea, for the victory party some three months before the event. Every Durbanite who shared his reverence for the July, whether he knew them or not, would be invited in the event of victory. The party is said to have raged for two days, and the following weekend, the old Kew burnt down. Nothing to do with the victory party, of course!

For the record, St Pauls was, and remains, the smallest July winner in history. His pre July wins included several in Pony and Galloway Handicaps. And so, we can dream!.

Posted by Mick Goss