WINTER WORKSHOP FAMOUS FIVE

Heather Morkel, School Of Management Excellence Students
with Professors Guthrie, Meier, Schulman, Binedell and Kantor (inset)
(Photo : Leigh Willson)

“WINTER WORKSHOP 2012”

Professor Brian Kantor (Chief economist, Investec)

Professor Alan Guthrie (Equine Research Centre)

Professor Hanspeter Meier (Genetics, Switzerland)

Professor Martin Schulman (Equine Reproduction, Onderstepoort)

Professor Nick Binedell (Dean Gordon Institute of Business Science, University of Pretoria)

Last evening, the curtain closed on the Winter Workshop at the Al Maktoum School of Excellence. It’s arguable South Africa has not seen the likes of it before, and here we speak of the lectures, the facilty, Hartford House’s cuisine, the whole package, as well as the inspiration we all walked away with. At the end of the day, while it makes riveting listening for those of us who’ve been around a while, it was something else for our nine young students, who had obviously never seen or heard anything of this calibre before.

By the time Professor Martin Schulman delivered his final lecture, they’d heard the wisdom of five professors, each one the leader in his field in this country, perhaps even in the world, they’d heard the stories of the “A” team, Mary Slack, Mike de Kock and Jehan Malherbe, they’d looked through Graeme Hawkins’ binoculars, they’d reminisced with Ronnie Napier on horses and people he’d known round the world, and Aiden Lithgow had shared a glimpse of what we could expect when he releases “LEGENDS OF THE TURF”, Alec Hogg led us on leadership, Dr. Johnny Cave’s “Breakthrough Technology” was breaking news, Alan Miller and Steve Karlin revealed why the USA’s Team Valor, among our most successful owners of all time, considered South Africa the undiscovered thoroughbred jewel of the world. These and several other “professors” of their trades gave us a week to remember, and then to cap it all, there was Professor Nick Binedell who when introduced to a packed tent of 21 nations from around the world at Sunday’s Investec Stallion Day, was billed the best speaker on any subject anywhere. He did not let the billing down. This was Nick Binedell at his vintage best, and if we have hazy memories in the next few decades of exactly what we learnt this week, we will never forget his inspiration.

Heather Morkel +27 (0) 33 263 1081
or email heather@summerhill.co.za
www.summerhill.co.za

WINTER WORKSHOP 2012

Professor Brian Kantor
(Photo : Rode)

“WINTER WORKSHOP”
Summerhill Stud
9 - 11 July 2012

It’s that time of the year - Big Horses, Big Owners, Big Trainers, and Big Weekends, and the KwaZulu-Natal Racing Season is in full swing. A landmark event on the calendar is the Winter Workshop at Summerhill Stud, which follows the Vodacom Durban July and Investec Stallion Day, 9th - 11th July.

Last year’s inaugural Winter School was a runaway success, and this year’s programme is crammed with “two-year-old” potential.

“Workshop? - I’d call it a Summit!” Dr Barry Clements, Owner and Breeder, Australia.

Professors Brian Kantor (Professor Emeritus of the University of Cape Town, Investment Strategist and Economist for Investec Bank Private Securities), Alan Guthrie and Martin Schulman (Onderstepoort) return to the School with some ever-illuminating thoughts on global economics, international horse protocols and veterinary updates, and the team at Summerhill will be extending a warm Mooi River welcome to Dr Hanspeter Meier, international equine geneticist, and Professor Nick Binedell, the Dean of the Gordon Institute of Business Science, to this year’s impressive assembly.

“Life changing? For me, yes.” Alec Hogg, Winter School 2011.

Sharing a few secrets of success, and their international triumphs are Barry Irwin, Drs Alan Miller and Steve Karlin of Team Valor, and they have added Messrs de Kock and Malherbe back into the mix, together with Mary Slack, our own doyenne of South African racing and breeding.

This is the tip of the proverbial iceberg in the breadth and depth of this year’s programme, you’ll be supporting a great cause, and it’s not to be missed.

Please click here to get details of the full panel of lecturers, their topics and the programme right away.

The Memorial Theatre’s capacity is limited though, so if you’re an aspirant attendee, please get in touch with Heather Morkel on heather@summerhill.co.za, as soon as you can. There is accommodation available at Hartford House, though the organisers can arrange alternatives in the district once Hartford is fully booked. The daily rate includes a luncheon prepared by Eat Out’s Most Popular Restaurant of 2011.

Heather Morkel +27 (0) 33 263 1081
or email heather@summerhill.co.za
www.summerhill.co.za

UP THE IRISH

Mick Goss hosts the Chinese Horseracing Delegation,
Box 3A Racing and Peter Gibson (Racing South Africa)
(Photo : Summerhill Stud)

“A bit of a tough weekend for the Old Country”

The headline to this article could be misleading, so don’t show it to persons under the age of 18. That said, while the Irish economy may well be under the “kosh”, you can’t get the Irish spirit down. About a month ago, we penned a piece about a €40 billion export success which Irish Thoroughbred Marketing had engineered with the Chinese authorities. Whatever else may be wrong with the finances of that remarkable little country, they continue to dominate the thoroughbred world in a manner no other country has done in modern times. As mankind’s history has taught us so many times, it’s often down to the labours of a few, and that’s very much the case with Ireland, where John Magnier’s Coolmore group have led the charge.

Nonetheless, this little country of ours, at the southernmost tip of what the civilized world to the north of us likes to call the “darkest continent”, has a more impressive history in the broader commercial world. Professor Nick Binedell (who’ll be a keynote speaker in our School of Excellence on Wednesday 11^th July), head of the Gordon Institute of Business Studies (one of the top twenty business schools on the planet,) likes to remind us that South Africa has produced more great companies than any other country of its size. That says something for the courage, the sense of enterprise and the pioneering spirit of this nation.

You might say then, that it’s hardly surprising we were one of the first countries in the world (after Ireland) to receive an official government delegation of citizens from the People’s Republic of China, but that’s not only to do with enterprise. It must be seen in the broader context of the value of our membership of the BRICS group of countries, and the fact that, of the bigger thoroughbred producing countries of the world, we’re better placed politically than most. The Americans and the Chinese are competitors; the Europeans are sceptical about Chinese money, and while they might have to take it one day, they’ll do so with reluctance; the Australians have been battling the Chinese about access to their mineral resources, and the Japanese have been at war with China for several centuries. It makes sense then, for China to talk to us about horse matters, hence the first delegation’s visit last week.

They were at Summerhill on Sunday, and we couldn’t have had a better group to accompany them. The fellows from Box 3A, are the new hopes for racehorse ownership among young people in this province. These fellows bring the camaraderie and the fresh spirit to racing that our generation once knew. If you haven’t yet heard of them, go to Greyville - you’re bound to hear them.

We did say at the outset that the title to this piece could be misleading. The reason is, if you’re a rugby man, you were watching the Springboks flatten the English on Saturday, and the Baby Boks take Argentina apart (35-3) on Sunday evening (if you weren’t in the blackout zone on the outskirts of Mooi River.) Both teams are in sublime form (in patches,) and while the Springboks need to put together 80 minutes of the kind of football they played in the first half of Saturday’s test, the fact is they’ve got the Poms cold. It will take a miracle turn-around to change next week’s outcome. Before we get too cocky though, remember the old bugbear, complacency.

And back to the Irish. Their junior team also gave England a good slap Sunday evening, so it was a bit of a tough weekend for the “Old Country”.