Two industries, one patch of ground
Racing in Johannesburg is nearly as old as the city itself. The forerunner of today’s Summer Cup, the Johannesburg Handicap, was first run back in 1887, and the Turffontein course itself was laid out on the Turffontein farm in 1892, with the grandstand foundations going in the year after. Then, in 1897, gold was discovered deep beneath the track — and for decades afterward, mining carried on far below the surface while racing continued above it. It’s a uniquely Johannesburg story: two industries, built on the same ground, neither one paying much attention to the other.
A proper Highveld Saturday
That history was underfoot again on Saturday, as a nine-race card played out on firm, fast going under the big Highveld sky. Turffontein doesn’t do quiet Saturdays — this is the track that hosts the SA Triple Crown and Triple Tiara, the championship series that crown the country’s best three-year-olds, and come November it’s the stage for the Betway Summer Cup, the highlight of the city’s end-of-year racing and social calendar. A nine-race programme on a firm track is simply this venue doing what it has always done: putting on a proper show.
More than 130 years since the first foundations went in, and well over a century since gold was struck beneath the surface, Turffontein still carries that gold-rush energy every time the stalls open.
If you’re following today’s Turffontein card, the full racecard and form guide is at cfox.co.za/predictions.
