he world of racing is changing and the odd Monday Greyville meeting was something different for South Africa Patrons.

Monday seems to be a big day in the UK with multiple meetings going off minutes apart all afternoon and evening whilst in SA the punter is subjected to Flamingo Park racing which is usually rather unpopular and produces some head scratching results.

The welcome addition of a Monday meet at Greyville starting at 17.55 was surely a hit. The reason for the odd day selection was due to the French betting into the SAF tote for races 1 to 8 and it saw a sizable win, place and exact pools, which made dividends competitive. For example, there seemed to be a better win odds due to the diverse nature of selections. However, the decenttote payouts could have been affixed to the fact that racing was also competitive so that could have been two fold. Unfortunately, for favourite backers it was a tough day with no favourites arriving but four ran second throughout the meet. Horses also mostly ran to form as they were highly competitive handicaps in show. 

Raf Sheik, Director of Racing for Gold Circle spoke to SAHorseracing.com, he mentioned that the French requested the meeting earlier this year and it saw pools swell into the millions from the normal R80 000 win pools.

He also mentioned that it was Greyville's first weekday  (non public holiday) Monday night meeting. By all accounts there was decent attendance on course and the hospitality venues like the Durban View Roomhas been fairly busy. The buffet serving at that venue was also discounted for the special day.