Suzette Viljoen has made a big splash in the three years since becoming an owner of racehorses. From a modest seven winners in 2018/19, to 23 victories in 2019/20, and now surging to the top of the SA Owners ranks with 70 wins (including two coveted Grade 1’s) it has been a meteoric rise for Viljoen, based on a remote Schwarzer- Reneke cattle farm with her husband, Basie.

Each owner has a distinctive set of silks, or ‘colours” to help commentators distinguish horses when calling races. Viljoen chose pink and blue- the latter for her favourite rugby team, the Blue Bulls, and pink being symbolic for “girls.” She is passionate in supporting her horses placed with a variety of trainers all around the country, often travelling vast distances to personally cheer them on.

“It’s always been a dream of mine to be part of racing and I used to go to the Met and July long before owning racehorses was possible – just never imagined it would get this big!’

The Viljoen’s seem to have hit upon a winning formula – when probed on how they go about selecting horses, Suzette explained the process, “Basie and I work through the catalogue together and if we have the time then we go to the Stud farms before the Sales. We also get lists (of recommendations) from the trainers and are happy to take advice from (bloodstock agent) John Freeman – we trust him and look up to him as a fair man. Basie and I have an agreement that we must both like a horse 100% before we agree to buy – we chose together!”

Suzette, who first met Basie when they were wide-eyed, 14 year-old teenagers in Potchefstroom, now describes herself as a proper farm-girl after decades of commercial cattle farming and working with boer-bokke. She admits to getting closely attached to the horses they race. It’s a tricky juggling act attempting to reconcile raw emotion and make rational financial calls, she conceded, “This is an expensive game. We realise the focus should be on quality, not quantity. Most important, it’s all about fun!  I like to spoil our horses with the best possible treatments, such as special physio sessions – anything that helps our horses do well! I find it hard to let go emotionally when their racing days are over though, so we are starting to breed.”

Suzette spoke with engaging warmth about her new mare, Nog ‘N Dingetjie, serviced by stallion, Heavenly Blue. “I’ll be there on the ground lying by her side to help when its foaling time!” She continued, “Our next dream is to buy a stud farm when we find the right place in the Cape. Now that I’m seeing that side of the industry, I have so much respect for what breeders achieve and everything in takes to get a yearling to the Sale under difficult trading conditions.”

Before venturing into horse racing as their chosen leisure pursuit, the Viljoen’s travelled overseas a great deal. The dreaded Covid era has curtailed those adventures abroad – nowadays they spend plenty of time exploring this country’s beautiful landscape and quirky little ‘dorpies” by car.

Suzette does the driving on these long road trips as they check on Basie’s far- flung business interests and visit their horses stabled around South Africa. Good natured racing banter enlivens their mood on these long- haul treks, with Suzette joking, “Basie can follow the racing as a passenger easily enough, but is a terrible commentator, though. One minute he is saying our horse is running last – then the next thing, it’s won!”

Suzette is a bubbly and sincere woman. She openly expresses her joy as a true fan of horse racing and the social pleasures derived from meeting the many “characters’ that form such an eclectic cast in this sport, “’It’s difficult for outsiders to understand the highs and lows of being a racehorse owner. Some of our friends were even wary about us getting into the industry but we have just had so much fun together. I’ve been truly blessed in this game, embraced by everyone – Basie and I just love the people in horseracing.”

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Natalie Turner is the CEO of the Racing Association (RA). This National body represents owners and strives to productively advance the horse racing industry.

Natalie has a B. Com in Financial Accounting with a focus on managerial work, be it Human Resources, Administration and Finance. As a true “Joburger,” she has family links stretching way in horse racing as the niece of legendary Highveld jockey, Gerald “GT” Turner.

She began working at the Racing Association as a senior accountant back in 2009 and has taken on increasingly wide- ranging management responsibilities since then.  A year ago, Turner was appointed CEO, moving into the hot seat at a particularly turbulent time.

“It certainly has been a difficult year to retain owners and protect their interests given that stakes are still low. The RA made a critical intervention to help with the Stakes top- up, but the socio-economic climate is tough and leisure spending remains down. With Phumelela (former JSE Listed operator) being placed into business rescue during 2020 racing really hit the depths but from that crisis positive changes have been triggered.”

Her main task, and a particularly challenging one considering the current state of SA’s economy with political turmoil and the drawn- out consequences of Covid/Lockdowns conspiring against economic progress, is to lobby for an increase in Stakes so that owners can be properly rewarded when their horses win races. This remains an expensive game – keeping a horse in training costs around R130 000 per annum, so prize money needs to be boosted for ownership to be a rational investment.

Turner is also trying to attract more members to the RA on an all-inclusive basis, with different tiers of membership carrying escalating benefits. She fully appreciates that owning racehorses is aspirational and a status symbol but recognises that it must be made relatively affordable, too. She strongly supports the formation of syndicates and fractional ownership which would make it attainable for regular sports fans.

“The RA wants to shift racing’s past elitist image. It’s about a fresh new look, growing the sport amongst younger owners and encouraging diversity, regardless of race or gender. We are launching new initiatives that will appeal to the mass, middle class – even existing stokvels can get into horse ownership!”

Her leadership appointment is an encouraging advance, reflecting a way more enlightened approach than previously applied, when allocating women to senior posts within racing’s hierarchy just didn’t happen. Turner is a pragmatic manager, fully sussed in interpreting the hard numbers essential for running a sizeable business. She also complements those ‘hard” financial skills by nurturing transformation initiatives, building staff capacity within the organisation and promoting groom’s upliftment programs.

She also adroitly reconciles an international perspective to shape- shifting trends in successful racing countries overseas whilst remaining sensibly grounded in South Africa’s present realities. “SA is a unique racing jurisdiction, indeed a unique country. Of course, we follow best practises from around the world, but transformation is essential. ‘”

For Turner it’s less about individual achievement and more about harnessing a collective, inter-dependent approach that can help resolve some of the challenges racing faces.

On her role as a woman leader, Turner made these wise and gracious comments, “It’s not about me being perfectly right all the time, consultation is vital.  I think women find it better to talk about issues, put our heads together and be open to learning. It’s a democratic outlook that helps us fix mistakes through consultation and consensus, together with the willingness to make changes.”

Check out #Womeninracing – daily videos featuring women in the sport across the country. This series of videos showcase women in racing and will be shared on our platforms in August. Race days celebrating women are also provisionally planned for the Highveld (2nd October 2021) Cape Town (4th December 2021) and PE (18th February 2022.)