hard ground makes for tough horses. Many champions have come off this farm.” Meneer Player se befaamde gesegde omtrent harde werk en luck werk nie noodwendig in die perdewêreld nie. “You can work very hard in this business and still be very unlucky. But, as we like to say: it builds a lot of character. In golf the adage works, because I worked harder than most people and I was in the top three players. Because I was in control. But not in this business. Here we all know a hell of a lot about nothing. Because we’re talking about genetics and that is something you can’t control. You take a champion stallion and a champion female, you put them together and get something that can’t run. Because all that good sperm and cells that need to meet each other don’t make it, but the bad ones do. On the other hand, you take an ordinary horse and a nice stallion and you get a champion.”
Meneer Player laat weet, “If I knew then what I know today, I would have done things on a much smaller scale. But I got carried away. All horse breeders get carried away.” Ek vra uit of hy enigsins positief oor die toekoms van perdeboere is? “The exact opposite. The cost of raising a horse is extremely high and the prices we get is way too low. Everyone is struggling. It takes a very special kind of madness to remain in this business.” Maar ek glo hierdie reuse-sportman glo ook in Wally Serote se woorde, “It’s a dry white season but seasons come to pass”.
14 Mary-Anne en nog ’n legende, Gary Player 15 Hier vind die gholflegende rus en vrede. 16 Daai terrible business, but the animal that is good for the inside of a man. 17 Alles in die naam
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17 Plaastoe! February 2018 17