'We’re not selling insulin, we’re selling horses and we're selling the dream'

Greg Bortz came armed with impressive statistics as he addressed some of the most powerful figures in South African racing before this week’s Cape Premier Yearling Sale.

The businessman is already being regarded as the saviour of the sport in Cape Town, preventing this regional jurisdiction from financial collapse. In the few months since taking over the administration of Kenilworth racecourse and the smaller Durbanville with a cash injection of a reported R330 million (£16m/€18.1m), he has started what he hopes will be wholesale, status quo-challenging change.

Between the start of August and December, Bortz said in his speech, betting countrywide was down 13 per cent, but in Cape Town it was up by nine, despite 15 per cent fewer races. He explained from the auctioneer’s rostrum that the lowest prize-money was R120,000, from R70,000 a year earlier. And field sizes were now at an average of 10.3, from just over eight 12 months ago. "We must be doing something right," he said.