{"id":237069,"date":"2022-09-14T07:37:32","date_gmt":"2022-09-14T05:37:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/?p=121276"},"modified":"2022-09-14T07:37:32","modified_gmt":"2022-09-14T05:37:32","slug":"kwazulu-royals-crowned-2022-gth-series-champions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/kwazulu-royals-crowned-2022-gth-series-champions\/","title":{"rendered":"Kwazulu Royals Crowned 2022 GTH Series Champions"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1 \">\n<aside id=\"republication_tracker_tool-2\" class=\"republication_tracker_tool clearfix\">\n<h5 class=\"adtitle\">Republish for Free<\/h5>\n<div class=\"license\">\n<p><button name=\"Republish This Story\" id=\"cc-btn\" class=\"republication-tracker-tool-button\">Republish This Story<\/button><\/p>\n<p><a class=\"license\" rel=\"noreferrer license noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nd\/4.0\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Creative Commons License\" class=\"lazyload\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/kwazulu-royals-crowned-2022-gth-series-champions.png\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Creative Commons License\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/kwazulu-royals-crowned-2022-gth-series-champions.png\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"message\">\n<p>Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/aside>\n<figure id=\"attachment_121277\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-121277\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/?attachment_id=121277\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt width=\"300\" height=\"251\" class=\"wp-image-121277 size-thumbnail lazyload\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/kwazulu-royals-crowned-2022-gth-series-champions.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-121277 size-thumbnail\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/kwazulu-royals-crowned-2022-gth-series-champions.jpg\" alt width=\"300\" height=\"251\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-121277\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">KwaZulu Royals crowned GTH Series Champions with a win 40-point lead over the Cape Stingers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u2022 KwaZulu Royals win the fourth and final showdown in the new Global Team Horse Racing series (GTH)<br \/>\u2022 Winners take home coveted series title<br \/>\u2022 Stakeholders assess series success as positive and express hope for the future<\/p>\n<p>HOLLYWOODBETS GREYVILLE, DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA: THE KWAZULU Royals defeated the Cape Stingers by 40 points in the final showdown of the 2022 Global Team Horse Racing (GTH) Live Series last Friday evening, September 2, 2022. The gripping new series has been underway in Durban since August.<\/p>\n<p>As the champions, the KwaZulu Royals ride away with the 2022 GTH Live Series Champions title.<\/p>\n<p>Led by Summerveld trainer Wendy Whitehead and team captain Muzi Yeni, the Royals were the favourites to win with 92% of the vote in an online poll by GTH before the final race meeting.<\/p>\n<p>Yeni, who has numerous Grade 1 races under his belt, rode alongside teammates Kabelo Matsunyane; Raymond Danielson; Jeffrey Syster; Ashton Arries; Thabiso Gumede; Athandiwe Mgudlwa; Jabu Jacobs; and Nicholas Patel during the series. Reserve jockey Keagan de Melo substituted for Jacobs on Friday night.<\/p>\n<p>Kabelo Matsunyane riding for the KwaZulu Royals was awarded the 2022 series\u2019 Night Rider trophy, hand carved by Josphat Phiri, a Durban artist, as well as R30 000 in award money for accumulating the most points during the series. Runner-up Athandiwe Mgudlwa earned R20 000 and third-place jockey, Rachel Venniker, received R10 000.<\/p>\n<p>GTH is an exciting new style of team-based thoroughbred horse racing. Similar to T20 cricket competitions, teams score points throughout the series and the 2 teams with the most points compete in the final to determine the series winner.<\/p>\n<p>This year, three teams \u2013 the Cape Stingers, KwaZulu Royals and Gauteng Gijimaz \u2013 took part.<\/p>\n<p>GTH Marketing Director, Angus Campbell, said, condensed into 2.5 hours each week, the series\u2019 format was fast-paced and exhilarating. \u201cIt has attracted both new and hardened horse racing fans. We hope to be able to build on this year\u2019s progress at future events in and outside of South Africa,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>On the final night, Athandiwe Mgudlwa riding Teichman scored a crucial 46 points in race 8 to secure his team\u2019s win. KwaZulu Royals\u2019 team captain, Muzi Yeni, said: \u201cGTH gave a chance to young riders to ride in quality races which exposed us to nice up-and-coming talent which has put a spark in our racing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>UK Co-Founders Steve Ajax and Charles Palmer keenly followed the series online and were eager to visit South Africa to experience the final. \u201cWe loved how the series turned out but couldn\u2019t wait to see it for ourselves at Greyville\u201d, enthused Steve Ajax. Charles Palmer continued, \u201cThe final event had an energy and level of excitement that makes us feel extremely positive for the future of horse racing\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Gold Circle contributed R500 000 in stakes for this year\u2019s runners. Stephen Marshall, Gold Circle Event and Marketing Executive, was convinced the series could be scaled up in the future. \u201cThe idea of GTH is based on sponsorship racing and teams, much like Formula 1. It is fast-paced, with races every 10 to 20 minutes. We have made it work and allowing more jockeys an opportunity to ride, which is broadening the pool.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And like Formula 1, he said GTH was also bringing jockeys into the public eye by bringing them on stage and interviewing them. Marshall said: \u201cFor KwaZulu-Natal and Gold Circle, we would definitely look at doing another series, but that would be up to the GTH crew, and we will have those discussions going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gold Circle Racing Manager, Raf Sheik, believes there is also potential to bring GTH to other provinces. \u201cWe can build on it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Sheik hoped there would be continuity and more support from the racing community going forward. He felt that the timing of future events would determine the involvement of more top horses and jockeys but urged racing\u2019s other stakeholders: \u201cWe need new ideas. What we are doing day in and day out as an industry is not working; we need to support these events.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Campbell concluded: \u201cFirst, we will assess the success of the event and determine what appetite there is from racing SA to see future GTH team events hosted locally. We would like to say a big thank you to Gold Circle and the connections, trainers, owners, jockeys, team managers, and each of the incredible horses for their enthusiasm and phenomenal performances this year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For more information about GTH, visit www.gthracing.co.za.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mypr.co.za\/contact\/featured\/\">CLICK HERE to submit your press release to MyPR.co.za<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p> <span class=\"post-views-icon dashicons dashicons-chart-bar\"><\/span> <span class=\"post-views-label\">Press Release Views since 1 July 2022:<\/span> <span class=\"post-views-count\">128<\/span> <\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-pagination pagination\">Pages: <span class=\"post-page-numbers current\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Page <\/span>1<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/kwazulu-royals-crowned-2022-gth-series-champions\/2\/\" class=\"post-page-numbers\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Page <\/span>2<\/a><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\">Source: MyPR.co.za<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Republish for Free Republish This Story Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license. KwaZulu Royals crowned GTH Series Champions with a win 40-point lead over the Cape Stingers \u2022 KwaZulu Royals win the fourth and final showdown in the new Global Team Horse Racing series (GTH)\u2022 Winners take [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":237070,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18,9021],"tags":[3257],"class_list":{"0":"post-237069","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-durban","8":"category-mypr","9":"tag-mypr","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/kwazulu-royals-crowned-2022-gth-series-champions.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}