Dual Gr1 classic winner Purple Pitcher (New Predator) has joined the stallion ranks at Hadlow Stud in KwaZulu-Natal. He will remain in the province for the foreseeable future, not only because KZN racing is in the midst of a revival, but also for the convenience of his owner, Stinky Pooe.
Pooe, who has a holiday home in Inchanga and divides his time between his business in Gauteng and the Valley of 1000 Hills, said he looks forward to enjoying close access to his stallion. Pooe said: “I loved Purple Pitcher as a young horse, before he even raced. He was always special to me. I want to be able to visit him when I am in the region. Also, there is too much competition among stallions in the Western Cape. His own sire, New Predator, was moved to the Western Cape before his unfortunate death, and this is my tribute to him. Purple Pitcher has given us much joy and I trust there will be more highlights at stud.”
Cathy Martin of Hadlow Stud described Purple Pitcher as a strong, athletic individual with a calm demeanour, and expects that he will get the support he deserves, especially as his covering fee has been set at R5000 live foal, with the added bonus of sending an extra mare for free.
Pooe said that he has one more talented son of New Predator in training. Now three years old, Copper Eagle won his two-year-old debut last June and went straight into a handicap for a close second to Tommy Shelby. “Copper Eagle has just been gelded. We didn’t want him to become as heavy as Purple Pitcher did. His trainer Robyn Klaasen thinks a lot of him, so we’re hoping he can be just as good as Purple Pitcher was on the racetrack.”
Pooe’s rags-to-riches story is marked by the same guts and perseverance so beautifully displayed by Purple Pitcher. Born in Charterson, a small ‘location’ near Nigel on the East Rand, his mother was an orphan, and Pooe himself grew up without a father during a period of political upheaval and extreme hardship for people of colour.
The Pooe family was forced to resettle to the township of Duduza, 30km away from Nigel, because Charterston was considered by the government to be too close to a white town. ‘Duduza’ means ‘comfort’, but conditions were all but comfortable and in later years this became one of the most highly active townships in South Africa in the struggle against apartheid.
On the brighter side, there was ‘bush racing’ in the area, much enjoyed by the township folk. This is where Pooe first came into contact with horses and betting. “The kids loved going to a bush race. We took small bets among each other on which horses would win and this was exciting.”
The family was forced to move again and ended up in the small farming town of Matatiele in the Eastern Cape, where Pooe managed to complete his secondary education with a matric certificate in 1976. With no job opportunities, he returned to the East Rand and started digging gold like his grandfather did, mainly on the mine dumps scattered on the outskirts of towns like Brakpan, Boksburg and Benoni.
Pooe eeked out an early living with a hammer, a chisel a carpet to filter sand through water so he could get to particles of gold dust, using old sewage pipes to channel some water for his activities. But he started to prosper, selling grams of gold dust, then ounces. He drew some of his friends into his venture and can justifiably be called, the ‘father’ of the original Zama-Zamas – by its official meaning, people who work illegally in abandoned mining areas and mineshafts in order to retrieve metals or minerals.
Pooe said: “I have to say that being a Zama-Zama was something to be very proud of in the 1980s and 90s. There weren’t many of us, our only objective was to earn money to survive and we worked long, hard hours in awful conditions. We were friendly with the police, we helped them to protect cables and catch the cable thieves. There were no criminals among us.”
With some cash on hand, Pooe started attending race meetings, mostly at the old Gosforth Park and Newmarket tracks, in the 1980s. He discovered a knack for picking the right outsiders and cashed out big money, often.
With a new government in place in 1994, Pooe applied for a mining licence. He battled for several years, but the licence was eventually granted in 2000. This led to the establishment of his company, Copper Eagle Trading, near Brakpan. He employs 12 workers.
Pooe is happy investor in the racing industry, enjoys helping smaller stables and said: “The racing industry, like most others, is linked to the country’s economy. People do not have money to spend. Our government needs to fix the economy and create jobs. This will get the industry to flourish again. Racing is popular still, people love it. They’ll come back the moment they have jobs and earn money. “Our government needs to licence mining activities for individuals, followed by strict control and policing of the industry. There is plenty of gold all over South Africa, enough for everyone for at least the next century. The only thing a worker needs to start a business is a chisel, a ten-pound hammer and a big towel to use as a filter. They can all make money.”
