World Sports Betting Grand Heritage 2025
Saturday, 20 December 2025 will celebrate a decade of the World Sports Betting Grand Heritage at the Vaal Racecourse.
A little history
The Vaal Racecourse was originally built by Dorfman Turf Holdings. Initially hosting Pony and Galloway meetings, an attempt to establish night racing at the venue proved unsuccessful when the first meeting, in March 1947, fell foul of a particularly bad Highveld storm, washing out the proceedings along with the hopes of the few enthusiasts who had gathered for the event. Shortly afterwards, the Jockey Club put paid to the activity altogether by threatening to warn off anyone involved with night racing.
With racing at Newmarket and Germiston growing in popularity, the Vaal found itself at a disadvantage geographically and the future of the venue looked uncertain. Eventually the Owners and Trainers Association bought it over and by 1952, 12 meetings a year were being held at the Vaal by the Newmarket-based Owners and Trainers Association. This also allowed the Vereeniging Turf Club (then managed by the Germiston Racing Clubs) to make use of the course as an alternative venue as well and over the years, the sharing of the Vaal by these two bodies proved a mutually beneficial exercise.
A sand track was implemented at the course in 2001. Fast forward to Sunday, 25 September 2005, and with sand racing having established itself as a firm staple on the local racing menu, the Vaal proudly played host to the birth of Africa’s sand spectacular – the Emerald Cup. Mrs Oppenheimer’s five-year-old gelding Hilti, trained by Mike de Kock and ridden by Willy Figueroa, won the inaugural event, which was run as an ungraded race over 1 400m for a stake of R200 000. The field included Grade 1 winner National Spirit, course specialist Wild Cherry and Drift Ice, who would go on to campaign successfully in Dubai. Hilti, a big, powerful galloper by Fort Wood out of Rawl Plug, had to shoulder top weight of 59.5kg, but made his fitness count, beating National Spirit by 1.25 lengths, with Tigray in third. National Spirit went on to claim the title the following year.
The Emerald Cup was afforded Gr2 status in 2007 and won by Buddy Maroun’s Narc, under Piere Strydom.
The race changed to a new distance of 1450m with the 2008 renewal of the race, when it was won by the game little St John Gray runner, Alimony.
Mrs Oppenheimer won the race again in 2010 with another son of Fort Wood in Iron Curtain, trained by Robbie Sage and ridden by Gunther Wrogemann, who hung on long enough to deny Alimony a place in history as the first horse to win the Emerald Cup twice.
In 2014, the race was contested for a stake of R1 million and won by Tommy Gun, trained by Corne Spies and ridden by Fanie Chambers.
After years of controversy over the surface, a decision was made to close the track. The final running of the Emerald Cup was held in 2015, under the sponsorship of SAP. Run as the Gr2 Supreme Cup Sponsored by SAP, it won by Mike Azzie charge, Deputy Jud under JP van der Merwe in the Adriaan and Rika van Vuuren silks.
The Vaal sand track was officially closed in October 2015 and replaced by turf.
With the installation of the new turf track, the race was reborn under the guise of the Grand Heritage, open to 28 runners (plus 2 reserves) in the style of popular big field UK handicaps such as the Cesarewitch, Cambridgeshire and the Tote Ebor.
The inaugural running of the Grand Heritage was held on 1 October 2016 under the brand-new sponsorship of World Sports Betting – who have remained the headline sponsor ever since – and it was won by the Wernars Family’s Irish Pride (Ideal World), trained by Johan Janse van Vuuren and ridden to a 1.1 length victory by Gavin Lerena.
The race has had its fair share of adventure with the 2018 renewal, originally scheduled for 29 September, bedevilled by persistent challenges with the weather and running surface. The Phumelela team rose to the occasion, moving the event to Turffontein instead. However, as Turffontein cannot accommodate a 28-horse field, a decision was made to split the race in two and create a multi legged challenge comprising the Grand Series Leg 1 and 2, with the winners facing one another in a Grand Series final. Leg 1, staged on 20 October, was won by the Stuart Pettigrew-trained Soldier On (Brave Tin Soldier) in a narrow victory over Paul Matchett charge, Dan The Lad (Encosta De Lago). Leg 2, staged on 28 October, was won by Ashley Fortune-trained Tsitsikamma Dance. With Stuart Pettigrew opting out on completing the challenge, Soldier On was replaced by Leg 1 second-place finisher, Dan the Lad. In the final, held as a match race at the Vaal on 8 December 2018, Ryan Munger and Tsitsikamma Dance tracked S’manga Khumalo on Dan The Lad all the way up the 1475m straight, but despite a protracted struggle over the final 400m, just could not get past the game leader, who maintained his advantage to claim victory by 0.5 lengths in a time of 102,89 secs.
2025 sees the 10th renewal of the World Sports Grand Heritage (NBT), which will be run as race 6 for a stake of R500, 000 at the Vaal racecourse on Saturday, 20 December.
The day will also see the official launch of the newly refurbished Vaal 2nd floor hospitality suite, named in honour of former Vaal training centre resident, Empress Club, as well as the annual Groom’s Race, conducted after the running of the last race, with R35k prize money on offer.
To stay up to date with the latest event information, please visit their website https://www.4racing.co.za/ and social media pages @4Racing on Facebook and Instagram. For race replays and other additional content, please visit the www.racingtoday.co.za website and social media platforms on Facebook, Instagram and X.
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About 4Racing
4Racing is South Africa’s largest horse racing operator, responsible for the management of Turffontein, Vaal and Fairview racecourses, and operates the national TAB totalisator network, the country’s oldest and most extensive tote betting system. www.tab.co.za
