Telecommunications Giant Vodacom Cancels Durban July Sponsorship
Telecommunications Giant Vodacom Cancels Durban July Sponsorship. Gold Circle Horseracing and Betting, the proprietary owner of the Vodacom Durban July announced that Vodacom will unfortunately, not be renewing their sponsorship which currently runs until July 2022.
“We will remain eternally grateful to Vodacom for their commitment to the event over the past 20 years and for the extensive marketing effort that they have contributed to growing this event into what it is today,” said Michel Nairac, CEO of Gold Circle on the company’s website. Part of the immense success of the ‘July’ has been the longevity provided by having had only two major sponsors over the past 58 years with only the 2001 event proceeding without a title sponsor for transitional reasons.
The “Durban July” raceday has become part of the fabric of South Africa in terms of the racial harmony that the event encourages. The outfits that adorn the thousands of enthusiastic racegoers benefit the local and national fashion industry. Marquee suppliers and those that provide related equipment, catering and other services, thrive on this once-a-year bonanza, which pre-Covid, contributed over R300m to the local economy every year.
Created by the amalgamation of three of South Africa’s top Racing Clubs, namely the Durban Turf Club, the Clairwood Turf Club and the Pietermaritzburg Turf Club, Gold Circle is today part of a multi-faceted and integrated industry, organising thoroughbred horseracing events in KwaZulu-Natal. With racecourses at Greyville in Durban and at Scottsville in Pietermaritzburg, a number of world-class thoroughbred training centres in KwaZulu-Natal, a network of nine company-owned tote betting outlets and 100 privately-owned outlets and a network of fixed-odds betting outlets, Gold Circle is leading the way when it comes to horseracing in South Africa.
The company did not reveal whether the event will still take place next year without a major sponsor, however since the entity has become such a profitable business other large corporations may be interested in sponsoring the event.
