Peter White is hooked on horseracing

Racehorse owner and breeder Peter White is thoroughly enjoying semi-retirement.

The mining consultant has diverse hobbies that include fly fishing and golf, as well as horseracing, and his interests have kept him entertained in the year since he sold his business.

Of his three hobbies, perhaps fishing is his greatest passion.

"I�ve been fishing since I was born," he said.

He goes trout fishing whenever possible and every year travels to northern Botswana for what is called the "Barble Run" where he fly fishes for tiger.

"We catch four to eight pound tigers off flies. They give us an exhilarating fight and it�s scary stuff, so beautiful. Between 10 fishermen we can hook about 160 tigers into the boat in three days. We catch about 600, but only land 160, then we release them."

White�s love of fishing is nearly rivaled by his passion for horseracing.

He currently owns 25 horses outright or in partnership, including To The Moon, winner of his last two starts, five-time winner Lagadima and feature-race winner Star Sapphire. Those three he races in partnership with another miner-owner-breeder, Graham Beck.

"I have always been interested in horseracing," he said. "It was probably sparked by my father riding to work on a horse every morning. In the early 1950s he used to take me to the races in KwaZulu-Natal, where they allowed kids on course, and my interest grew."

White was born in Pilgrim�s Rest, Eastern Transvaal, in 1942 into a mining family and never had any doubt that he, too, would become a miner, like his father, his grandfather and his great-grandfather.

"I was born to and love mining," he said.

After doing his national service with the navy in Simonstown and Gordon�s Bay, he attended Rand Mines Training Centre at CMR on the West Rand.

White then worked for seven years for East Rand Proprietary Mine in Boksburg before Rand Mines became Barlow Rand.

Neither military service, nor qualifying as a mining engineer diminished his interest in horseracing and he often took three months off from the mines to work as a stable assistant to trainer Hennie Coetzee.

He bought his first horse in 1976 and has had loads of fun in racing since.

"Every winner is great, but my best moment in racing was probably when Anne Upton trained North Island, who I owned a share in, to win the Holiday Inns. I was fairly new to racing at that time," he said.

In 1977, he met Beck on a trip to Kentucky � the year that Seattle Slew won the Kentucky Derby.

"He decided I should go and work for him, so I left Barlow Rand and joined his company," said White.

White worked for Beck for 2� years before deciding to spread his wings in 1984 when he formed Peter White Mining, a contracting company that specialised in underground mining.

"My association with Graham gave me a break in the contracting business," said White. "I almost started underground contracting in South Africa and enjoyed the freedom of running my own business."

A year ago, White sold the company, but has not given up on the mining business altogether: "It�s in my blood," he said.

Horseracing, it seems, is also in his blood. He has owned about 25 horses in training and bought six or seven yearlings for the last five years. He also owns eight broodmares.

"I haven�t bought mares to breed with � I raced most of them and a couple were given to me by Anne Upton, who used to train my horses before she retired."

He also owned shares in deceased Allied Flag and has reinvested in another sire, Anytime.

"He looks as though he could be an exciting prospect," White said. "His half-brother, Ali Royal, was the champion sire of two-year-olds in Europe last year."