Once a bustling riding school and livery, the Newmarket Stables now feels like an abandoned movie set.
The unlatched Dutch doors – behind which racing greats such as Sea Cottage were once stabled – swing open in the wind and the vast green paddocks are all but empty.
D-Day is almost here.
Last month, a Durban High Court judge granted an eviction order in terms of which the Newmarket Stables Equestrian Club must vacate its iconic city centre premises, which is municipal property, by August 1.
The city, which brought the eviction proceedings, has earmarked the site for a R300 million international sports deve- lopment centre with a football academy.
The club had initially opposed the application but eventually the final order was granted by consent. It is believed that the litigation costs had become unaffordable for the club.
When The Mercury visited the stables on Wednesday, manageress Nicola Trollip and her team were rounding up some of the last of the horses. Doc and Kiara were among them.
Trollip spoke in soothing tones and stroked the gentle giants’ necks as she led them to the horse trailer.
The two – Doc, 30, and Kiara, 23 – are destined to live out the rest of their days on a farm in Richmond.
They had managed to relocate the majority of the approximately 40 horses they had there, Trollip said, and mostly to local stables.
One horse had to be put down.
“We’re selling everything we can on the property, so we can give the grooms something towards their severance.”
She said the grooms and groundsmen who were living there had been given notice to vacate.
“Where they’ll go and what they’ll do, I don’t know,” she said.
The yard at Newmarket is more than 100 years old and steeped in history.
More than 5 500 people – from as far afield as the US – signed a “Save Newmarket Stables” online petition created when the city started the eviction process in 2015.
Trollip said it had received a huge response from the public, following the final order.
“We had so many people calling in and telling us they used to ride here or that they used to bring their children here to see the horses.
“We’ll be fine and the horses will be fine. It is a sad day for Durban and for our history, though.”
But the stables were not only home to privately owned horses. Durban’s metro police horses are also kept there and they remain there, their fate unclear.
Asked where they were being moved to and when, the city’s communications unit this week said: “A court process is in place regarding the Stables Market matter and the municipality does not comment on court matters.”
This was despite the court case relating to the club being concluded.
“We cannot comment on the matter, and all other matters related to it,” the city said.
Approached for comment, the deputy head of the metro police, Steve Middleton, said he was having a meeting later this week to discuss the way forward.