Horsing around with The Biebster

The screaming started as the limo glided up to the swanky One & Only hotel on Cape Town's Waterfront. An excited mob parted as my driver deftly negotiated the prepubescent-ridden pavements and parked at the portico.

As I emerged from the conveyance, all went quiet; not from awe or respect, but sheer indifference.

The truth was I wasn't The One this teenage throng wanted. Every car pulling up was presumed to contain Him and shrieking commenced, just in case.

And so I stumbled upon Bieber fever in the Visdorpie this week. I was at the hotel for a meeting of VIPs so secret I'm not allowed to tell you about it, and that loveable mop-top pop sensation Justin Bieber happened to be in residence.

There are 18 heads of state in Cape Town for the World Economic Forum, not to mention loads of other grasping politicos. And they all look envious of the love and adulation The Biebster gets, I can tell you.

These puffed-up egos were "also-rans", as racing parlance has it. There they were, with their blue-light convoys and paid entourages, trying desperately to attract attention, while a slip of a lad was trying to sneak through the tradesmen's entrance to avoid being mobbed. Irony, I believe.

During a break in the weighty proceedings I was engaged with, I went in search of Justin, wandering the hostelry seeking a 19-year-old Canadian songster in sneakers with the tongues hanging out. I wanted to ask if he was keen on horses and write a column about it.

No luck. I sauntered outside to snap a photo of the Beliebers contained behind barriers. One girl asked me: "Have you seen Justin?" I lied and got a very satisfying scream in return - and had my photo taken: old bloke who saw Justin.

Later, I Googled "Bieber horses" and came up with a pic of the loveable lad atop a pony, clinging nervously to the creature's neck as it dozed off. Justin tweeted this image to his 46million Twitter followers shortly after an incident with a Ferrari, paparazzi and cops. A "hater", who might be a politician, wrote: "Horse embarrassed by rider with stupid cap." Duh, I say.

Among stuff about The Beeb's current world tour, including a video of him being attacked on stage in Dubai, I found someone who wants to invite the lad to a race meeting in America and use his celebrity to turn youngsters on to the game.

The popular Paulick Report website reported no luck yet with this venture, though there were interesting stories alongside about last week's Kentucky Derby winner Orb and how the owners and trainer are "old school" and breed their own runners and how the jockey lucked out with his ride. But I digress.

Annoyingly, I couldn't make my new-found hero's Cape Town concert as I had prior engagements. In other words, it was a darn school night.

TURFFONTEIN, TOMORROW: PA - 1,3 x 1,2,3 x 1 x 6,10 x 6,8 x 4,6,11 x 4 (R72)