BRETT VAN LAUN

Brett van Laun is Gold Circle’s Owner of the Month for February with two winners. Brett has an interest in many horses but his two winners came with Pure Valor for Lowan Denysschen and Desroches for Greg and Karen Anthony.

Brett has a long history in racing stretching back to the famous Dell family in Colesburg in the Karoo before his family moved to the KZN Midlands where his father set up Carmague Stud. After the untimely death of his father, his mother Carol, carried on but eventually sold up.

Brett still breeds and has mares with Jill Fox and Ken Tort. Desroches is one of his home breds.

Brett has high hopes for Pure Valor, a Dynasty colt bought off the National Yearling sales and a half-brother to the useful Mauritian performer Dustan who finished second to Futura on Met day two years ago. Pure Valor won his maiden very well at Greyville after running into all sorts of traffic from a wide draw and looks to have a lot of potential.

A staunch supporter of racing, Gold Circle wishes Brett great success in the future.

MICHAEL HILTON

The Gold Circle Owner Award for January has been awarded to Michael Hilton.

Working as a wine steward at Turffontein and Gosforth Park to earn pocket money during the last three years of school, Mike got his first taste of the sport of racing. Amongst the many leading owners in racing that he served were the then ‘King and Queen’ of the sport, the late Harry and Bridgett Oppenheimer.

Having grown up in Durban during the 1960’s but now living in Witbank, Mike has retained his love for the City and racing in KwaZulu-Natal and visits Durban regularly to visit family. On one of the visits he met Jane Thomas of Far End Racing in Mooi River who offered him shares in two horses – Mambo Number Five and Precious Royalty – with Mambo Number Five doing him proud with five wins and nine seconds, including a second in the King’s Cup while in the Dennis Drier stable. Mambo Number Five died in 2012 after a successful show jumping career for his daughter Keryn.

Mike now has shares in seven horses with trainer Wendy Whitehead, two of which – Big Ambition and Boom Sheiktheroom – book-ended his birthday on Saturday, January 24. Big Ambition won on the Friday evening and Boom Sheiktheroom on the Sunday which was a wonderful birthday present for him.

Now retired, Mike has decided to stay in Witbank as he knows the town well but prefers to race in Durban saying it’s a lot more fun. On his regular visits to the coast he enjoys spending time with family members and his racing partners watching his horses being put through their paces.

Well done Mike.

BERNIE & HOWARD SCHWEGMANN

The Gold Circle Owner Award for December has been bestowed on the father and son partnership of Bernie and Howard Schwegmann.

From a shaky start with the first two horses they owned having passed away, the Schweggman team is enjoying better luck and a lot more success with three of their four runners winning during the month.

Bernie has been involved in racing from the 70’s when standing as a bookmaker and after taking a break from the sport in the 80’s, he and son Howard joined forces five years ago to buy their first horse together.

Four years ago they joined the stable of Duncan Howells and now own eight horses of which four are in training with three due to make their debut this year and one in 2016.

They dabbled briefly in breeding but their first foal was stillborn and they decided it would be better to go to the sales where they could see what they were getting.

Well done Bernie and Howard.

MORGAN PILLAY

The Gold Circle Owner Award for the month of November has been bestowed on Morgan Pillay

An accomplished businessman who manages his finances very carefully, Morgan entered racing as an owner seven years ago with the late trainer Paul Dennyschen by taking a share in the horse Winter Lightning that gave him his first winner.

Then the bug bit and since then his interest in the sport has spread to 20 horses with a wide spread of trainers that have brought his winning tally to 50 including the four winners that he enjoyed at Greyville during November.

The highlight of his involvement was having a hat-trick of wins on the same day at Scottsville with First Answer and Kentucky Guest with Doug Campbell and Candy Moon with Paul Gadsby.

While he has been involved with other sports like football and cricket, he feels a lot more at home among the racing community which he describes as very friendly and helpful. He said he is always made to feel welcome and the experience of winning, irrespective of the standard of the race, is so wonderful it is impossible to describe.

Horseracing is an expensive sport, but Morgan says that if one goes about it in the right way with the right people, it can be rewarding.

Well done Morgan.