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.

DOUGLAS CAMPBELL

The Gold Circle Owner Award for the month of October has been bestowed on Douglas Campbell

A true horseman with a history going back to amateur racing in the early 60’s, Doug has been a licensed trainer since 1978 operating out of his excellent private training centre in the Richmond area of the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands which includes a horse swimming pool for horses with leg problems.

Strongly supported and assisted by wife Di, Doug is one of the few breeders, owners and trainers in the country with a background which includes qualifications in physical training which he taught at schools before embarking on a racehorse training career when taking out his colours in 1970.

One of the more popular trainers in the country, Doug has 55 horses in his care and has shares in many of them. During the month he had six winners as an owner of which he bred four including the six-time winner Kingston Boy that Doug will take to the Highveld to contest the Merchants at Turffontein in the near future.

On the breeding side he has 16 mares on his farm but is planning to cut his breeding operation down to about six to relieve some of the pressure.

Following a lean period of about two months, Doug’s racing stable has bounced back and after his outstanding six winners in October, he scored another two at Greyville last Friday to get November off to a flying start.

Well done Doug

MAINE CHANCE FARMS

One of the country’s leading bloodstock breeders, the stud also races a large number of horses with trainers throughout the country and enjoys regular success. During the month their super fillies Pine Princess and La Cenerentola, trained in the Mike de Kock stable, did the stud proud and their winning exploits were worthy of the award.

Pine Princess looks something special having won on debut and then made short work of the opposition in the King’s Pact Stakes while La Cenerentola recorded her third straight victory.

Justin Vermaak, Racing Manager for Maine Chance Farms for the past 13 months, revealed that the stud had 60 horses in training and that Pine Princess would be aimed at the two top juvenile races, the Golden Slipper on Vodacom Durban July Day and the Thekwini Stakes on Gold Cup Day.

He said they would also bring their top Gauteng-based campaigner Tellina down to Durban for the Vodacom Durban July – depending on his rating – or the Champions Cup.

Well done Maine Chance Farms.

BRIAN BURNARD

Although associated for some time in past years with horses and racing through his former wife’s showjumping involvement and through former jockeys, it was not till two years ago that Brian made the decision to own a racehorse.

“I was sitting at home one day and thought I would like to own a racehorse or two. The Summerhill February sale was on at the time and I asked Mick Goss for the names of some good trainers. “He gave me one and when I contacted him he was on his way back from the Cape season and said he would contact me when he got home to Durban.

“That never happened but I had heard about Gavin van Zyl, him being a former jockey, and I contacted him to help me buy a horse at the sale. Well, before the sale he sold me Lady Tatty and we bought some more at the sale.”

Brian has enjoyed considerable success with 28 winners in his first season and 13 so far this season with three during February.

He says racing is a great sport and he and his family love it. “My present wife and my family go to the course when my horses are racing and my wife now owns a couple of horses in her own name.”

Brian now owns a large number of horses – “too many” – he says, and is also involved in a few others horses with partners.

Congratulations Brian and well done.

DEREK RAMSAY & JODY MARTIN

Gold Circle’s owner of the month for January is Derek Ramsay & Jody Martin
Relatively new to racehorse ownership but interested in the sport and in various ways connected for many years, Derek and Jody enjoyed success with two of the horses in which they are involved during the month, Auction King and Wildcat Rising.

Derek has been a friend of trainer Paul Lafferty since their primary school days and in recent years has been involved on a part-time basis in the administration of the stable. In 2009 he became involved in five horses in the stable.

He then bought into the two above individuals and enjoyed his first winner with Auction King in January. He is now again involved in five horses including a mare at stud.

Jody, the nephew of well-known owner Derek Martin, has “always been interested in racing” but it was only 18 months ago at his sister’s birthday party that he was talked into becoming an owner and bought into Auction King and Wildcat Rising. He is also involved with Stone Reeves which gave him his first winner and which has now been moved to Kimberley and another horse which is racing in Cape Town.

Well done Derek and Jody.

MARY LILEY

The Gold Circle Owner of the Month award for the month has been bestowed on Mary Liley

One of the most successful lady owners in South African racing, Mary was granted her colours way back in 1960 and has owned many top horses that featured prominently in the country’s major races.

Her late husband John Liley, whom she married in 1970, played a major role in her racing ownership which included Bold Monarch that in 1977 ran second in each of South Africa’s three major events, the J&B Met, the Rothmans July and the Holliday Inns. She also owned Sleek Machine that ran second to London News in the July in 1996, as well as top horses like Sun Monarch, Royal Play and Be Noble.

When establishing the Noble Park training centre at Summerveld, she owned about 100 horses but has trimmed her string down to about 20 horses which are trained by Tony Rivalland.

During the month two of her three runners, Kadeze and Lucky Break, won their races and she was voted by Gold Circle as the owner of the month.

For Mary, the beauty of the thoroughbred and the challenge of trying to be successful is her motivation and while she featured prominently in the racing industry for many years, she admits that at the beginning, when her first horse Actus continued to run places and not win, as a somewhat shy individual, “I was happy because if it had won, I would have had to lead it in.”

Well done Mary.

ROY MOODLEY

Personal info to follow…!

DUNCAN HOWELLS

Ashburton based trainer Duncan Howells landed his first KZN Trainer’s Championship this season, a feature of which was his consistent strike-rate.

However, he also had good success as an owner and owned outright or had shares in five of his winners in the final month of the season. Home-bred Chartwell was a winner on the Greyville polytrack while Duncan also had shares in The Helmsman, who won twice during the month of July, as did his Gr1 winning filly Same Jurisdiction who won the KZN Million Mile and the Gr1 Thekwini Stakes.

Duncan praised his co-owners and also the other owners in his yard. Without their support we would be nothing. It’s a touch ironic that a trainer is nominated owner of the month but it’s tough putting horses together in this economic climate and sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and take up the slack.

“Cathy does a great job picking yearlings so we always have faith.”

Well done Duncan and Cathy.