PETER MUSCUTT
Peter Muscutt has been awarded trainer of the month for October. He runs a tight ship with a very experienced team. He is very transparent with the media and the public. His over-all statistics are consistent. Well done Peter.
Category Archives: Achievers Trainer
This Donald is no duck
DONALD MCDONALD, with Warren Kennedy up, wins the SOCCER ANY15 CONDITIONAL PROGRESS PLATE for trainer Gavin van Zyl at Hollywoodbets Greyville today. Picture: Candiese Lenferna
Andrew Harrison
GAVIN VAN ZYL splashed out buying the top lot at this week’s BSA 2-Year-Old Sale and ended his week on a high as he saddled a treble at Hollywoodbets Greyville today.
In the gelding Donald McDonald he looks to have a particularly promising stayer as the son of Ideal World showed plenty of resolution to land the Conditional Progress plate from Karoo Lark and Run To Denmark.
Stable rider Warren Kennedy was particularly bullish about his mount’s chances after an emphatic win aboard State Of Mind in the second, but he may have been having second thoughts halfway up the home straight as Karoo Lark refused to go away.
At one point it looked as if it would be a case of heads up and heads down but 150m out Karoo Lark snapped under pressure leaving Donald McDonald to surge clear of his rival.
This was 1800m but Kennedy’s mount stayed the trip well and he is definitely one for the notebook in any races over ground.
Frank Lloyd Wright came with a six figure price tag as a yearling, a number that he is never going to recoup on the track, but that said he has not been a complete failure as he notched the sixth win of his career with an end-to-end victory in the opening leg of the Pick 6.
Serino Moodley had no hesitation in going to the front on Justin Snaith’s runner. “There was no pace in the race and he does take a bit of a hold so I just left him where he was comfortable,” he explained. It proved to be the right tactic as Frank Lloyd Wright was never in danger of being caught. Baby Shooz, returning from a lengthy break, rattled home for second while Mount Anderson and Born To Perform were never in the hunt.
Snaith was up from Cape Town touching base with his Summerveld operation and the trip was made worth while as Sweetscentedgreen kept going long enough to hold the debutant Calulo, Michael Roberts’s filly finish like a rocket under apprentice Mfanelo Zuma.
State Of Mind, making her poly debut, simply destroyed the opposition in the second putting five lengths of daylight between herself and Backstop.
Sea Venture rounded off the Van Zyl treble as Kennedy rode a super confident race in the seventh. Content to sit well back in the early exchanges, Sea Venture had a lot of ground to make up at the top of the straight, but once Kennedy asked for an effort she responded gamely to his urgings, gradually reeling in the opposition and eventually drawing off to win comfortably.
Jabu Jacobs is one of the more promising apprentices and produced a copybook ride on the favourite Kayson for Peter Muscutt in the seventh, timing his run to perfection to win going away.
He was not so lucky in the next riding favourite Hugs Accepted. She blew the start badly, and from there on was never in the hunt. The race produced a blanket finish as Serino Moodley timed his finish to perfection, producing Glitter And Gold with a telling late run to nab the luckless Wildly In Love close home with little more than a neck separating the next four home.
Precious Love rounded off the meeting as apprentice Jeffery Syster produced the Tienie Prinsloo-trained gelding with a telling late effort to catch long-time pacemaker and favourite Iron Henry close home.
Trainer of the Month – February 2020
DEAN KANNEMEYER
Gold Circle’s award for Trainer of the Month goes to Dean Kannemeyer.
Dean has recently been recognised as a resident KZN trainer and while flying the flag in the Western Cape over the summer, his assistant Nicolet Roscoe has been holding the fort. The stable had seven winners at a 25% strike rate in February and were in the black as far as a R1 wager was concerned. With South Africa’s Champion Season on the horizon, Dean looks well poised for a successful end to the racing season.
Well done Dean and Nicolet.
Trainer of the Month – January 2020
LOUIS GOOSEN
Louis Goosen is Gold Circle’s trainer of the month for January.
Goosen currently sits in 12th place on the KZN trainer’s log but has a more than useful strike rate of 18% winners to runners. More importantly, for a R1 stake on all of his runners you would have a R40 return. Louis relocated to Summerveld from Ashburton at the beginning of the season and now that he has got the measure of his new surroundings, Goosen, the ultimate professional, is surely a stable to follow.
Well done Louis.
Trainer of the Month – December 2019
PAUL LAFFERTY
Tight at the top of the trainer’s table for December as far as total number of winners were Paul Lafferty, Garth Puller, Dean Kannemeyer and Johan Janse van Vuuren, all saddling five. Lafferty had a winning strike rate of 50% and a plus R24 win bet ratio for a R1 stake. If you had placed R1 on each of Garth Pullers winners the return was R46. But Lafferty’s better winning strike rate and total earns for the month has him top of the pile and he is Gold Circle’s Trainer of the Month for December.
Well done Laff.
Trainer of the Month – November 2019
ROBBIE AND SHANNON HILL
The Gold Circle Trainer Award for the month has been awarded to father and son team of Robbie and Shannon Hill.
Dedication and full commitment to one’s chosen path in life often becomes a passion and that is what brought about Robbie and Shannon opening the Hill Racing Stable in 2012. Their persistence through the difficult early days of its establishment has paid dividends and is recognized as a formidable competitive force in racing.
Robbie retired from a very successful 40-year jockey career after a back operation during which Shannon honed his talent as a trainer working in a number of top stables in the province. With Robbie’s passion for racing and his love of the thoroughbred, it seemed inevitable that father and son would join forces.
The combination has been a story of success and was perfectly illustrated in the month when they scored one of the best performances with almost a 50% win strike rate of four wins and a second from just nine runners. For Robbie and Shannon the passion has paid dividends – well done guys.
Trainer of the Month – October 2019
KUMARAN “KOM” NAIDOO
The Gold Circle Trainer Award for the month has been awarded to Kom Naidoo
It is tough out there in the highly competitive and expensive sport where one has to rely on the support of others to prove one’s ability and establish a competitive operation. Many have tried and failed to make the grade but with some loyal support that allowed him to prove his talent, Kom has grown in strength to become a competitive unit since his small beginning with 10 horses back in 2006.
During this month Kom had 31 runners of which six found the winner’s enclosure and seven others finished in the first four allowing his supporters to make a profit of just on R30 had they wagered a R1 win bet on each of his runners.
Well deserved and well done Kom.
Trainer of the Month – September 2019
GARTH PULLER
The Gold Circle Trainer Award for the month has been bestowed on Garth Puller
All competitive sports have their heroes and racing is no exception with South Africa producing some of the best trainers, jockeys and horses in the world. Although not having performed on the international stage, racing fans will place Garth as one of the best riders South Africa produced.
Garth is one of the few jockeys that have made a successful transition to training and that is undoubtedly because from the time he was a young rider he had an affinity with the thoroughbred and developed a style of riding that required a virtual intimate knowledge of the characteristics and abilities of his mounts.
He gave his rides a chance and so often produced them at the right time for victory – and who can forget his incredible win in the then Rothmans July on Over The Air after losing many kilos to ride the weight.
It is that incredible knowledge and experience that has contributed to Garth finding himself at the top of the trainer log in KwaZulu-Natal this month and a worthy recipient of the award.
Well done Garth!
Trainer of the Month – August 2019
MJ ODENDAAL
One of the most popular jockeys in South Africa during his riding career, MJ finally decided to give his much-battered body a rest and switch from riding to training them. During the month under review and 15 years after being the champion jockey of South Africa, he saddled and sent out his very first winner as a trainer.
Many tributes about his dedication to doing his best for his trainer and owners which over the years saw him undergoing 24 operations after accidents resulting in about 19 broken bones, as well as his friendliness as a jockey have poured in, supported by goodwill wishes for his training career which will be echoed around the country. A colourful character, his presence on the country’s racecourses as a trainer will add to the general enjoyment of the sport.
Well done MJ and welcome back to racing.
Trainer of The Month – June 2019
GLEN KOTZEN
The Gold Circle Trainer Award for the month of June has been awarded to Glen Kotzen.
At this time of the year it is difficult to isolate individuals for honours because of the high standard of performances all round and, having recorded the highest stake earnings in the month on which the trainer log is based, Mike de Kock would undoubtedly deserve the accolade.
However, like Mike with Hawwaam, Glen has had to deal with a problem horse in Eyes Wide Open and has managed to return the colt back to his earlier top-class ability to run fourth in the Vodacom Durban July. In addition, while Mike fielded 15 runners in the month for three winners and seven places, Glen has also kept his stable turning over for his patrons and sent out 36 runners of which seven found the winner’s enclosure and another 11 earned a dividend for their owners.
Gold Circle congratulates both trainers for their performances and recognises others like Justin Snaith, Sean Tarry and Dennis Drier that have kept the overall standard of racing at the highest level, but we single out Glen for his excellent contribution to racing during the month.
Well done Glen.
