Dennis has been awarded the Gold Circle Trainer of the month for June 2018. He saddled 7 winners from 52 runners and recorded a 50% win and place strike rate. Dennis will also receive the award for KZN Champion Trainer at the upcoming KZN Racing awards.
Well done Dennis, Gill, Stuart and your entire team on some fine achievements.
DOUG CAMPBELL
Doug is a veteran trainer having trained for many years. During the month of Feb he saddled 37 runners and recorded 5 wins and 9 places. His total stakes earned was R425875-00.
Well Done Doug!
Lezanne Forbes
Lezanne Forbes is Gold Circle’s Trainer of the Month for January 2018.
From a small yard, Lezanne saddled four winners from 21 runners for a 19% winning strike rate. Her runners totalled R296k in stake earnings.
Well done Lezanne!
Duncan led the KZN Trainers Championship by number of winners going into the New Year and for the nine winners he saddled in December, one more than Dennis Bosch. Duncan is Gold Circle’s Trainer of the Month for December.
Well done Duncan
South African racing is blessed with a host of top-class trainers and Mark can be numbered among them but racing is very much a personal thing when it comes to ownership and the choice of the conditioner one decides to employ.
Given the right horses to work with, most trainers have the talent to produce results and Mark has shown that on many occasions over the years. With the “big” horses from around the country now back in their home bases after Champions Season, the smaller local stables are flexing their muscles and Mark had a good month with five wins and seven placings from just 23 runners – a win-place strike rate of 52%.
Well done Mark
LOUIS GOOSEN
Relocating a complete stable of horses from one region to another and getting the feel of the tracks and facilities is a major operation for any trainer but, probably because Louis saw the Ashburton training centre outside Pietermaritzburg as “a heaven for horses”, the transition from the Vaal came a lot easier for him.
Making the move at the beginning of the season, Louis has caused something of a storm in KwaZulu-Natal and when one tallies up his successes for the month of October, one sees he had notched up seven wins and the same number of placings from just 25 runners. That put him at the top of the provincial trainer log for the month and his supporters would have been extremely happy with a R20 profit if they had played a R1 win bet on each of his runners.
Gold Circle and the local racing public welcome Louis to the region and wish him continued success in the future.
LOUIS GOOSEN
The two leading stables in the province, those of Dennis Drier and Duncan Howells, have continued to turn out the winners and saddle runners that perform well enough to earn a place cheque while generally the spoils have been spread across many yards in the region.
Garth Puller has done well and Dean Kannemeyer continues to enjoy a degree of success from his satellite yard.
However, relocating a complete yard from one province to another and getting to grips with the new training conditions and facilities takes some doing and Louis has managed the transition exceptionally well to saddle two winners and four placed finishes from just 10 runners during the month.
Well done Louis and welcome to KwaZulu-Natal.
Paul has been in racing for a long time, first proving his riding talent among some of the greatest jockeys in the country. He then switched to training, exploiting the knowledge he gained working with some of the leading trainers he rode for like top KwaZulu-Natal conditioner Alistair Gordon.
Breaking into such a competitive, demanding and complex area of the industry would never be easy but he has persevered and proven that he can maximise the inbred talents of his charges and present them to perform at their best on the track.
In spite of medical difficulties in his yard that hampered his efforts, he was able to field 11 runners during the month, four of which he welcomed back into the winner’s enclosure with another three finishing in the placings – a stout effort worthy of the award.
Well done Paul
CANDICE BASS-ROBINSON
July was a month where Ashburton trainer Duncan Howells had one of the best runs of success in his career with his runners winning 13 races and others finding the placings on 21 occasions. Normally it would be a performance worthy of the award.
However, there is no achievement greater in South African racing than winning the country’s premier event, the Vodacom Durban July. In this case it was also unique in that Candice was the first woman trainer ever to win the race and adding to that, it was in her first season as a trainer.
Candice has had to fill one of the biggest pairs of boots in racing, those of her father Mike Bass, and her achievement in winning Africa’s Greatest Horseracing event, the Vodacom Durban July, with Marinaresco is testament to her talent and dedication and more than worthy of this honour.
Well done Candice & her entire team.
BRETT CRAWFORD
One of the gentlemen among South Africa’s racing community and a man who takes problems in his stride without animosity, Brett has weathered various setbacks in his career but has always come back stronger and with a smile.
This winter season in KwaZulu-Natal, with a relatively small string, his runners have performed outstandingly to capture four very important Graded events and saddles one of the joint favourites for the Vodacom Durban July. He won the Grade 1 Daily News 2000, the Grade 1 Woolavington 2000 and the Grade 1 Rising Sun Gold Challenge. Then for good measure he saddled the winner of the Grade 2 Post Merchants.
It was a great month for Brett and his chances of extending his winning streak look very strong.
Well done Brett
