Wendy Whitehead was in form as hot as the Durban weather as she saddled the winners of the first three races at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Wednesday, Calvin Habib doing the honours.
But the show was far from over. Just to cement Wendy’s red-letter day, Ravens Sword made it four for the combination as he out-gunned all in the sixth and Athandiwe Mgudlwa rounded off a memorable afternoon when stalwart Teichman carried on his good form to hold off Brave Voyager in the seventh.
“I am just so excited, it’s simply amazing and I am still on a cloud,” Wendy said of this most successful day of her 21-year-long training career. She’d actually won six of her last seven races when the sun set on Wednesday, having also sent out Hooves Of Troy for his win at Scottsville last Sunday.
The five-timer brought Wendy’s seasonal tally to 30 winners, more than the figures reflected at the end of all her previous seasons. At this rate, she’ll be odds-on to hit the 50-winner mark this term which will be a wonderful achievement for a stable with just 40 horses.
She told Turf Talk: “I tend to get sore horses, rejects and even discarded young orphans. I found, for example, three babies through Have A Heart, the horse charity. They were only two months old and by leading sires Futura, What A Winter and Time Thief, just chucked out by their breeders. They were all put through recovery with special care, went into training and one has already earned a stake!”
Wendy’s known ‘TLC’ for every horse is admired by many and now that it’s starting to show in her results, she’s looking forward to more support. “I’ve had interest recently from people who have never expressed any – friends and friends of friends saying, ‘look, Wendy is doing well, let’s get involved!’ “
She praised her Summerveld team for hard work and said: “My two assistants are top class. Steve Mapaya has been with me for a long time and Isaac Nvila came from Lezeanne Forbes. They’re both pillars in the stable.”
Her recent spell of winners is also attributed to training a few runners of better quality, and she counts leading owner Sandy Arundel as a friend. “Sandy loves her horses and we speak regularly.”
Another valued patron is Nothemba Mlonzi, who breeds from her Howick farm established and prepared for her by the late Anton Proctor. “Nothemba is going places. She is serious about breeding and racing and John Fox has been assisting her. They have a number of good broodmares and they’ve been sending them to leading stallions.”
Mlonzi’s owns, among others, Sky Café and Mvulazana, winners on Wednesday and Wendy noted that both can win again. “Sky Café was overdue, Mvulazana hasn’t got the best of legs, but she doesn’t lack talent and we’ll be looking for small black type with her.”
Teichman, the six-year-old, has now won six for his partnership of owners including Sanjeeth Ramsewak and Wendy quips: “He asked after Teichman’s third win whether we shouldn’t call it a day, perhaps Teichman had had enough. But then we all decided to persist and he’s won another three races since. These are the things I live for.”
Her strong point: “One has to place the horses you have in the right races to maximise their potential. That is something a pay a lot of attention to.”
Wendy’s also one of those 24/7 trainers you’ll seldom find anywhere else but in her yard, attending to her horses. And that’s why, with some recognition but not yet enough, she’s climbing the ladder!
