Louis Goosen’s Golden Goose Syndicate got off to a flying start. Louis’s partner and assistant trainer Lauren Watt is to the right of the picture (Picture: Race Coast)
Louis Goosen is a horseman through and through and he and his partner and assistant trainer at Summerveld Lauren Watt are very “hands on” in training and horsecare, while Louis uses his vast experience to help make racing not only a rewarding experience for his owners but also financially viable.
He is confident of success on Friday night in the fifth race where he has three runners and said, “Acacia’s Blossom has run three seconds in a row and it is surely her time to win now. In the same race Saudi Sweep is having her first run out of the maidens and is working well. But I think the nod goes to Acacia’s Blossom and she is quite a big runner.”
His third horse in that race is Hearts On Fire, who has never been far back in a string of unplaced runs and her merit rating has come down nicely. She is well drawn over a step up in trip she will relish.
He also has a horse who is eligible for the R3 million Race Coast Slipper running on Friday, the Vercingetorix filly Ferrari Flair.
Louis said, “My Slipper horses are not ready. I’m showing Ferrari Flair Hollywoodbets Greyville but I think she is still going to be a bit green, a bit backward. Not every horse comes this early.”
He also has a runner eligible for the Race Coast Slipper running on Sunday, the Laurence Wernars-owned Erik The Red gelding Erik Dubois. However, he revealed that this horse is extremely green and backward. He thinks he is a very nice horse and has scope, but believes he might need two runs before the penny drops and thinks he will probably be a better three-year-old than two-year-old.
He has some other runners on Sunday, including the promising Vercingetorix gelding Blazing Fury, whom he took up to Turffontein for the Gr 3 TAB National Currency Sprint over 1160m for three-year-olds where he finished a fine two length fourth.
Louis said, “He is an up and coming little horse, he’s not a big horse. It will be interesting with him on Sunday, because I don’t know whether he we will get 1200m. He didn’t get 1100m at Turffontein, but I found we lost our cover in the race too early and through no-one’s fault we hit the front too early. He saw daylight for far too long first time at the course, so one could say he faded late, but it also could have been due to him having run the wrong type of race. So we are going to try again on Sunday and it will be wonderful to find out he does get the 1200m, I will be overjoyed.”
The old warrior Donquerari is also in that race. He tends to prefer 1000m but as he gets older he might see out the 1200m.
He runs the Captain Of All filly Captain’s Pride on Sunday on the poly over 1400m and said, “She will be a nice value bet for places.”
Louis said about the rest of his yard, “We have one or two unraced horses that excite me, but we will have to see what they can do on the racecourse.”
Louis’ description of him and Lauren being hands on includes the many “treatments” they give to the horses. They do not outsource these treatments, but rather do it themselves.
He said, “You have to abide by veterinary rules, but there are a wide range of treatments which we are able to do ourselves. This includes using Bemer massage blankets and normal massage blankets. We also have our own “blood machine”, so can do our own “Packed Cell Volume” (PCV) measurements and we don’t charge our owners for this (PCV is a crucial measurement in horse health, indicating the percentage of blood volume occupied by red blood cells). We use Bioptron Light therapy (used in veterinary medicine for horses to accelerate healing, reduce pain, and treat inflammation). I am still a huge supporter of Eco-vet (Eco-Vet is a range of homeopathic medicines and nutritional supplements for animals, established in 1997 by Dr. Alex Niven, a veterinarian and qualified homeopath. The product line was designed to provide affordable, natural, and effective treatments for a wide range of acute and chronic conditions in animals). I had already been experimenting with homeopathic medicines and holistic methods at the time he founded Eco-vet and have carried on using homeopathic medicines and holistic methods to treat our horses.”
Louis’ philosophy is not to sit on horses, but to try and get them to race.
He said, “We try and race them as often s possible. Racing forms part of our training rather than as a result of our training. What I mean by that is that with your normal handicapper horse there are races for them all the time and you can race them often. Of course you have to train horses for the races, but you find once you are racing them often you don’t have to do as much work with them at home. The vast majority of injuries to horses actually happen at home at the training track rather than at the racecourse.”
Louis said the most exciting innovation in the yard at present was the Goose Racing Syndicate, which brings together experienced owners and first-time owners.
Acacia’s Blossom and Saudi Sweep are two of the horses who represent the syndicate and Emerald Green is another.
Louis said, “It’s an exciting part of the yard at present. I put Saudi Sweep and Acacia’s Blossom together and the guys came on board and there’s another filly who hasn’t run for them yet, Emerald Green. I put the syndicate together on a Friday and the first one, Saudi Sweep, won on the Sunday. and then the next Wednesday the other one ran second. It’s very exciting because it is for small and big guys. the big owner can take the larger share and the small guy can take a small share. One of the aims is to bring the smaller owner into racing., so they can feel they can own and take part. Some of them are first time owners, some people I have known who get their families involved with 1% or 2% here and 1% or 2% there. They love the game but it has always been impossible for them to get into the game until this syndicate idea and we do everything properly which gives them a chance to be involved.”
Louis always does what is best for the owner.
An example is the Elusive Fort mare Royal Invitation.
He said, “I advised my owner Martin Bothma to buy her on an Online Sale and he got her for R80,000. She had a couple of runs here and then I drove her in a two berth up to Turffontein. She was out at 66/1 so I said to Martin ‘You can put your head down because we won’t miss the first three.’ She duly obliged and he won all of his money back. We then kept her up there with Brett Webber. She is loving the long straights of the Highveld courses.”
Louis’ clients also invest in his pinhooking skills and the best example was an Ascot Stud-bred Vercingetorix filly which he purchased at last year’s BSA August Two-year-old Sale for R425,000 and sold it at the Race Coast Two-year-old Sale in October for R1 million.
Louis concluded, “We don’t get many opportunities but when we do get one we reach for the stars!”
