Gareth van Zyl and his Summerveld colleagues had a halcyon day at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth on Saturday as they won 40% of the ten races on offer between them.
Van Zyl won two races, including the feature on the day, the Listed Jamaica Handicap over 2000m, while Peter Muscutt and Dennis Drier each won one race.
The four-year-old Flower Alley filly Evening Primrose was given a fine ride by Athandiwe Mgudlwa, especially considering his lack of experience of the Kenilworth track, to win the Jamaica Handicap and she will now join stablemate Money Heist in Johannesburg.
Money Heist (Gimmethegreenlight) ran a cracking sixth in an ultra strong renewal of the Hollywoodbets Cape Guineas, where he came from last and produced impressive finishing sectionals.
He is already in Johannesburg and the Grade 2 WSB Gauteng Guineas on February 4 will be his initial target.
Evening Primrose is going to Johannesburg because the Highveld program is viewed as the most suitable one for a four-year-old filly of her merit rating (92).
As a big, rangy type she is also suited to the long straights on the Highveld.
The promising two-year-old filly Miss Hannigan is also heading for Jo’burg and will be aimed at the Grade 2 SA Fillies Nursery.
Another Van Zyl horse going to Jo’burg is Captainofthegreen, who has shown promise in four runs in KZN.
There will be a couple of others on the float to Johannesburg too.
Gareth’s chief horse still remaining in Cape Town is Wiccan Warrior, who runs over 1400m on Saturday. That will be a first step in trying to qualify him for the Grade 1 Cape Derby.
The double Gareth had on Saturday took his tally of wins in Cape Town this season to seven and it has been achieved at a fine strike rate of 24.14%.
He has collected a number of substantial cheques for those wins and has spoken of his gratitude for those incentives which make all the hard work worthwhile.
One of the fillips for the yard has been the taking on of the breeder and horseman of many years experience, Spencer Cook, as a stable employee.
Gareth said Spencer was not only a fine horseman, and a famously passionate one too, but also had a fine eye.
“He has a very good eye for horses’ well being on the training tracks,” he said.
Furthermore, Spencer not only helped Gareth select at CPYS 2023, but also brought him a new client who purchased two horses.
Gareth landed three yearlings in all at CPYS 2023, and a fourth one is being sent to him.
He was chuffed to land three good value yearlings at a sale that overall favoured sellers.
He landed lot 102, a Varsfontein Stud-bred Gimmethegreenlight filly out of an Oratorio winner who is a half-sister to Grade 2 winner Silvano’s Jet, for R200,000;
Lot 111, a Master Of My Fate filly out of a one-time winning Dynasty mare, vendored by Black Swan Stud as agent, for R150,000;
And Lot 118, an Elusive Fort colt out of a three time-winning Centenary mare, also sold by Black Swan as agent for R200,000.
