- Gareth van Zyl Can Win Listed KRA East Coast Cup With She’s A Keeper
- Van Zyl Thrilled To Land Vernichey Half-Brother At NYS
Gareth van Zyl is on 51 winners for the season in KZN at present, 13 clear of the chasing Peter Muscutt with reigning KZN champion Garth Puller on 37.
On Saturday Gareth is bullish about the chances of his star mare, She’s A Keeper (Gimmethegreenligtht), in the Listed KRA East Coast Cup over 2000m.
She has not had a win this season but this race will be by far her easiest assignment of the term.
She has been racing against the best in Cape Town and Johannesburg and on Saturday will be 4.5kg better off with any other horse on official merit ratings.
Furthermore, Van Zyl said, “She’s doing very well. She had an interrupted prep for the race in Johannesburg (Grade 1 HSH Princess Charlene Of Monaco Empress Club Stakes) and she’s actually come on with that run under the belt. She took her travels very well and she looks well in herself. I’m very happy with the way she is at the moment.”
He said he was taking it one step at a time with her at present and wanted to get her back to winning ways before deciding her next step.
She does have a tricky draw of eight and carries joint topweight of 61.5kg. Anton Marcus rides.
The full field for the East Coast Cup:
Race-6 (Turf) R150 000 2000m 14:10 Ref-715
1st R93750, 2nd R30000, 3rd R15000, 4th R7500, 5th R3750
KRA EAST COAST CUP (Listed)
For Fillies and Mares
No Apprentice Allowance
| 1 | Capetown Beauty | 52.5 | 83 | A | Warren Kennedy | WDF Badenhorst/BC Kennedy | ||
| 2 | Black Silver | 57 | 94 | A | Richard Fourie | Justin Snaith | ||
| 3 | Keep On Dancing | 57 | 94 | TCA | Gavin Lerena | Wendy Whitehead | ||
| 4 | Twicethequality | 54 | 80 | A | Serino Moodley | Duncan Howells | ||
| 5 | Opera Glass | 61.5 | 106 | BA | S’manga Khumalo | Stephen Moffatt | ||
| 6 | Princess Anastasia | 54 | 81 | A | Calvin Habib | Gareth van Zyl | ||
| 7 | Silver Maria | 54 | 80 | A | Keagan de Melo | Dean Kannemeyer | ||
| 8 | She’s A Keeper | 61.5 | 115 | A | Anton Marcus | Gareth van Zyl | ||
| 9 | Jacqueline | 55.5 | 87 | CA | Sean Veale | Dennis Drier | ||
| 10 | Scented Mistress | 57 | 90 | A | Ashton Arries | Vaughan Marshall | ||
| 11 | Only The Brave | 55.5 | 87 | T A | Craig Zackey | Peter Muscutt | ||
| 12 | La Luvia | 54 | 84 | T A | Kabelo Matsunyane | Sean Tarry | ||
| 13 | Lyrical Dance | 58.5 | 95 | A | Muzi Yeni | Duncan Howells | ||
| 14 | Aquae Sulis | 55.5 | 87 | A | Juan Paul v’d Merwe | Duncan Howells | ||
| Same Trainer | ||||||||
| (4,13,14) (6,8) | ||||||||
She’s A Keeper looks to be fair value at 28/10 with WSB, who are sponsoring the main race at the Hollywoodbets Greyville meeting , the Grade 2 WSB 1900.
Van Zyl had his first Grade 1 winner with Vernichey (Vercingetorix) in the Allan Robertson Championship in 2020.
He said he was unable to afford any Vercingetorix’s at the recent BSA National Yearling Sale, as he has turned out to be a sire sensation, but he was thrilled to land Vercingetorix’s half-brother by Global View (Galileo) for R200,000.
He said, “He looks quite a lot like Vernichey, so we’re hoping he can do similarly well.”
The similarities can be seen between the colt and Vernichey, who is pictured in the ring at the BSA KZN Yearling Sale of 2019, where she went for a bargain R125,000.
Pictures: Birch Brothers
Main Picture: She’s A Keeper (Candiese Lenferna)
