Gareth van Zyl with two of the connections of Vihaan’s Bomb after the Lancaster Bomber gelding had won for the fourth time in succession. Vihaan’s Bomb has a Cape Town staying race campaign ahead of him. (Candiese Lenferna Photography)
Gareth van Zyl, fresh from regaining his KZN Champion Trainer crown, opened a satellite yard in Cape Town in July last year and said at the time his long term vision was to become a Cape trainer.
However, a year down the line he admitted it would make no business sense to continue to pursue that vision.
He said, “Cape Town hasn’t taken off like I’d hoped. I have a significant market presence in KZN and an insignificant one in Cape Town, so from a business perspective they are two very different entities.”
He continued, “We’re fully intent on having a better Cape summer season than we had last year and that is our immediate focus now. We’ll bring a couple of horses to Cape Town that can hopefully put us on a more positive footing.”
Two of the horses he mentioned who will be making the trek to Cape Town are Flag Man and Vihaan’s Bomb.
Gareth mentioned both of those horses in the highlights package of his KZN Championship winning season.
He said, “Flag Man’s run in the Daily News 2000 was probably the highlight as it was where he proved he’s a proper weight for age horse. Winning four in a row with Vihaan’s bomb was awesome too.”
His highlight in Cape Town was the two wins of the promising The United States gelding Riverstone.
Riverstone finished unplaced over 1100m at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth on Saturday, but it followed a five month layoff and Gareth said. “He needed the run and he went too hard.”
38-year-old Van Zyl took out his own license in 2016, with his first runner on October 28 of that year being a winner, and he won his first KZN championship in the 2021/2022 season.
