This season Gareth Van Zyl has had 126 runners for 21 winners at a strike rate of 16,67% and has the third highest place strike rate of 51,59%…

Gareth Van Zyl experienced the ups and downs of training racehorses at the dawn of his career but looks to already be hitting the proverbial highway a year or two later and has the second highest strike rate among the country’s top 50 trainers.

This season he has had 126 runners for 21 winners at a strike rate of 16,67% and has the third highest place strike rate of 51,59%.

Asked what he put this down to, he replied, “I follow a business plan of sifting out bad horses. If horses can’t earn I would rather move them on to a weaker centre or in to a new discipline like show jumping. Effective studying of the program and planning a horse’s races also helps. We are also not a punting stable, so our horses run on their merits. I also try and run from favourable draws only as there are only so many times you can go to the well.”

Waiting for draws requires patience, but Van Zyl said it was possible to keep a horse ticking over during the wait. Therefore, a Van Zyl horse returning from a short layoff should not be written off as it has likely just been waiting for a draw and will invariably be fit enough to be competitive. However, he admitted that sometimes the wait was so long he would be forced to accept a bad draw.

Van Zyl said he had a “healthy spread” of owners, although mentioned Graham Palmer and Maurice Ferreira as two of the most prominent.

He is sent a number of horses by breeders, but otherwise selects horses himself at the Sales.

He explained his purchasing philosophy, “I firstly look for balance and athleticism. I have horses of all sizes in my yard from big to small as I don’t put as much importance on substance as I do on athleticism and balance.”

Van Zyl said he was very happy with the facilities available to him at Summerveld and this not only included stabling and training tracks but also a treadmill, which is owned by his father Gavin, and a hydrotherapy spa.

Of his training methods he said, “I think the fundamentals of training are commonly used but the fine tuning is personalised.”

He said he was also very much a fan of barrier trials and added, “I think they are a great training aid and educating tool.”

Indeed, a Van Zyl-trained barrier trialist which shows promise usually delivers in a subsequent race.

He said his best horses at present were YessirIcanboogie, Can You Feel It, Red Al and Paths Of Victory.

Yessiricanboogie, an athletic two-year-old daughter of the new Highlands stallion Time Thief, was ultra impressive on debut over 1000m at Scottsville, She showed exceptional natural speed and possesses gears too. She won easing up by 7,10 lengths and will next be going for the Strelitzia, which will be a springboard into the Grade 1 Allan Robertson. A sales voucher won at the KZN Breeders Golf Day was the prompt for a group of golfing friends to look for a horse at the KZN Yearling Sale last year and they can consequently look forward to some exciting times with YessirIcanboogie, whose price of R110,000 is looking a bargain.

Jackson filly Can You Feel It completed her two-year-old season still a maiden but finished third in both the Grade 2 Golden Slipper over 1400m and the Grade 1 Thekwini over 1600m. In her debut this season over 1200m she waltzed in by 5,75 lengths. However, she subsequently sustained a tendon injury, so has been sidelined. Van Zyl will not be rushing her into anything, but said there was still a chance she could run in the Champions Season.

Captain Al filly Red Al has won her last two starts over 1900m on the Greyville poly and Van Zyl will be travelling her to Johannesburg at the end of the month to run in the Grade 2 SA Oaks over 2450m at Turffontein. He reckoned she was looking for the trip and would enjoy the galloping track too.

He regards Paths Of Victory as just below Champions Season quality, but this twice-winning Noble Tune middle distance to staying type has finished second in his last two starts off a 91 merit rating and has been raised to a 92.

Van Zyl is fortunate to have Warren Kennedy as his stable jockey. Kennedy lived for a long time in the shadows of the top echelon jockeys but with the spate of injuries and retirements to the latter group recently he soon emerged as one who was more than capable of filling their boots. He is now fast establishing himself as one of the best jockeys in the country. He is currently 8th on the national log with 85 winners and is the 6th highest stakes earner.

Exciting breaking news is that Damon Delpech, the son of recently retired jockey great Anthony, will be joining Van Zyl’s yard as assistant trainer.

Van Zyl said, “Damon is joining me in April. He has spent time at Summerhill stud and on a stud farm in Kentucky. He has had valuable exposure to the game and this will stand him in good stead.”

Gareth’s early exposure to the game was also through his father’s jockeyship and he was later his assistant trainer. He said he still bounces ideas off Gavin.

Gareth began his career as a licensed trainer on October 30, 2016 with a double which included the Listed Jonsson Workwear Michaelmas Handicap. However, less than a year later he lost the horses of owner Brian Burnard, which formed the majority of his string. He rebuilt virtually from scratch, starting on August 1, 2017, so the horses he himself has purchased are now only three-year-olds.

He has made big strides and looks to have a bright future.

Gold Circle