Speak to any trainer and you will soon be told how difficult it is to encourage new owners into the sport. There have been many incentive schemes that have gone belly up for one reason or another but one that did pay dividends yesterday was Yessiricanboogie’s win in the first race at Scottsville.

Her owners, and there were a lot of them, lifted the grandstand roof as Gareth van Zyl’s filly put daylight between herself and the opposition – and she did not run loose – backed in from an ante-post call off 28-10 to deep in the red.

The pressure was not lost on Van Zyl. “Driving up, the rescue tablets couldn’t come fast enough. My stomach was a washing machine,” he confessed.

The golf course is where big business is done and first prize in the KZN Breeders’ Golf Day was a buying voucher for the KZN yearling sales.

The voucher was put to good use, resulting in the purchase of Yessiricanboogie and there were a lot of happy owners on course yesterday.

“The aim is to have a runner on July day in the KZN Million race, so hopefully it all goes according to plan,” said Van Zyl. Barring accidents, they are already halfway there.

Pearl Of Asia came out of the same barrier trial as Yessiricanboogie and the form held up in the second with Robbie and Shannon Hill’s colt getting home narrowly in a three-way fight for the line, Gareth Wright managing to squeeze a little bit extra to get home ahead of Master Jay and African Warrior. “He has a good action and I just let him roll and ask the others to come and fetch me.”

One for the notebook is Ruby Spirit. Duncan Howells is top of the KZN trainer’s log by stakes won but the yard has been going through a quiet patch of late, not helped by a disappointing trip to Cape Town for Met day.

The mood will have been lifted somewhat by Ruby Spirit’s comfortable win in the third. “We were pleasantly surprised that he showed so much on debut,” said Duncan. “If the race had been over 1200m he would probably have won. It’s early times but he’s got some scope.”

“We have had trouble with his (flat) feet but thanks to our farrier Dom Finnis, we seem to have got on top of that problem.”

Quite often there is no explanation for a disappointing run when much is expected. Roy’s Flash was quietly fancied for a big effort at Greyville last Friday but it was just one of those days according to Frank Robinson. “We expected much more. It was just one of those runs. You just had to put a line through it.”

It was a good call as Serino Moodley judged his race to perfection and Roy’s Fish did just that, flashing up late to deny long-time leader Kheelan Dynasty, favourite Farm Yard Tractor chugging along into fourth.

It was a Van Zyl one-two in the sixth with Van Zyl senior edging out Van Zyl junior and Luke Ferraris riding a cracking finish on Don’t Look Back to beat Paths Of Victory.

Shane Humby has one of the better winning strike-rates in the country but he is a trainer who does not race his horses just for the sake of it. So, when they do step out there is always a plan and you generally get a solid run for your money.

Anton Marcus rode a confident race on Fever Tree Handicap favourite Tribal Fusion, tracking the pace before firing through to land the odds. The filly Fiorella, over her disappointing trip to Cape Town, stayed on gamely for second and this was a good warm-up before she stretches to a more optimum trip.

By Andrew Harrison