Wayne Badenhorst is another of the young trainers at Summerveld who is making inroads and this is not surprising considering the wealth of experience he has gathered in his 24 years in the game.
He will be relocating to Ashburton in a couple of months’ time.
His horses have had 53 runs for 6 wins this season at a strike rate of 11,32%. He has also had eight second place finishes and a place strike rate of 41,51%. However, possibly the most telling statistic is the R33.30 profit a punter would have earned if putting R1 a win on each of Badenhorst’s horses.
Badenhorst left horseracing for a while a few years back and was earning a living in the furniture business.
However, an owner lured back him to the game he loves with an offer to train six horses on a farm close to Richmond. The stint went well and in his best period he bagged five winners in three months.
However, the farm was subsequently sold and he returned to Summerveld. He has received support from the like of Keith Smith and Shaun Standeaven and also from some of his good friends. By next week he will have a string of 20.
He has four horses running on Sunday on the Greyville turf and is bullish about one of them.
He said, “In the 8th race I have Sun On Sand. I have got her as well as I can. Last time 1400m was a bit short but she was about nine lengths back at the top of the straight and was beaten only four-and-a-half lengths. She is drawn wide on Sunday but the distance of 1900m is spot on and we will drop her out. Muzi Yeni is up and she will be mowing them down. I think this is her race to win.”
He said of his other runners, “Elnora (Master Of My Fate filly running in 1st race) is a nice filly and I am probably putting her in the wrong race here against the boys as I just want to see where I am with her and whether she is good enough to go for the big races, so I have thrown her into the deep end but hope she can rise to the occasion.
Class Of Eight (3rd over 1400m) is very temperamental but I have tried one or two things and she will win a maiden. We will try and drop her out and see if she can run on.
I’m Free’s (5th over 1200m) last run on the poly was not great so I’ve put her on the grass but she has drawn badly. She’s fit and well and has a bit of ability so I hope she can put it together.”
Badenhorst’s philosophy is to go in trying to win every race he enters.
He said, “I get the horses as ready as I can and want to get a cheque everytime they run.”
As a trainer who rides himself, he knows when they are ready. His training methods are based on all he has learnt from his time spent with some of the best in the game.
Badenhorst began workriding at the age of 12 for Yvette Bremner in Port Elizabeth.
He later spent six months as a workrider in Hong Kong. He then returned to the Bremner yard. From 2005 to 2007 he worked for top trainer David Payne in Australia. After that he had a stint with another top trainer, Alec Laird.
Later, Laird sent him down to KZN with his Champions Season string. Badenhorst enjoyed Durban so much he did not want to return to Johannesburg.
He then took out his own license. However, he eventually could not carry the amount which was owed to him in training fees and was forced out. His stint in the furniture game was profitable but he is glad to be back working with his beloved horses.
He is now proving he has what it takes to make it in this toughest of professions.
By David Thiselton
