The Gavin van Zyl-trained R2,5 million Lanzerac Ready To Run Stakes winner Budapest passed his important stalls test yesterday and is on track for the Gr 1 Grand Parade Cape Guineas to be run on December 19 at Kenilworth.

Budapest, who is actually trained by Gavin’s son and assistant Gareth under the new compartmentalised structure of the Van Zyl yard, delayed the start of the Ready To Run Stakes after being stubborn and reluctant to load and consequently had his starting stall certificate withdrawn.

Gareth said he had jumped “very nicely” yesterday and consequently regained his starting stall certificate.

He confirmed that one never quite knew what one would get with this horse in terms of behaviour at the track.

However, he is being given the best preparation possible in this regard, on top of his training for the race, as the renowned “Horse Whisperer” Malan du Toit has been brought in to work with him. Gareth revealed Du Toit would be trying a new strategy next time at the track which he believed would be more effective.

Budapest, an athletic colt by the Mossel Bay-based stallion Lithuanian, is being taken care of in Cape Town by Brett Crawford at the Phillippi training centre.

Gareth will be flying down soon to put in the final touches.

Budapest will be taken for a gallop at Kenilworth on Wednesday this week.

He has drawn wide in 24 out of 29 entries, as opposed to his draw of five in the Lanzerac, so is not going to have it easy.

However, Gareth was not overly concerned and believed due to his fine gatespeed and handy racing style he would have a better chance of overcoming the draw than most horses would.

Budapest is the only Van Zyl-trained horse down in the Cape at present, although a long-time inmate from the yard, No Worries, will be trained for the Cape Summer Of Champions Season by Glen Kotzen before being returning to his Van Zyl Summerveld base.

No Worries’ original aim had been the Gr 1 L’Ormarin’s Queen’s Plate, but Kotzen has changed course and will run him first in the Listed Jet Master Stakes over 1600m on December 19, then the Gr 2 Peninsula Handicap over 1800m on Queen’s Plate day January 9 before having a tilt at the J&B Met.

Kotzen is coming off a second-place finish with the Var filly Our Destiny in the Gr 1 WSB Cape Fillies Guineas. She proved what the yard had thought of her and cocked a snoot at both pundits, who didn’t give her the time of day before the race, and punters who allowed her to jump at odds of 100/1. Kotzen also pointed out she would likely have finished closer had she not been so green.

Kotzen has as high a regard for the Cape Fillies Guineas winner Silver Mountain as the rest of the racing fraternity do, and reckoned this star in the making looked likely to run in the Gr 1 Grand Parade Cape Guineas on December 19, considering her draw of two, before taking in the CTS Million Dollar on January 23. He believed this could open up the way for three-year-olds to have a chance in the Gr 1 Klawervlei Majorca Stakes, which is also to be run on January 23.

Kotzen does not share the popular opinion that the three-year-old fillies crop is overall a weak one, besides the obvious exception of Silver Mountain, and pointed to Princess Royal running less than a length behind the best female sprinter in the country, Carry On Alice, in Saturday’s Gr 2 WSB Southern Cross Stakes over 1000m.

By David Thiselton