Tienie Prinsloo
Tienie Prinsloo is the only former Kimberley-based trainer to stay the distance when Flamingo Park closed and some moving to KwaZulu-Natal. It has been a struggle and Tienie currently has one of the smallest strings in Summerveld but he saddled eleven runners for three winners and two seconds in the month at a 54% win/place strike rate.
Tienie is Gold Circle’s Trainer of the Month for March
Wendy Whitehead, Alyson Wright and Gareth van Zyl dominated the leader board as far as winners went in the month and the trio paid to follow with a R1 bet on Wendy’s runner realizing a R11 return on investment. However, veteran Dennis Bosch has scaled down his operation in recent years and only saddled eleven runners in the month. Three of those were winners with three runner-up placings for a 54% winning strike rate.
Dennis is Gold Circle’s trainer of the month for February.
Byron Forster
Byron’s name does not appear on the official trainer’s log but as KZN assistant to Western Cape-based trainer Andre Nel he runs the Summerveld yard. A long-time assistant to Paul Lafferty, Byron took his chances when assistant to Nel came up as he was basically on his own. He sent out 22 runners for four win and three seconds for a healthy 18% winning strike rate.
Byron is Gold Circle’s trainer of the Month for January
Robbie Hill
Robbie Hill has one of the smaller yards in Summerveld and while he generally flies under the radar one can never discount his runners. Robbie was a top jockey in his riding days and was for many years associated with training legend Dennis Drier. Robbie only saddled five runners in December for two wins and a second at a 40% strike rate. A R1 win bet on each of his runners would have returned a R12.70 profit.
Robbie is Gold Circle’s Trainer of the Month for December.
Mike Miller had one of the best days of his training career at Hollywoodbets Scottsville when he saddled five winners on the eight-race card. It is not unusual for a jockey to have a five-timer but it is exceptional for a trainer. Mike is known for being a wizz in starting his two-year-olds early and is currently second on the KZN trainer log with 17 winners, one behind Alyson Wright. Mike has also had particular success at Hollywoodbets Scottsville with 11 of his total coming on the Maritzburg course.
Mike is Gold Circle’s Trainer of the Month for November
MJ Odendaal is a genuine character among the training ranks and is not your conventional dresser, shirt on or off, and his enthusiasm is contagious. He was a talented rider in his day and he knows his way around a racehorse. He has a small stable and from just 16 runners he saddled three winners and four seconds for a 50% win/place strike rate.
MJ is Gold Circle’s trainer of the Month for October
Louis Goosen
Training racehorses can be equated to a game of snakes and ladders. No sooner have you climbed the ladder than the dreaded snake swallows you and it’s all the way down. Some snakes are shorter than others but Louis Goosen has been swallowed by a few snakes in recent months with his relatively small string hardly hitting the boards. But you can’t keep a good man down and it all change for the good last month as his 20 runners produced five winners. Louis is climbing the ladder again with his string having turned the corner and his ‘Barbie’ colours to the fore.
Louis is Gold Circle’s Trainer of the Month for September.
Frank Robinson
Frank Robinson has been in racing for most of his life starting out as stable employee to Herman Brown Jnr at Ashburton before moving to Herman Brow Snr at Summerveld after Junior left for Dubai. Frank has mostly had a small string of horses but he turns them out immaculately. He also has a knack of keeping them on the boil long after many of his colleagues would have cried enough. Frank had one of his best months in some time when he saddled 6 winners from just 16 runners at a 37.5 percent strike rate. He also looks to have two smart horses in his yard, in Sovereign State and Mexican Pete, both owned by Sid Moodley.
Frank is Gold Circle’s Trainer of the Month for August
The Gold Circle Trainer of the month award is generally reserved for resident KZN trainers but South Africa’s Champions Season attracts the full spectrum of the country’s trainers for three months of brilliant racing and it would be remiss not to honour Sean Tarry as trainer of the month. The Randjesfontein-based Tarry had a phenomenal Champions Season and a strong late run on World Pools Gold Cup day pushed him to within a feature race of overtaking Justin Snaith in the National Trainer’s Championship. Outside of the features, Sean won ten races in KZN in July, two more than Gareth van Zyl and a R1 win on each of Sean’s runners will have yielded a tidy profit of R21.50.
Sean Tarry is Gold Circle’s Trainer of the Month of July.
After hitting something of a ‘flat spot’ a couple of months back, Peter Muscutt has got his stable back on track and firing on all cylinders. May was a month to remember as he saddled 11 winners, three more than KZN Champion trainer Gareth van Zyl, at an impressive 35 percent winning strike rate.
Peter is Gold Circle’s Trainer of the Month for May.
