Gareth van Zyl was champion trainer in KwaZulu-Natal last season and the up-and-coming young conditioner is hoping to win a big purse when he saddles After The Rain in Saturday’s Allied Steelrode On A Mission Charity Mile at Turffontein.
The striking white horse — winner of five races — put his hat in the ring for the R800,000 race when running a close second behind William Robertson in the recent Topbet Mike O’Connor Spring Challenge.
After The Rain, a son of Master Of My Fate, was declared a runner for Saturday’s race when the final field was announced on Tuesday. He will be ridden by Diego De Gouveia, the eighth different jockey to ride the horse in his career.
In an interview with Turftalk, Van Zyl admitted that “travelling twice from KZN is not ideal”.
But he added that After The Rain had an excellent temperament and was “as kind as a lamb”.
He also stressed that his charge was “the most competitive horse I have seen — he changes completely in a race as he just loves to compete”.
This was seen in the Topbet race where the favourite, William Robertson, appeared to have his measure 200m out, but After The Rain refused to throw in the towel. At the line he was only 0.25 lengths behind Corné Spies’s winner.
Van Zyl tuned up for Saturday’s meeting when saddling an early double at Greyville on Tuesday.
Newcomer Shipholia, a R300,000 son of William Longsword bred at Klawervlei Stud, was another winner for the Hollywood Syndicate.
The same syndicate took the third race with Zinikele, a daughter of Gimmethegreenlight who was an expensive purchase when bought from Lammerskraal Stud for R500,000.
Top trainer Mike de Kock will be represented by four runners with Safe Passage the favourite in the ante-post market.
Another big race this weekend is the TAB4Racing Algoa Cup at Fairview on Friday. Seven Western Cape raiders will make the road trip to contest the R350,000 race.
Glen Kotzen sends four runners from his stable (Crimson King, Follow The Star, Han Solo and Chollima), Justin Snaith sends Thefutureisbright (Muzi Yeni) while Candice Bass-Robinson and André Nel are represented by Arctic Drift (Gareth Wright) and Master Redoute (Grant van Niekerk) respectively.
A glance at the form of the Cape raiders suggests six-year-old Han Solo, who ran second to At My Command at Durbanville last month, could prove the pick of the Kotzen quartet.
It’s a weekend in which 19 charities will benefit from some good racing. The sport is certainly playing its part to help those in need following a two-year disruption due to Covid.
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