Nel gets winners rolling in – now for the July
Ken Nicol
After a torrid start to this season Sabine Plattner’s private trainer Andre Nel has enjoyed something of a purple patch of late, as the winners have been rolling in on a regular basis.
Andre grew up on a farm in the Eastern Transvaal “between Hazyview and Graskop, near the Kruger Park”.
He always wanted to work with horses, and straight after school spent a year in England at the Royal Stud at Sandringham.
He came out of that with a National Vocational Qualification in Stud Management, and then did a three year course at De Montfort University in Leicestershire, which yielded a diploma in Equine Sports Science.
After a few other equine jobs he was employed by Mrs Plattner in 2002, and has been there ever since.
“I was assistant to Brett Crawford for many years, and when he left I went to La Plaisance, Mrs Plattner’s stud farm as manager for another five.
“Then I came back as trainer after Yogas Govender left, and we had our first runners in September 2015,” is how Andre sums up his history with the famous green and indigo silks.
His first winner was the useful Australian imported filly Ma Choix, and at the end of 2015 she gave him his first stakes victory with an easy win in the Grade 3 Victress Stakes at Kenilworth.
He ranks another filly Captain’s Flame as “among the best I have had in my time here – she has done very well”.
She also triumphed at Grade 3 level in the Diana Stakes of 2016, as well as two Listed wins.
The other one he singles out is far less obvious.
“Lohnromance was packed with ability, but chronically unsound. She won once for me after being off for a year, and we had high hopes, but she never fulfilled her potential,” he says.
This daughter of Lonhro won her first two starts in the manner of a top sort, but only made it to the racecourse five times in total.
The yard has two entries for this year’s Vodacom Durban July in Head Honcho and Ngaga, and while neither appears on the most recently published race log, Andre feels they have a case for inclusion.
“Both have won a Listed race over the last few months, and Head Honcho beat highly rated horses like Pack Leader and The Slade when he won the Sledgehammer. He has lots of ability, and a bright future, whether he gets into the July or not,” is how he sums up his feelings.
Andre has settled seamlessly into life in the Cape, along with his family.
“It’s been like coming home,” he says, having moved wife Lientjie as well as 13-year-old son Ruan and eight-year-old daughter Begonia back to the Cape West Coast. “Everything feels very familiar because I was here with Brett for a long time and I’m using a system that worked well in the past, but has also evolved over time”.
He has also assembled a highly capable team. Byron Forster is the assistant in charge of the Summerveld string, while Alfred Mqamelo, and Evan Lerena help look after things in Cape Town.
Former jockey Tyrone Langdon also plays an important role riding work at the Plattner’s private training centre on Cape Town’s West Coast, Rondeberg.
This has state-of-the-art facilities. Rondeberg has an 1800m grass track, a 1000m light sand track and an all-weather track, as well as a swimming pool and hot walker.
“The biggest bonus is that we’ve got the beach on our doorstep so the horses based in Cape Town get a chance to go to the sea and walk in the cold Atlantic every day. It’s good for the mind and the body,” said Nel.
Andre Nel’s operation has been steadily heading in the right direction in recent months, and it seems only a matter of time before the ‘big horse’ every stable needs comes along to score a first Grade 1 win.