Nel celebrates first winner
LICENSED: ANDRE NEL OFFICIALLY BECAME SABINE PLATTNER’S TRAINER IN SEPTEMBER
One win and three places from 16 horses for new partnership.
S abine Plattner’s grass green, indigo and gold silks largely withdrew from battle in March but her warriors are swooping back into the fray under a newly promoted general, Willem Andre Nel. Just two weeks in, already they are making an impact.
Nel, who was officially licensed as Plattner’s trainer at the beginning of September, has sent a total of 16 horses into battle in Cape Town and KwaZulu-Natal and his results show one win and three places by ring-rusty horses who have not raced for 250-odd days since Plattner and Yogas Govender split.
Nel said: “It was a happy relief to get the first one on the scoreboard!”
The job as private trainer to international businesswoman and philanthropist Sabine Plattner and her husband Hasso, CEO of SAP which sponsors the Supreme Cup at the Vaal, is one of the plum jobs in South African horseracing, one also held by hugely successful veteran Chris Snaith and talented horseman Brett Crawford.
Nel’s appointment had been on the cards for some months. He has been on the SRB Plattner Farming Operations team for 14 years – as Crawford’s assistant for eight, in charge of the Summerveld string on Futura Farm for half that time, and then as stud manager at La Plaisance stud farm.
Nel did a season at the Royal Stud in Sandringham and a studmanagement course in England before doing a B.Tech HND Horse Studies/Equine Science diploma at De Montfort University, Lincolnshire, so he went to George to run the stud.
“When Yogas left Mrs Plattner asked me to apply for his job but I insisted she open it up to other applicants, which is why it took so long,” said Nel, who was born in Johannesburg on 7 January 1979 but grew up on a Mpumalanga farm between Hazyview and Graskop.
It took a while for his replacement at La Plaisance, Lionel Cohen – a successful SA breeder newly returned after a stint training in Australia – to settle in.
Byron Forster has been brought back into the fold as assistant in charge of the Summerveld string and Nel is relocating capable horseman and a man currently licensed as a stable employee, Alfred Mqamelo, from Natal as his Cape Town assistant. He has retained the services of Aldo Domeyer as stable jockey and former jockey Tyrone Langdon rides the important work at home base, the Plattner’s private training centre on Cape Town’s west coast, Rondeberg.
“Very skilled” Francois Loedolf is in charge of maintaining the training facilities and all the structures at Rondeberg. The Plattners’ training operation also employs 36 grooms in Cape Town and Natal, 10 of whom are competent work riders.
Both training centres have state-of-the-art facilities. Rondeberg has an 1800m grass track, a 1000m light sand track and an allweather 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 45odd 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.
Facilities on the 50-acre Futura Farm include a swimming pool and treadmill. The 35 horses in Forster’s care are trained at Summerveld.
“It’s been like coming home,” he says, having moved his family, wife Lientjie as well as 10-yearold son Ruwan and five-year-old daughter Begonia back to Cape Town. “Everything feels very familiar because I was here with Brett for a long time and I’m falling back into a system that worked in past.
“Brett ran a very professional yard – I owe him a lot for the amount I learnt from him.”
Other people in the industry he respects are Bob Rowland, Harvey Smith, his English mentors, veteran trainers Dennis Drier and Chris Snaith, John Slade of Maine Chance Farms and Karl Neisius. “They have all done well in a competitive industry and are true horsemen! Those types of careers I want to emulate.”
He continued: “It feels arrogant to be doing this interview because I’ve done nothing. I can’t say I’m a good trainer, yet. But I like to think I can plan properly and be meticulous. Be realistic. And I also really enjoy what I do. It’s very important to enjoy it, so it’s not just a business.
Nel has been a horseman nearly all his life, spending many school holidays learning about horseracing from his uncle Willie Pieters, who trained at Summerveld for a number of years.
On his return from England in 2001, he worked for Willie’s ex-wife, Sue Pieters, breaking in yearlings before becoming stable manager for international showjumper Errol Wucherpfennig. Then he landed the job as assistant to Crawford.
At that time the Plattner string included such great horses as Laisserfaire and J&B Met winner Angus. Later, horses like Gold Cup winner Reveille Boy and Bad Girl Runs came on the scene, but his favourite was Sailing To Rio. “She had an awesome temperament and was lovely to work with but she should have won a Grade 1 – she ran second and then fourth in the Paddock Stakes – but couldn’t quite do it.”
Best of the exposed horses in the Plattners’ string at the moment is a horse bred at La Plaisance during Nel’s tenure there, Krambambuli, who won for Justin Snaith last weekend. Nel also bred a few of the horses he has in his string and says: “I can’t think of a bigger privilege than to train a horse we bred together. I share Mrs Plattner’s vision and I’m hungry for her to do well and start really enjoying her racing again.
“My initial goal is to get our horses to meet their potential, to look at every horse and put a plan in place for each one.
“I don’t have a lot of standout exposed performers but fortunately most of the horses are very young. Because we had such a long break I even have a few unraced four-year-olds.
“My best horse so far is the filly who won for me last week, Ma Choix.
"She’ll run in features this season. Plus there are a few youngsters I believe are good enough to compete in the Guineas," Nel said.