Fairview trainer Zietsman Oosthuizen is targetting the Gr3 Chairman’s Cup to be run over 2500m at Kenilworth on L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate day for his well-travelled flagbearer Atyaab, who ran a respectable sixth in the WSB Gr1 Gauteng Summer Cup at Turffontein at the end of November.
The story of Atyaab, aka ‘Attie’, a former Mike de Kock charge who won the 2019 Gr1 Cape Derby in the famous blue and white silks of Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al Maktoum, was a fairytale sub-plot to the Summer Cup.
Atyaab and Zietsman Oosthuizen (Pic – Pauline Herman Photography)
Bought second hand off the BSA monthly online sale for R150 000 by leading owners Suzette and Basie Viljoen, who race the fancied Captain’s Ransom in the WSB Cape Fillies Guineas on Saturday, Atyaab finished sixth beaten ten lengths by Summer Pudding in a rigorous Summer Cup, with some highly vaunted stragglers behind him.
The Oosthuizen team hit the road for Port Elizabeth at 22h00 on the evening of the Summer Cup and arrived back at their Fairview base at 13h00 the next day.
The trip included a few pitstops on the way.
“We stopped off and showed him the Gariep Dam and he was quite fascinated by it. He is so well since his return and is looking great,” said Zietsman, who has some big plans for his Aussie-bred this term.
Atyaab ran third in the 2020 Chairman’s Cup, beaten 2,75 lengths by Doublemint. The 2021 renewal is run on 9 January, the second day of the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate Festival.
Zietsman has also pencilled in the Gr2 Western Cape Stayers to be contested over 2800m on Met day as an option. He says if the weights are reasonable, the Lakeside Handicap at Fairview could also be a possible alternative on 29 January.
“He is a PE-based resident now. I hope that the handicappers won’t be lumping him with crazy weights. He was given 64,5kgs in the Algo Cup, for instance. But we will wait and see,” he added.
While Atyaab would have earned R60 000 for his efforts in years past, his WSB Summer Cup performance off a ten month break was still a remarkable training feat.
Four weeks before the race the son of Dundeel was not in great shape and couldn’t beat one of the yard’s ordinary maidens.
