Cathy Specific – the hostess with the mostess
Big race days can be a nightmare for the formbook. As you’ve got about as much chance as picking a winner on its name or the colour of its silks, we’ve dug out one of the best.
Meet Cathy Specific, Queen Of the Skies and THE Madame at Madame Zingara’s. Or, if you’re going by the ‘Stud Book’ (oohh missus), a bay filly by Royal Air Force, out of the Model Man mare, I’m Too Sexy. Cathy no 2 will be stepping out in the first race, the Racing, It’s A Rush MR 86 handicap over 1000m at Kenilworth.
Kuyan Kotzen, is the owner of this magnificent filly (we’re still talking about Cathy no 2 of course) and tells us a little more.
“My parents bred the horse, well, my mother and grandmother really and she was just a lovely, big, strong filly. Now she’s humungous – she’s the second biggest horse in the yard! We’d been to see Madame Zingara’s, which featured this amazing act called Cathy Specific, played by Brendan van Rhyn. It was a drag act and Cathy had this amazing air hostess outfit, a blonde beehive and a great sense of humour. We loved her – and my brother found it absolutely hysterical – he’d never seen a man dressed up as a woman before! We weren’t really expecting her to be anything special, but she ran first time out on Queen’s Plate day and won her race! Brendan got hold of my parents and he’s terribly excited. Sadly he can’t come down for J&B Met day –they’re having their last show in Joburg this weekend – but he’s very keen to come to the races as soon as he gets a chance.”
Kuyan Kotzen
Kuyan, who has recently celebrated his 21st birthday, is the uber gorgeous and perennially beautifully dressed son of Woodhill training team Glen and Kathi Kotzen. Kuyan has been a registered owner for 2 years already and thinks he may be the youngest owner in South Africa. “I designed my own racing silks – red with a white circle in the middle of the silks with my initials K in the middle.” His first horse was Lily My Love, followed by Stormin Cat (currently racing in PE under the care of Lunga Gila), Cathy Specific and the unraced Jamaica Me Crazy. Stormin Cat already has 4 wins to her credit and Cathy Specific looked very promising winning on debut by 1.5 lengths. Kuyan says, “Saying it like that makes it look very easy, but it isn’t really. I’m just very lucky.” Other than joining his family on race days, Kuyan is also there in a professional capacity. He is a stylist at Icecherry clothing and you can regularly see his handiwork on Vicky Minott (not like that, we meant her outfits, silly).
Glen Kotzen
Dad Glen Kotzen is equally enthused about the filly. “We thought she was so well named. Brendan is big and imposing and this filly weighs 530 kgs – she’s such a big girl, she almost looks like a colt. The dam is named I’m Too Sexy, the sire is Royal Air Force and Cathy Specific’s show is a spoof of the airlines, so that’s how the name came about. She was such a lovely foal, that we sent the mare back to the stallion – we’ve got a share in him – and we’ve got a beautiful full sister on the ground. Cathy showed such potential as a late 2yo – she was the working companion to Double Whammy. We sent her to Durbanville for a grass gallop and when she came back we weren’t quite happy with her tendon, so we put her back in the paddock for six months as a precaution. She’d actually had very little work put into her, but I entered her on Queen’s Plate day thinking we’d use it as a gallop and bring her on that way and she won as she liked! On Met day I think she’ll be competitive. I wish it could have been 1200m, but I thought I’d like to run her on a big day for Kuyan. She’s only carrying 52kg, but I reckon she’ll probably be run off her feet to begin with and then fly at them at the end. I think she’ll be a classic horse and be even better once she goes around the turn. I think she’ll go on to be competitive.”
Cathy Specific – South Africa’s First Lady of FlyingTa
The fun and fabulous force behind the name is Brendan van Rhyn, who modestly describes himself as Cathy Specific’s alter ego. Brendan is currently earning a crust playing Frank ‘n Furter in the Rocky Horror Show at Montecasino. We managed to catch him between shows and grab a few minutes with Cathy. So what’s it like having a horse named after you? “I’m completely flattered. The next thing I want named after me is a rose! I had an email explaining that they’d seen me at Madame Zingara’s and thought I was such a beautiful person with such an amazing presence that they named the horse after me.” The equine Cathy is quite a tall, robust filly – that’s quite appropriate given that you are also a rather imposing figure? “I’m 7ft when I’m dressed up – they don’t make girls like this anymore, darling!” It’s a real shame you can’t make the J&B Met. “I would have loved to be there! I phoned my publicist and said it would be a wonderful opportunity having Cathy goto the races, but I just can’t make it this time. The Rocky Horror Show ends on Sunday after 18 months and 444 performances, but then Frank’s going and Cathy’s coming out to play again. I’m doing a one woman show as Cathy in April / May and we’ll be doing a few performances down in Granger Bay, then I’m off to Madame Zingara’s again for a show called ‘Celebration’. Rehearsals start in June and we open in July. I’m delighted – I’m booked up till February 2017! It is a pity to miss this weekend, but Cathy will be around for a long time and so will I, so there will definitely be a chance to have some fun.” Are you confident about her Met day run? “If she’s got all the presence and pizazz of THIS air hostess, then she’ll be an outright winner!”
So there you have it. If you can’t decide which horse to back, then throw your heart behind Cathy Specific – the sky is definitely the limit!
