Piet Steyn’s recent Gr3 Variety Club Mile winner Garrix will not be travelling to Durban for the SA Champions Season and the Hollywoodbets Durban July, and will instead be aimed at the ‘stay-at-home’ route of the Cape Winter Series.
Garrix wins the Variety Club Mile (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
“It’s a case of the horse first. He is a really smart 3yo but he is still mentally and physically backward, and we’d rather let him progress through the winter and then plot a chart through the Cape Summer Season. He will be a potentially serious prospect as a 4yo in the SA Champions Season next term,” Steyn Racing Assistant Elbert Steyn told the Sporting Post on Monday evening.
Just as he did with the super talented Potala Palace galloper Katak who made a clean sweep of the Cape Winter Series back in 2020, before being exported unbeaten to Singapore, Elbert’s Dad, the astute Piet Steyn, is the master of patience and getting the best out of a promising young horse.
Piet Steyn – a master horseman (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
“Every individual horse is different, but the rigours of travelling a backward and immature 3yo like Garrix outweigh the positives of very possibly picking up a feature while we are there,” added Elbert Steyn.
Originally a R475 000 National 2yo Sale purchase, Garrix was acquired after running a 20-1 second on his Hollywoodbets Durbanville debut back in September 2024 by a partnership of Mukund Gujadhur, Rikesh Sewgoolam and Laurence and Jarryd Wernars.
Bred by Jagessar Limited, Garrix is a son of Vercingetorix (Silvano) out of the unraced well-related US bred Smart Strike mare, Makiwara.
The gelded Garrix is a winner of 3 races with 3 places from 7 starts for stakes of R587 802.
He is currently rated a 109.
The Winter Series was opened to all ages in 2023.
Beyond Piet Steyn’s Katak, the honour roll of those who have swept all three legs include nine-times multiple Gr1 hero and iconic legend of the turf, Pocket Power, who managed the feat in 2006; top class African Night Sky – who may well have scaled even greater heights after his 2017 exploits barring a subsequent career limiting injury.
Past Durban July winners Marinaresco and Power King are Winter Guineas (Variety Club Mile) alumni, as is one of the greatest milers ever produced in SA, the internationally acclaimed, Variety Club.
Garrix has big shoes to fill!
