Former Kimberley trainer Zietsman Oosthuizen followed in the footsteps of his now KZN-based colleagues Cliffie Miller and Tienie Prinsloo, when he opened his ‘away’ account with his first winner at his new home base, Fairview, on Monday.
In a major celebration at the low-key Monday afternoon meeting, leading owner Suzette Viljoen was on hand to lead local apprentice Kyle Strydom, also celebrating his maiden professional hometown victory, in on the consistent Varsfontein bred Var mare, Valeriana, who won the fifth race on the card.
Proud winning team (Pic – Pauline Herman)
The former KZN based galloper was not winning out of turn, and enjoyed a smartly balanced ride from the son of local trainer, Jacques Strydom.
“Twelve second places since we arrived. It’s a good day!” said Zietsman in the post-race interview.
Owner Suzette Viljoen was thrilled and said she had to calm her trainer down!
“It was a special win with Kyle’s whole family here – right down to his Granny,” she enthused. An added bonus is that the winning rider is sponsored by Ludeim, Suzette’s son Izak’s business.
A six year assistant to Bill Human, Zietsman was granted his own licence less than six months ago.
At his very first Flamingo Park meeting in March, all of his 11 runners earned stakes Flamingo Park with two winners, five seconds, a third, two fourth places and a sixth.
Zietsman is on record that his vision of becoming a trainer was fuelled several years ago when he met Mark and Dorrie Sham in Port Elizabeth.
“Mark said to me, ‘If you want to be a trainer you have to give everything else up, it’s not easy’, but this actually inspired me, and I did what Mark had suggested. I knew I had to start at the bottom and I got a job with Bill Human on his farm, a trainer from the old school who has been around for decades.
