Gavin Van Zyl has a dynamic operation. Along with his KwaZulu-Natal home base, the veteran trainer has satellite operations on the Highveld and Western Cape.
While he has had winners on a regular basis in the first two mentioned yards, he has only had one winner during the Cape Summer Season so far.
Some of his runners have made their way back home and one of them – Wylie Riley – could make a winning return at Hollywoodbets Scottsville on Wednesday 1 February.
Wylie Riley was right amongst some decent sorts earlier when starting his career off in his hometown but couldn’t build on those runs when tried in the Cape and may not have enjoyed it there.
Significantly, he finished a neck ahead of Money Heist over 1400m at this venue and that form line stands out. The latter, who incidentally runs for Gavin’s son Gareth (and who has had a great time in the Cape) has gone on to run with the best around and is currently merit rated 108.
Wiley Riley takes his place in Race 2, a Maiden Plate down the straight. He doesn’t meet a strong field on his comeback and since it is over 1000m, he may not be fancied but he could mow this field down. A solid each way bet is suggested here.
Van Zyl’s only other runner on the day, Navajo Dancer, runs 35 minutes earlier in Race 1 and has an eye-catching jockey in the saddle. He is ridden by log leading rider Keagan De Melo and Van Zyl’s comment is ‘Nice type’. It’s not difficult to imagine the yard going home early having done well in those races.
in Race 4, a MR70 Handicap over 1500m, Princess Jo is another with plenty of scope. After an eye-catching debut, she impressed in her maiden win beating Sky Cafe who came out to win as she liked. Ignore her last run where she suffered an injury but nevertheless improved nicely at the end.
While there are plenty of hard knockers in the race, she appeals as the banker bet, despite drawing wide.
More that are likely to run forward races on the day include, Paris Pike (Race 5) and Captain Rocket (Race 7), who were both impressive last time out.
Clive Robinson
