Dean Kannemeyer: Racehorse trainer who is something of a guru

“You dream of glory for every young horse who walks into the stable,” says Kannemeyer, 53. 

“Look after them: feed them well, sleep them well and exercise them well – and they look after you.” 

Of course, it’s not quite that simple. A horse has to have a programme, but it can go wrong at any point. 

A horse can get injured (like Capetown Noir, who had to be pulled out of today’s Champions Cup at Greyville because he bruised a joint); he can become stale and temperamental “which is when you have to ease up on them”; or turn out just not well enough to run in the races the trainer would like to win – races like the Vodacom Durban July, the J&B Met, the Sansui Summer Cup and the eLan Property Group Gold Cup.

“Before they get there, they must earn their stripes. I’m careful to bring a horse on – to not overrate him and to run him in races where he is competitive and get his confidence up.”

Then, when a trainer has the right horse, there are more obstacles to overcome. 

Nothing must go wrong in the preparation because he must arrive at the races spot-on, ready to run the race of his life. A slight setback can ruin ambitious dreams. But when the plan comes together …

“There’s no greater achievement than to train a Grade 1 winner (the highest class of race in horse racing),” adds Kannemeyer, whose methods are geared towards winning races at the highest level. 

They obviously work, because Cape-based Kannemeyer, who learnt his trade from his father Peter – a champion trainer before handing over the reins in 1999 – has won nearly every big race in the country and is hoping that today Hot Ticket can add a third Gold Cup trophy to his cabinet when he runs in the country’s most important “marathon” horserace.

Hot Ticket’s progress this season is a tribute to Kannemeyer. The colt, who turns five on Friday (the official designated birthday of all horses in the southern hemisphere), has been a revelation this season. He has won four important feature races over what horse-racing fans call “staying” distances, 2 400m to 3 200m – including the Gold Vase over 3 000m at Greyville during the Durban July three weeks ago. 

“There’s no doubt in my mind Hot Ticket is the best stayer in the country at the moment – and probably the best I’ve ever worked with,” says Kannemeyer, who won the Gold Cup with Colonial Girl in his first season as a trainer in 2000, and with In Writing two years ago. 

“He’s a big, strapping fellow and he’s got a brilliant turn of foot in the finish. I always thought we’d see the best of him as a late four-year-old – and look where he is now.”

He does concede that Hot Ticket has his work cut out with 60kg on his back – because it is more than three decades since a horse with that kind of weight won this race – but says: “He’s earned the weight.”

Kannemeyer does not often run his two-year-old horses, saving them instead for the Classics (races limited to three-year-olds and the ones breeders consider the most important when studying pedigrees). 

This year is an exception because he has a precocious and talented two-year-old in Afrikaburn, who will be running in today’s Grade 1 Premier’s Champion Stakes at the Gold Cup meeting at Greyville.

“I’m not one to push my two-year-olds, but he showed me he was ready – and he’s delivered,” says Kannemeyer, whose charge has won all three of his races to date, including the Grade 1 Golden Horseshoe on Durban July Day.

And he is just the most forward of the trainer’s “babies”. Kannemeyer has a few other “nice young horses” on ice back in Cape Town and will be bringing them out in the spring to get ready for the Sizzling Summer Season at Kenilworth, the beautiful racecourse situated in the shadow of Table Mountain.